VEWP offers a 12-week guided writing experience for veterans across Virginia. Participants engage in structured writing groups facilitated via Zoom, allowing statewide access. Through autobiographical or fictional storytelling, participants explore meaningful experiences in a safe, supportive environment.

While VEWP is not a clinical therapy program, its trauma-informed design promotes emotional safety, participant choice, and narrative control—key elements that support reflection, growth, and connection. Writing becomes a vehicle for exploring identity, making meaning, and sharing one’s story on one’s own terms.

Veterans often carry stories that are difficult to share, stories shaped by service, transition, loss, and resilience. VEWP offers a space where those stories can be explored and expressed creatively, without pressure or judgment. Participants are encouraged to write at their own pace and depth, using fiction or nonfiction to shape their experiences into narratives that feel authentic and manageable.

The writing process helps participants gain perspective, find their voice, and connect with others who understand. Being heard and understood, on one’s own terms, can be profoundly validating. While VEWP is not a therapy group, many participants find the experience naturally therapeutic.

Each writing group meets weekly for 12 weeks via Zoom. Classes include instruction on writing, group discussion, and supportive feedback. Participants are never required to share anything they’re not comfortable sharing. Facilitators are trained to ensure a respectful and emotionally safe environment.

VEWP honors each participant’s autonomy in the writing process. Veterans are invited to write what they choose, when they choose, whether that’s fiction, memoir, poetry, or something entirely different. There is no expectation to write about trauma or difficult experiences. As David L. Robbins, VEWP’s lead writing instructor, explains:

“Each student writes pieces of his or her own choice, regardless of whether or not their work addresses their trauma. They write when they are ready and what they are ready to write. They receive encouragement and trust, and the rigorous instruction we’ve talked about. But it’s a self-guided tour.”

This emphasis on creative freedom ensures that participants feel safe, respected, and empowered throughout the program. Writing becomes a tool for exploration, not an obligation, and every story shared is offered on the writer’s own terms.

Because VEWP is funded by the Virginia Department of Veterans Services, we are asked to collect some basic information to help us understand the program’s impact. This includes a few short questionnaires at the beginning and end of the group and answering a few questions in writing. These tools are brief, confidential, and designed to be non-intrusive. Participation in the evaluation is part of the program, but the focus remains on your writing journey, not on program evaluation.

To ensure long-term impact, VEWP includes a “train-the-trainer” component. Graduate students from VCU are trained as future facilitators through weekly instruction and supervision. A comprehensive facilitator manual is being developed to guide future implementation, including:

• Curriculum structure and writing prompts
• Trauma-informed group facilitation strategies
• Evaluation tools and fidelity checklists

Dr. Jared C. Schultz
Principal Investigator Professor and Chair, Department of Rehabilitation Counseling Virginia Commonwealth University

David L. Robbins
Consultant and Lead Writing Instructor Novelist, Playwright, and Creative Writing Instructor at Virginia Commonwealth University