Published On: 11.11.23 | 

By: Ali Nolan

John Kilpatrick and Vets Recover are on a mission to help Alabama’s veterans

John Kilpatrick, the founder and executive director of Vets Recover, has envisioned an inpatient detox and treatment center in Mobile since 2018. That center is slated to open by the end of 2023. (Vets Recover)

John Kilpatrick didn’t just return to Alabama because it’s home – he came back to improve the lives of veterans in the state. Born in Mobile, Kilpatrick joined the United States Marine Corps straight out of high school and has served in the military for the past 37 years. It was through his own recovery that he knew he needed to help others like him.

“After Desert Storm, I struggled with a lot of post-war stuff, like a lot of soldiers and Marines do,” he said. “I found myself addicted to alcohol. In 1996 I got sober and have been sober ever since. But in the process of trying to help the next person find recovery, I got really frustrated that there was nowhere to get help, especially for veterans.”

After Kilpatrick reached sobriety, he went into the Army Reserve and served as a Medical Service Corps officer for almost 28 years. During an 18-month tour at the Pentagon, he worked on the Army substance use program and realized that the clinical approach to treating addiction didn’t align with his personal recovery experience. Instead of merely complaining about it, he decided to start Vets Recover, which offers specialized integrated care for veterans.

John Kilpatrick tours the construction site of the new Vets Recover Residential Treatment Center. (Vets Recover)

“I thought that there had to be some way to connect what I call ‘street-smart recovery’ with what the theories and the doctors and the textbooks were saying,” he said. “And so that’s what we really set out to do with Vets Recover. We’re combining the science and medical practice with our own personal experience in recovery.”

To bring his vision to life, Kilpatrick assembled a team of experts who were also veterans. They built the program with an emphasis on having a supportive community in which veterans could connect through their lived experiences and hold each other accountable.

Since the outpatient clinic opened in November 2018, Vets Recover has served about 1,500 veterans, first responders and family members. It’s also met the standard to be a certified community behavioral health clinic, which combines primary care, mental health, and addiction and substance use treatment all in one place. The Alabama Power Foundation is among the organization’s supporters.

From the very beginning of Vets Recover, Kilpatrick recognized the need and set a goal of building an inpatient detox and treatment facility. Construction is underway for a Vets Recover residential treatment center, which Kilpatrick says is on track to open by the end of 2023.

When he’s not working, Kilpatrick spends his time on the water and with his family. We recently asked him to talk more about his love for his home state.

This is Alabama: Why was it important to have Vets Recover in Alabama?

John Kilpatrick: We have one of the highest concentrations of veterans in the country. A lot of people don’t know that Alabama’s home to almost 400,000 veterans.

You know, only about one-third of one percent of [the U.S.] population serves in the military. You’ve got a pretty small population of people who have some very unique experiences, and if you don’t understand that culture, it’s really difficult to connect. So, what Vets Recover sets out to do is provide a facility staffed by experts who have military cultural competency in order to effectively treat veterans.

In Mobile, the key unmet need is a detox and residential treatment center. We don’t have a detox facility south of Birmingham in our state. That’s for anyone, not just veterans, but for anyone. It’s been an urgent unmet need in our community for 20-plus years.

A tour of the new inpatient facility brought community leaders and stakeholders together. From left, Stephen McNair, historic preservation consultant; Ben Cummings, Cummings Architecture Firm; Keysha Brown, city of Mobile Mayor’s Office; John Kilpatrick, Vets Recover, and Sissy Louise Moore, Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs. (Vets Recover)

TIA: Tell us about an Alabamian who inspires you and why.

Kilpatrick: Will Kimbrough. I don’t know if you know Will, but he’s a singer-songwriter who grew up in Mobile and had a band in the ’90s called Will and The Bushmen. They had a couple of hits and then kind of just drifted off a little bit. But he has become a prolific songwriter and has written songs for Jimmy Buffett and Emmylou Harris.

I was on active duty with the Army Reserve. I’m still serving, soon to retire in November. But I was at Camp Atterbury, Indiana, which is in the middle of nowhere. Just by chance, I looked at Facebook and I saw that Will Kimbrough was playing in Edinburgh, Indiana, which is about 30 minutes away. So I grabbed an Army buddy and we decided to go down to this music festival where Will and another musician, Grayson Capps from Fairhope, were playing at this music festival. And, you know, I think the thing that is so special about Will is that he is completely Alabama.

He sings about it. He writes about it. He talks about it. And the other thing that is really special about him and how I’ve kind of gotten to know him over the years is, he does this program where he uses songwriting to help veterans recover from post-traumatic stress.

Songwriting is the perfect outlet for someone to get all this angst and garbage that’s inside of us from experiencing these horrific situations. It is the perfect method to get that out. And I think it’s just really special that a guy from Mobile, Alabama, is able to exist at this level in the entertainment industry, make a living, singing and songwriting, but then take that gift and bring it to help veterans heal from trauma of war. I think that’s just really special.

TIA: What is your favorite part about living in Alabama?

Kilpatrick: Well, it’s home. And I have a lot of family here. But for me, I think it’s access to the water. Fish, sail, scuba dive, take my kids boating and pull a tube in a circle for days and hours. You know, pretty much anything on the water is enjoyable to me.

TIA: What’s the most beautiful place in the state?

Kilpatrick: It’s definitely Dauphin Island. I’ve been all over the world. I’ve been to some really beautiful places. And there’s just nothing like the white sand and the Gulf. And then on the backside of the island, you have the back bays and there’s really very few places in the world where you can catch saltwater fish and freshwater fish. There are just all sorts of wildlife there – just thousands of migratory birds who come through there that are nowhere else in the world.

It all kind of starts with the Delta and it all comes down through the bay. Dauphin Island seems to be kind of the culmination of what that Delta ecosystem produces for us in a way of ecological diversity.

There’s a reason Dauphin Island is called “the sunset capital.” (Jane Walton)

TIA: What’s one restaurant you recommend people go to when they visit your town?

Kilpatrick: Oh, let’s see. There are so many good ones. I will just say this; whatever you do, wherever you go, order fresh Gulf seafood. There are a dozen or more restaurants that serve fresh Gulf seafood. The latest one I went to was The Royal Scam. It’s a fantastic restaurant right down on Royal Street near downtown. And you know, they do a fantastic job. But there are probably two dozen more that do a great job as well. There are so many. And what I usually say is, you just need to come to my house when I make gumbo.

This story was previously published by This is Alabama. Want to read more good news about Alabama? Sign up for the This is Alabama newsletter here.