Join us for a Creative Conversation on trauma, creativity, and healing, seen through veterans' experiences. Our panel brings together:
Dr. Kumara Sidhartha, a local physician who specializes in healing through body, mind, and spirit
Naomi Czupryna, an Army combat veteran healed through the arts
Sam Holmstock, a drummer using rhythm to help the community process trauma
Mark Gilliard , teaching veterans to heal through guitar with the Guitars 4 Vets program
Dr. Raja Sinjab, Co-Founder and Clinical Director of Real Eyes Truth, People Helping People, Re-Creating Community
Panelists will share brief reflections, then the floor opens up: community conversation, Q&A, and space to reflect together.
This conversation is for all of us. Trauma touches everyone differently, and creative expression can help us process, reconnect, and heal.
Our Creative Conversations series brings the creative community together with partners across sectors to explore local challenges and imagine new approaches. Future conversations will focus on housing, the environment, education, and more.
Free and open to the public.
Thursday, October 15, 5:30-7:30pm at Neptune's, 541 Main Street, Hyannis.
RSVP required.
RSVP
Dr. Kumara Sidhartha is a board-certified Internal Medicine physician, author, and public health advocate whose work centers on healing through the connection of body, mind, and spirit. A graduate of GMK Medical College in Salem, India, with residency training at Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center in New York, he went on to earn a Master of Public Health in Nutrition from UMass Amherst and a certification in Plant-Based Nutrition from Cornell University. He is the author of All My Secrets: Messages of health from your body, decoded (2024) and The Menstrual Health Manual: Food Rx for PMS (2025), and co-chairs the Provider Nutrition Education Task Force at Harvard Law School's Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation. In 2016, he was named medical honoree of the American Cancer Society of New England for his work bringing nutrition education to cancer prevention.
Naomi Czupryna is a mixed media artist, Army veteran, and storyteller. Born and raised in Dayton, Tennessee, she grew up a poor kid, a nerd, and often a quiet observer — roles that shaped the way she sees the world. After earning her business degree from Middle Tennessee State University, she commissioned into the Army and deployed twice to Baghdad as a Platoon Leader and Company Commander. One bomb — and the anger, shame, and guilt that followed — eventually led her to pick up a paintbrush, and she’s never looked back.
Sam Holmstock is a co-founder of the band, ENTRAIN, and has performed with Babatunde Olatunji, Bo Diddley, Gil Scott-Heron, Kate and James Taylor, Bob Weir, and Bill Clinton. A Berklee grad(78), Sam is currently on the faculty of Cotuit Center for the Arts and brings therapeutic drumming to neurodiverse and developmentally disabled communities on Cape Cod.
Mark Gilliard is Director of the Falmouth Community Veterans Center, where he develops programs and partnerships that support veterans and their families. A retired U.S. Air Force veteran with 25 years of service, Mark has also worked directly with wounded, ill, and injured service members, helping connect veterans to resources that support healing, resilience, and community. Mark will speak to a program, Guitars 4 Vets, which teaches veterans to play guitar as a path toward healing, helping them find connection and calm through music.
Raja Sinjab, PhD, LMHC, ATR, is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Registered Art Therapist, and Co-Founder of Real Eyes Truth Inc., a holistic mental health nonprofit serving Cape Cod. Her work integrates traditional mental health care with expressive arts and holistic practices, with a focus on addressing trauma and helping individuals, families, and communities find connection, healing, and resilience.