Comments on: Homeless

By: Tesa

Tesa — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 22:52:30 +0000

Jane, it’s really great to hear that you are so invested in your clients and I know it’s a very hard job to do. A friend of mine who is now an attorney used to work in a women’s shelter in California, with some families (mothers and their kids), and she was just overwhelmed by some of the things she saw and heard on a daily basis. But it was definitely an education for her since she went on to work with non-profits around truancy issues tied to poverty. It really helps to know that there are people like you and her out there who are really looking at the uniqueness of each situation. Ours is definitely an example of the connections between mental illness and homelessness. We consider ourselves blessed to have my mother mostly back to herself these days and her experience helps us keep things in perspective. I know that there’s such a shortage of resources for this kind of work.

By: Jane AAR

Jane AAR — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 21:28:32 +0000

Thank you all for your kind comments.

Susan/DC: Yes, they are closing all but one, and one of the ones closing is our local institution, Searcy Hospital. What you said about the costs diffusing into different systems is so true. Apparently their plan is to relocate patients to private centers (if they can afford it), local hospitals, and hospital psych wards. But I can’t tell you how many times someone has been released from the hospital and sent to us, because they didn’t have anywhere to go, while still being unable to care for his/herself. One of the scarier phone calls/emails to get is from someone asking to help us find someone who had been released, who is paranoid schizophrenic with homicidal/suicidal ideation. Oh, and he might just be hanging out at your day center. All it’s going to do is have these people go in and out of the ERs and jails, when they get arrested because they don’t understand what is happening, and the police can’t communicate.

Tesa- I’m sorry your family struggled with that. Your situation is one I see often, too, when a client’s family is far away and unable to get them back home, for whatever reason. I get a lot of calls from concerned family members, and that is so important, even if they have a hard time helping. I got a heartbreaking call the other day from a client’s sister-in-law, crying because she had heard her B-I-L was dead. Luckily, he was not — though given that he has full-blown AIDS, it will surely happen soon — and I was able to put him on the phone. What bothers me is when my clients have family in the city, and that family is fully aware of the situation but don’t do anything. I understand every situation is different, and that many of my clients have burned bridges with their family, but there is very, very little that would keep me from giving my sister or brother a place to stay when they don’t have anywhere to go.

By: Tesa

Tesa — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 21:06:53 +0000

Just from the perspective of a family member who has had a homeless loved one (my mother), I can honestly say that if the family is not in the area they may not even know. My mother, who had become an empty-nester after my sister left to live with her father, decided it would be exciting to leave her life in California and relocate to Florida with a close friend. I was still in California in a really demanding graduate program at the time and she and I communicated by telephone, pretty regularly at that. It wasn’t until I stopped receiving phone calls from her that I even found out from another of her friends she contacted that she and the friend she moved with had fallen out. The friend abandoned her, she had no money or contacts in the area, and circumstances along with other issues she had resulted in a mental breakdown of sorts. She was literally in shelters until she was placed in a facility where she got enough treatment to get stable and let us know the trouble she was in.

Long story short, we pooled our resources, got her back to California and it took about three years for her to become mentally stable enough to live on her own again and accept that she’d need medication for the duration. It is without a doubt one of the most devastating things that has ever happened to me and my family and the worst of it is knowing that there are pieces of her life she still finds too painful to share with us from that time. The other part that’s really painful is that before she had to leave the apartment she shared with the friend, she knew she had nowhere to go out there and she just didn’t tell us because she was ashamed and didn’t want to burden us. All of that to say, there’s a lot going on when the homeless have family members. They’re not all purposely neglectful, or in our case, even cognizant of the situation.

By: Ell

Ell — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 20:31:30 +0000

oh Jane, I agree with every single word you said. But there is more, of course. When I drive into Austin to see my kids, virtually every street corner in town has its own panhandler – a whole lot of these people are young and very aggressive. And homeless, at least technically.

And then an addiction counselor I know from church told me about how she threw her 16 year old out to live on the street because he refused to give up drugs. I know she saw it as tough love, and maybe it was the best thing to do. I don’t think I could have done it though.

Beyond things like that, our population is aging, and how many folks will be able to afford nursing homes when they can’t take care of themselves anymore? And where will they go?

By: Susan/DC

Susan/DC — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 18:21:22 +0000

So the state will close all but one mental institution? I understand that state budgets have been squeezed mightily, but this kind of action often provides examples of a negative trickle-down effect where costs, not benefits, trickle down to the next level of government. As people are discharged from the state institutions, they often wind up in emergency rooms or jails. The state may not pay for those but taxpayers still do, although through their city and county instead of state taxes (and some hospital costs through the federal government), as well as through higher insurance premiums.

By: leslie

leslie — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 17:08:22 +0000

There are many degrees of homelessness. Most people asscociate “homeless” with the addicts and mentally ill we see living rough on the streets. But so many homeless are hidden, they live in cars, campers, abandoned homes, and other buildings. Rents are so high, that people can’t afford both an office and a home. I know several reputable men who live in their offices in secret. I see women at my gym shifting lockers with their belongings hoping no one will notice. Libraries, cafes, malls, are full of non streeters if you look you may notice or maybe you won’t. One women who comes to the clinic where I work once a week told me she works very hard at not looking “homeless”. She is 54 and has lived on the street for 5 years and it was for financial reasons that she ended up living in her car, then eventually on the street. She told me how it was impossible to keep a job especially after losing her car (towed by police). This is happening all over America. With our Veterans returning we will have even more men living on the streets, for lack of sevices provided by VA and the Government. Don’t give money to panhandlers, help out by donating money, clothing, camping gear, shoes and blankets to local foodbanks, shelters, or any organization who provides for the homeless.
A young woman I know spent her high school years living in a garage. When her illegal home was discovered by the owner, the man and his wife called their pastor instead of the police. The girl is now in law school, she wants to become an advocate for children who end up screwed by the system and left to fend for themselves.
Jane you are right on about lack of contact for the homeless. Many are abandoned by their families. It effects so much not having friends, family, affection or support. Not everyone who ends up homeless is mentally ill, but they end up becoming mentally ill, the stress is unbearable. Can you imagine what it would be like to lose everything! Have no where private and safe to sleep or just sit and relax or place your belongings?
This is my bandwagon. Helping the Homeless.
So thanks Jane for your article but mostly for your service in Alabama.

By: Karenmc

Karenmc — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 16:57:54 +0000

Thanks for sharing this, and for your service.

By: lauren

lauren — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 16:12:50 +0000

It takes a special person to do this kind of work…great patience and understanding.
There are many reasons a family will “disown” a loved one and that loved one may find themselves in a homeless shelter or worse on the streets. Family is not always equipped to handle the person who may be mentally ill and or who suffers from addictions. The saddest thing is that many people do not recognize that someone needs help and the person needing help does not seek it for many reasons.
However…the most distressingthing to me is the fact that many cannot afford help…and what help is out there is inadequate at best because of cost.

By: JFTEE-Auburn

JFTEE-Auburn — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 14:57:57 +0000

How very humbling. It is when I read articles like yours that I get embarrassed to myself. I have problems and all of them are solvable if inconvenient and uncomfortable, and all pale to frivolous when compared to the people in your care. It is good to be jolted back to reality and regain a clearer perspective. Thanks.

By: LeeB.

LeeB. — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 14:56:39 +0000

Excellent blog Jane. I know a lot of homeless people spend time at the main library and/or the convention center in my city. But as I walk through the park on the way to work in the mornings, I know a lot of homeless people sleep out in the elements. Very sad.