CINCINNATI — Chaz Walker strums his guitar. He's sitting on a piano bench in his home studio in Evanston — a studio that is also his dining room. On the wall behind him, there's a picture of Walker with Bootsy Collins.
Walker hasn't reached those heights, but he's not giving up his dream. He's practicing for his next open mic.
“I suffer from schizoaffective disorder,” Walker said. “It’s a combination of bipolar and schizophrenia.”
It means he sometimes hears voices in his head, which can lead to hallucinations. Except when he's playing guitar.
Walker plays at the Recovery Center of Hamilton County each month. It's a place for people living with mental illness. Downstairs next to the cafeteria, Walker plugs in his guitar and microphone. There's an announcement over the intercom.
Soon, a woman reads a poem about obsessive-compulsive disorder. It's called, “It’s all in my head.”
“Welcome to the open mic,” Walker says a few minutes later. “I hope you are enjoying yourselves.”
They are. And so is Walker.
“We like to give people back what they lost to their illness,” said Bill Brown, community engagement director for the recovery center. “And that’s what we do.”
The idea is to give people a safe space to express themselves with programs that go beyond therapy — but can be just as important.
“Part of Chaz’s recovery is tied to open mic,” Brown said. “It’s just joyous. It’s a fun time.”
In a conference room, Bryan Goddard snaps his fingers. He's singing a Nat King Cole song. In the back of the room, others smile and snap along with him.
“This is a gift from heaven,” Goddard said. "Believe it or not, it actually saved my life."
When his wife died in 2011, Goddard fell into a deep depression. Music was all he had.
“It was the one thing I could go to when everything else failed," he said.
While singing on a recent Friday afternoon, Goddard starts to cry. It’s a similar passion for Walker. At one point, he plays the guitar with his teeth.
“Music is my life,” he said.
Walker grew up listening to Jimi Hendrix on repeat. But in the late 80s, he slammed his head into a dry-cleaning machine at work. He said he woke up believing he was in the CIA. Over the next few years, Walker lost his home and became addicted to cocaine before turning his life around.
Eventually, Walker got his GED from Cincinnati State. He credits music, open mic nights and another event he calls a mental health talent show.
"Mental illness is just like any other kind of illness," he said. "But the stigma of mental illness is very profound."
And he uses events like this to try to help others.
“This time it’s my turn,” Walker sings. “To show the world my dreams come true.”
Dreams of showing the world mental illness can't stop him.
And it doesn't have to stop anyone.
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For more information about mental health programs at the Recovery Center of Hamilton County, visit this link. To listen to more of Walker's music, you can find him on SoundCloud.
