Marine Corps Veteran and Former VA Employee Empowered by Gratitude and Resilience
As a retired Veteran and Madison VA employee, Roland “Rollie” Carothers’ perspective on the impact of depression and chronic pain is personal. He hopes he can use his 22 years of experience to help other Veterans.
Carothers first served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1967–1969 and was exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam. Several years later, he joined the Army Reserve and Army National Guard, where he injured his back during training.
“My ears are goofed up from the noise in Vietnam and I have tinnitus,” Carothers shared. “I hurt my back in war games training as an instructor and have a valve in my heart that is due to Agent Orange exposure. VA said maybe I could get some benefit from addressing the depression and chronic pain.”
The Madison VA Empower Program introduced Carothers to seeing pain and depression from a wider perspective. Team members partner with Veterans impacted by chronic pain to help them live their fullest life. After reviewing Madison VA’s health and wellness calendar, he chose one small step - listening to meditation recordings - to get started.
“My favorite recording was the one about the mountain. Now when I get a headache, I can make it go away just by the meditation that I learned.”
Carothers continued his journey with his Madison VA team, which included one-on-one health coaching to explore what matters to him and to support his goals. One goal was to learn about stress reduction through mindfulness by joining a VA CALM class. At first, he started with short meditation practices and often fell asleep. Over time, he progressed to longer and more advanced sessions, including gratitude exercises, which help Veterans focus on the positives in life rather than the negatives.
“It made me more aware of how the mind processes things. I can make my life better just by having gratitude and becoming more aware of all the blessings that I do have.”
During Carothers’ career at the Madison VA, he spent more than three years transporting Veteran patients, so he knows first-hand that everyone has a different mindset about their health. For the Wisconsin native, he attributes his success to living the Whole Health philosophy - giving himself permission to care for himself, so he can care for others.
“They have given me a gift of taking care of myself in this program. When I get depressed thinking about other stressors in my life, I can sit down for 15-20 minutes and get into my mediation safe place, my Zen zone. My glass is now more than half full.”
Carothers’ advice to Veterans with depression and chronic pain is simple,
“You have to be receptive to have this process work. Open your heart and mind up - especially the mind - and trust in the guidance of this program.”
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To learn more about self-care, visit www.va.gov/madison-health-care/programs/whole-health/, talk to your primary care provider or contact 608-256-1901, ext. 12537.
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