A Story of Hope
A Soldier’s Journey Through Loss, Addiction, and Resilience
Terry served in the United States Army when he was 20 years old. During his time, he saw many disturbing scenes and became good at burying his feelings and emotions, which carried on with him for some time. Once Terry got out of the Army, he enrolled in college at Kentucky State University, where he got his bachelor’s degree in education. Within a 5-year span, Terry lost 5 people who were very close to him, most importantly, his mother. Terry was unable to deal with the pain because his mother was always there for him, so he started using drugs to cope. Terry went to graduate school and got a master’s degree in education and began teaching. It got to a point where Terry had lost everything, he was homeless, had no where to go, was cold, hungry. One day, something told Terry that he should walk into the Joseph House. When Terry walked in there, Sean, a Military & Veteran Service Job Developer, was in there as well. Terry and Sean talked and worked together for a few months and ended up finding a job with Easterseals Redwood as a Direct Support Professional at the Cincinnati Museum Center.