Our Stories
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Our Stories
Roger A. Zellars
Cincinnati, OH
I am a Vietnam veteran and a recovering alcoholic with 20 years of sobriety, and I have worked at Prospect House, a long-term residential treatment program for nineteen years, counseling and helping men get their lives back on track.
I grew up in a home with strict and firm discipline, and sometimes hostile treatment from the aunt who raised me. At the time I did not realize it, but this was to prepare me for the journey of my life
I served five years in the Army before I was sent to fight in Vietnam. Vietnam was the starting point of my alcoholism; my Vietnam experience changed my life forever. After Vietnam I served five more years in the Army and left the Army due to the death of my wife.
Now a civilian, I had to adapt to life all over again. By this time drinking had become a major part of my life. Although I went to college and earned a degree, my drinking would eventually spiral out of control. Not realizing it, I was suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and would eventually give up everything and live homeless at a park for nearly two years. My thinking was that, if I could live in the jungles of Vietnam, I certainly could survive in a park.
I became tired of being tired, and met someone that talked about treatment at the Veteran’s Administration facility. I decided to try it. In the beginning of my treatment I was hostile and angry, but with the help of a very good counselor I soon learned about the disease I was suffering from, and began my journey in recover.
As I reflect back I know that it was God’s grace and mercy, along with Him doing for me what I could not do for myself.
In 2001 I attended the St. Paul Summit. When I returned to my home in Cincinnati, I realized that there was much that could be done to support recovery. Joining with David Logan, I founded Faces & Voices of Recovery in Cincinnati, Ohio and have been doing recovery advocacy ever since.
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