It was during a canoe trip in Algonquin Park three years ago that Andrew Lloyd first met Ryan Hawkyard. “Ryan and I clicked right away,” recalled Lloyd, who had been medically released from the Canadian Armed Forces in 2019 because of post-traumatic stress disorder. “He was just helping to create this program (for military veterans) that seems to be big in the States and in Britain, but Canada didn’t really have a program like it.
” That program was Soldiers in the Arts, which uses arts-centred workshops to help military personnel transition to civilian life. On Sunday, two days after Military Appreciation Day, Kingstonians will have the chance to see for themselves what SITA does. There will be a free showcase of theatre pieces created by Kingston-area veterans titled “Our Stories,” the culmination of workshops dating back to May.
It runs from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 560 on Montreal Street and is free to attend.
Lloyd will be there Sunday, as will program co-ordinator Hawkyard, who had told him about SITA and how it might help him. “I don’t feel like I really started the actual healing until I went on that (canoe) trip” sponsored by the True Patriot Love Foundation, “met some fellow vets and started doing the Soldiers in the Arts,” he said. A medic who had been deployed to places such as Iraq, Lloyd returned to his hometown after leaving his release from the military at age 34.
“I knew that Kingston was the right spot for me to kind of work on getting better,” he said, adding that he had the support of family and friends here. “We found a beautiful spot in Bath, and so we moved closer to home.” Transitioning to civilian life from military life can be a challenge for anyone, he said.
For him, it was even more difficult as he was part of a tight-knit, “high-tempo” unit. “You lose so much of what was important to you. Service was a driving purpose, (now) that was gone.
You lose your social group, because those are your peers, those are your friends. And then you’re gone from that,” Lloyd reflected. “And then for myself, too, was my well-being.
I was the sickest I have been in my life, leaving there. So, you’re really not in a good place.” He felt as though he’d put up an armour around himself, an armour that wasn’t needed in civilian life.
He typically felt indifferent, anxious or angry. “It was a really hard time to feel any type of joy and happiness,” Lloyd said. “You just wouldn’t really let yourself feel that.
” To keep his mind off his troubles, he kept himself busy, opening a bookstore in Bath with a neighbour. “I was just staying as busy as I could,” he said. It was that canoe trip and getting to know Hawkyard that convinced Lloyd to give Soldiers in the Arts a try, even though he’d never done anything like that before.
“It was nerve-wracking,” Lloyd said, “but I’m like, ‘I’m going to go out and give this a shot and try something new.’ ” First up was taking an improv class. “I absolutely loved it,” he said.
The improv exercises and games were all about encouraging communication, listening and reading other people, he said. More importantly, they were fun. “I was able to allow myself to enjoy it and to look forward to it, which I think really helped with my journey,” he said, adding that improv is the first hobby he’s allowed himself to have.
The first thing his improv teacher told him was that “it’s impossible for you to fail, that you showing up here means you’re not going to fail. “That was pretty amazing for me, because we had a no-failure unit, that if we made mistakes and failed, there were significant repercussions,” he said. He’d spent his adult life in fear of failure, he said.
Married with two young children, he took those games he’d learned back to his family and they started doing them together. Now, his children have become involved with youth-oriented theatre company Blue Canoe Productions. “I couldn’t be prouder of them,” he said.
Aside from bringing joy back into his life, Soldiers in the Arts also gave him a way of connecting with fellow veterans, while some ex-military prefer to cut ties all together, he wasn’t one of them. “I wanted to still connect with peers, but I had to seek that out, and I found it there,” he said. He said that not only did he notice a difference in himself, others did, too.
“I feel like the PTSD I was diagnosed with is in remission,” Lloyd said. “I feel much better, much more myself. It took many years to get there, and this program has definitely been a part of it.
” He has since sold his stake in the bookstore to his partner and started a new business venture, Welborne Commons restaurant in Bath. “I really love our community,” said Lloyd, who didn’t have any restaurant experience going in. “It is a different form of service.
We get to create a space for people to be happy and to celebrate and I think just a community feeling that you feel in the military — I wanted to be able to help create that here.” Lloyd continues to take part in SITA, most recently a writing workshop. He’s written something about his time overseas and what he and others witnessed that, he said, is “a little bit heavy.
” “I’m not sure if I’ll perform it,” he said, “but I think that’s one of the beautiful parts about this (program): I’ve written that for me, and that felt good for me to write, and it’s my choice whether I want to share it with a greater audience or just keep it for me.” [email protected] Essentials What: Soldiers in the Arts presents “Untold Stories,” which features theatre performances created and performed by veterans of the Canadian Armed Forces, plus a showcase of local artists from the veteran community.
When: Sunday, Sept. 22, from 1 to 3 p.m.
Where: Royal Canadian Legion Branch 560, 734 Montreal St. Cost: Free. For more information: rgf-sita.
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