During my Churchill Fellowship study, I’ve explored how different art forms serve similar purposes in veteran recovery. While my focus has been on stand-up comedy, conversations with theatre practitioners working with veterans revealed striking parallels. What emerged was a fascinating recognition of how different mediums can serve the same essential purpose: helping veterans process trauma, build community, and reclaim their narratives.

Two Paths, Same Destination

Research-based theatre with veterans, including productions that have toured internationally and been performed at events like the Invictus Games, operates on similar principles to comedy workshops. While the mediums differ, the underlying mechanisms are strikingly similar.

Both provide what can be described as an artistic “pull” model rather than a clinical “push” model. Instead of being told they need therapy, veterans want to engage. They’re drawn to the creative process, the community, and the chance to transform their experiences into something shareable.

Theatre pieces, like comedy sets, can release something that hasn’t been shared. The act of crafting performance, whether a joke or a scene, forces a re-examination of painful experiences from a new angle.

The Power of Shared Language

One of the most powerful aspects of both approaches is the community they create. Recovery cannot happen in isolation. Community is a required part of any person’s recovery, and both theatre and comedy create spaces where that community can form organically.

There’s something unique about veteran-to-veteran communication in creative spaces. Things can be said to another veteran that might sit differently with therapists or civilians, because of shared experiences and understanding.

The use of service-specific humour and language acts as a powerful bonding tool. This “shorthand” might not be immediately accessible to a general audience, but within the group, it creates instant connection and understanding. It’s a way of saying, “I see you. I’ve been there. You’re not alone.”

From Victim to Artist

Both methodologies empower participants by allowing them to control their narrative and reframe their identity. Instead of being defined by trauma or service, veterans can identify as artists, comedians, or performers. They move from being a victim to being something more.

The public performance aspect is crucial. It’s not just about processing trauma privately. It’s about raising awareness and shifting public perception of veterans away from stereotypes like “mad, bad, or sad” and toward seeing them as integral, creative community members.

The approach in both forms is about sharing the creative process itself to empower participants to find their own stories. It’s “my story, comma, your story.”

The Risks and Responsibilities

There are significant ethical responsibilities in facilitating trauma-based performance. Robust mental health support is essential. The cost of having a mental health professional on standby can be half the cost of running a course, because participants can start to talk about things they haven’t talked about before.

This isn’t work to be undertaken lightly. Creating the right conditions in the space, knowing when to push and when to pull back, understanding the difference between therapeutic discomfort and harmful re-traumatization, these require skill, experience, and proper support structures.

But when done right, the transformative potential is remarkable. The creative process gives participants hope because they’ve actually achieved something, which suggests they can potentially achieve more in the future. Projecting difficult stories onto an artistic object, whether a performance piece or a comedy set, provides a safety factor that direct confrontation might not.

Making It Accessible

One key consideration in both theatre and comedy is the importance of making performance content accessible to a general audience. While military-specific stories are powerful for the veteran community, they can be difficult for civilians to access.

Some productions have successfully included civilian perspectives and narratives to create bridges between veteran and civilian experiences of trauma and resilience. This doesn’t dilute the veteran stories. It contextualizes them in ways that help broader audiences connect.

This has implications for comedy work as well. The goal isn’t just catharsis for performers. It’s creating moments where audiences, veteran and civilian alike, can laugh together and find common ground.

The Challenge of Evidence

A persistent challenge across both forms is proving impact beyond anecdotal evidence. Creating the performance piece itself is tremendously time-consuming and resource-intensive. Adding formal research methodology on top can feel impossible without dedicated research teams.

Yet funders increasingly demand robust evidence. The concept of Social Return on Investment (SROI) becomes crucial here: if a £1,000 course stops someone from taking £500 worth of medication per month and enables them to pay taxes, it’s demonstrably valuable to society.

The research infrastructure simply doesn’t exist in most arts-based veteran programmes, creating a gap between what practitioners know works and what they can prove works.

The Broader Picture

Arts-based veteran recovery isn’t limited to one medium. Theatre, comedy, dance, visual arts, they all offer pathways to processing trauma, building community, and reclaiming narrative control.

The principles remain constant across forms: create safe spaces, facilitate rather than dictate, build genuine community, empower participants to control their own stories, and share those stories publicly to shift perception and create connection.

Whether veterans are writing jokes or creating theatre, they’re doing the same essential work: bringing what was hidden into the light, transforming pain into art, and proving that recovery isn’t about erasing the past but about integrating it into a life that continues forward.

What This Means

The work happening in comedy clubs mirrors the work happening in theatres, studios, and creative spaces. Veterans are processing trauma, building community, and reclaiming their narratives through multiple art forms.

The more we connect these efforts, share learning, and build evidence together, the stronger the case becomes for arts-based approaches to veteran mental health and recovery. The challenge is bridging the gap between anecdotal success and formal evidence, between passionate practice and fundable research.

But the foundation is solid. The impact is real. The need is clear.

Because sometimes the best medicine isn’t in a prescription bottle. Sometimes it’s on a stage, whether that stage hosts a theatre production or a stand-up comedy set. The medium matters less than the mechanism: giving veterans the tools to transform their stories, connect with others, and step into a new identity beyond trauma.

That’s not just art. That’s recovery with a spotlight.