A Home First

They can be found carrying on very animated conversations with themselves, living on park benches, under overpasses or out of cardboard boxes. They often misinterpret people when they try to help and live within a protective bubble where they feel safe. The problem is that they are not safe they are not healthy, and they are more than anything without a home.

 

Closing of Mental Institutions

In the 1980’s when Ronald Reagan closed mental institutions without first developing a transitional plan, a large number of people ended up on the streets, with nowhere to go and no tools to survive. Even today, institutions, hospitals, individuals, police and politicians are accused of dumping people with disabilities onto city streets across our country. Headlines from newspapers remind us that dumping disabled persons is nothing new and may even be on the increase. Even hidden security cameras have captured video of disabled persons, still in hospital gowns, being dumped on city streets with no place to go. Prior to 1980, there were very few, if any, homeless people with mental illness on the streets of America.

 

Mental Healthcare in America

Compared to the rest of the world, America has one of the lower rates of recovery from such mental health conditions as schizophrenia. America has one of the most over – prescribed mental health systems in the world. Many other countries have a far greater recovery rate without the use of excessive medication partly because there is enhanced social support and a greater sense of inclusiveness. America has a long history of asylum care, and the process of integration is not so popular here as it is in other countries. Rather than, lock  individuals up who struggle with mental illness, many countries choose to include them in society and provide much needed assistance.

 

Looking at the Real Problem

Many well-intended programs to end homelessness and mental illness have focused on treatment first, and housing second. Sam Tsemberies, Ph.D., Founder and Executive Director at Pathways to Housing discovered that mentally ill homeless people really want and need housing first and treatment second. The problem as they see it, according to Tsemberies is housing not necessarily their mental illness. Taking care of their housing needs first take tremendous pressure off of them so that the illness can be identified and properly treated. Just the reduction in stress that is felt when one actually has a home is incredible. People in the program are given an apartment, and they help to pick furnishings and start to take responsibility while being supported by a team of professionals. The program fosters social inclusion where people with mental disabilities are able to live in the community with others. As the clients become more and more independent, the amount of time that the team spends with them, become less and less. Eventually they can live on his or her own as an integrated member of society. So far, the program has spread to several cities and has had an excellent rate of success.

 

About the Author: Susan Patterson is a homeschool mother and a freelance writer who assesses the impact that social services software has on the ability to reach people in need.