Check Out Jason Moon’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jason Moon. They and their team shared their story with us below:

Warrior Songs founder Jason Moon is a singer-songwriter and a US Combat Veteran who served in Iraq as a combat engineer from 2003-2004. After returning home, Jason struggled with the challenge of reintegrating into civilian life. He was plagued with insomnia, depression, hyper-vigilance, nightmares, and numerous other symptoms. Troubled by the changes in himself, Jason sought treatment and was diagnosed with PTSD. His road to healing was extremely difficult, culminating in hospitalization after a failed suicide attempt in 2008.

In 2009, Jason was interviewed for the feature film documentary “On the Bridge”, and was asked to record an original song for the credits roll. The experience energized him to begin to write music in earnest again and led to the release in 2010 of his album, “Trying to Find My Way Home,” which chronicles Jason’s journey in overcoming the difficulties of living with PTSD.

Jason toured the country over the next year, meeting a huge number of veterans who testified to the power and positive effect of his music in their own journey to recovery. He learned he had the ability to turn his pain and struggles into something they could relate to – music. Believing that other veterans could benefit from the cathartic process of transforming their military experience into songs, Jason founded Warrior Songs, a non-profit organization bringing hope and healing to veterans through music and the creative arts.

Since 2011, Warrior Songs has brought healing to veterans through four main programs. Creative Arts Healing retreats are free to the veteran, four-day all-inclusive programs hosting 15 veterans. 5 staff lead the veterans through the stages of their military journey utilizing different art modalities. The retreat concludes with an art show which is open to the public. Warrior Songs hosts retreats for both PTSD (all-gender) and Military Sexual Trauma (Women Veterans only). Eighty-five Veterans have graduated from these retreats.

Outreach and Education is another way Warrior Songs brings healing to veterans. Warrior Songs founder Jason Moon travels the country speaking and performing. Jason has several presentations he brings to conferences to educate those who work with veterans about PTSD and utilizing the creative arts and songwriting in trauma recovery.

He also performs for veterans in various stages of recovery, using music and his story of recovery to inspire others. In addition, he tours the country fundraising for the nonprofit, where he shares both the outreach and education as well as Warrior Song’s current work and accomplishments. Warrior Song’s flagship program is Story to Song. Established songwriters are paired with veterans who transform their military experience into a song. These songs are then recorded by professional musicians in studios across the country and released on themed compilations.

Warrior Songs has released three volumes, including the groundbreaking first ever in the history of modern music, “Women at War: Warrior Songs Vol. 2,” which won both the 2019 Wisconsin Music Awards Album of the Year and had the single “Warrior Wings” win 2019 Native American Music Awards Pop Song of the Year. Warrior Song is currently working on “BIPOC Veterans: Warrior Songs Vol. 4”, “Collateral Damage: Warrior Songs Vol. 5 (Family and Support), and “Native and Indigenous Voices: Warrior Songs Vol. 6”.

Lastly, our free distribution program distributes all the music and media we create free of charge. Downloads are available free to all on our website. Veterans and those who work with veterans can request a free, postage-paid physical copy of any or all of our CDs.  Warrior Songs regularly distribute bulk quantities of these CDs to VA hospitals and veterans’ organizations around the country. Since 2010, Warrior Songs has distributed over 100,000 free CDs. The music is also available for sale on all major online music distributors. Sales go to fund future volumes.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Over the last several years, grassroots donations have slowed. As the US wars in the Middle East wind down, less news coverage is spent on the impacts of military service on veterans. The focus and attention of the public have shifted, and many people who are not directly affected by military PTSD have stopped donating.

There has also been a rise in nonprofit organizations utilizing songwriting to assist veterans, which is a wonderful thing. Though Warrior Songs was among the first to engage in this type of healing modality and remains one of the only Veteran songwriting organizations run by a Veteran, the diversity of organizations dilutes available fundraising. Inflation has also increased our expenses while keeping our donors’ incomes stretched thin.

In addition, technology is moving away from media like concept albums, like our Story to Song compilation albums. We hear from young people that they have never listened to an album from start to finish. We have compensated by creating more video media to accompany the music, but video costs more than audio to create, and the aforementioned diminished grassroots donations limit our ability.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
As an artist, I have really come to enjoy creating songs with others. Veterans are the population I have the most experience with, having collaborated on dozens of songs with Warrior Songs, but I have also been commissioned on several occasions to write a custom song for a special occasion such as a wedding or engagement. I would like to expand my collaborative songwriting to more populations.

Songwriting with seniors living in retirement communities. Songwriting with children or young adults. Songwriting with incarcerated individuals and people in recovery. Having witnessed the healing power of transforming trauma and difficulty into song with US veterans, I am eager to bring this work to other populations.

I also would love to write more songs for commercial use, but my nonprofit work keeps me busy. I have begun working on a memoir of my life exploring my childhood of physical and sexual abuse, my combat experience, and how music, the arts, and helping others brought me healing. I hope to have that completed in the next couple of years.

Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
The creative arts are a powerful tool to facilitate recovery from trauma. You do not have to be clinically trained to incorporate creative arts into your current healing modalities. Remember, you can not heal from what you can not express. Many severe traumas are difficult to express. Furthermore, PTSD is triggered by thinking or speaking directly about the trauma. The creative arts create a wonderful, method for expressing the trauma without triggering PTSD symptoms.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.warriorsongs.org
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WarriorSongs
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@warriorsongsvideo