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Mental illness causing homelessness a peer reviewed study
Mental illness causing homelessness a peer reviewed study
Essays on homelessness and mental health
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Identification of Community Resource
The community resource chosen to report on is the Friends of the Homeless. They are located at 755 Worthington Street Springfield, MA. The main phone number for the Friends of the Homeless is (413) 732-3069 or they can be reached through their website, www.fohspringfield.org. Depending on what services are needed the service hours vary. The resource center was the main focus of the interview which is in operation from 8am to 5:30pm. The dining services are open for an hour during breakfast, lunch and dinner. The shelter is open from 5:30 pm to 8am. I interviewed the receptionist, and one of the volunteers that has served the Friends of the Homeless for many years, names are not included to protect confidentiality.
The reason that this resource was chosen was it is an area that I do not know much about. The services to homeless population are areas that I feel are important to the community, and knowing about the resources available locally can help put me in touch with information that may be helpful for the patients I may serve in the future.
Overview of Resource
Friends of the Homeless is one of the largest emergency shelters for the homeless population in this area. They provide shelter for men and women; serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner; help place people in permanent housing; provide a resource center which provides dental and medical care along with training in computers, job readiness to dealing with mental health and substance abuse issues. They aim to get people back on track and help them to deal with issues that may have led them to become homeless.
The mission of Friends for the Homeless (2013) “...is assiting people that are homeless. We strive to bring dignity to p...
... middle of paper ...
...eat resource for people expierencing homelessness.
In the future, I think this will impact the way that I see individuals that are homeless. In knowing about this resource, this will be a resource that I will be able to utilize in helping peopel that under my care. Homelessness is a major issue, and can greatly impact a person in ways of body, mind, and soul. By providing shelters and resources, a person can gain information and resources while being taken care of on a basic level.
Works Cited
Friends of the Homeless. Get the facts on Homelessness. (2014). Retrieved April 5, 2014, from http://www.fohspringfield.org/index.php?cID=586 U.S.Department of Health and Human Services . (2003, September). Potential core performance measures for homeless-specific service programs. Retrieved April 6, 2014, from
http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/homelessness/perf-ind03/ch4.htm
When people see the homeless, they are quick to assume whether the homeless are where they’re at because of drugs, or not being in a stable environment. However, homeless people rarely receive an opportunity to tell their life stories or even have the chance to explain how they ended up in the situations they are in. Homelessness in Boston has persisted and increased for decades. Though there have been efforts to combating the issues of homelessness and housing, it appears that there is no solution in sight. Winter have become nightmares for most of the homeless population in Boston. Weather ranges from thirty degrees down to ten, sometimes single numbers. Weather that is below freezing are moments where people like myself, need to be in warm places. Kourtney McLean is a woman financially and emotionally not stable enough to take care of herself. Ms. McLean has been living on the streets for almost all her life --homeless and struggling to get on her
Kenyon, Thomas. L. What you can do to help the homeless. New York: Simon & Schuster. 1991. Print.
...on the homeless community. I previously held preconceived notions that the homeless consisted of people who were either unable to connect and form relationships with others or didn’t desire to do so. Yet, I observed most everyone greeting one another and reminiscing with those who have been absent from the community for a while, as well as, expressing concern for those missing. I recognized that the homeless may live in a non-traditional way, but they have established their own communities and are successful in forming and maintaining cohesive relationships.
Yet, according to the National Resource Center (NRC) on Homelessness and Mental Illness, 80% of the homeless population is off of the streets within 2 to 3 weeks. The NRC is the only national center specifically focused on the effective organization and delivery of services to the homeless and the mentally ill. It is important to note that the NRC reports 10% of people are homeless for 2 months and only 10% are chronically homeless. This fact shows that many people want to get back to ordinary lives and will work hard to do so, in spite of Awalt’s
Homelessness in the United States has been an important subject that the government needs to turn its attention to. There has been announced in the news that the number of the homeless people in many major cities in the United States has been increasing enormously. According to United States Interagency Council on Homelessness reported that there was an estimation of 83,170 individuals have experienced chronic homelessness on the streets of the United States’ streets and shelters on only a single night of January 2015, which is a small decrease of only 1% from the previous year (People Experiencing Chronic Homelessness, n.d.). The United States must consider this subject that most of the people underestimate it and not pay attention
Although most people know what homelessness is and it occurs in most societies, it is important to define because the forces of displacement vary greatly, along with the arrangement and meaning of the resulting transient state. The Stewart B McKinney Homeless Assistance Act of 1987 defined a homeless person as “an individual who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence or a person who resides in a shelter, welfare hotel, transitional program or place not ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation, such as streets, cars, movie theaters, abandoned buildings, etc.” Resent surveys conducted in the U.S. have confirmed that the homeless population in America is extremely diverse and includes representatives from all segments of society, including: the old and young, men and women, single people and families, city dwellers and rural residents, whites and people of color, employed and unemployed, able workers and people with serious health problems. The diversity among people that are homeless reflects how difficult it is to generalize the causes of homelessness and the needs of homeless people. Robert Rosenheck M.D., the author of Special Populations of Homeless Americans, explains the importance of studying homelessness based on subgroups, “each subgroup [of homeless people] has unique service needs and identifying these needs is critical for program planning and design.” Despite these diversities, homelessness is a devastating situation for all that experience it. Not only have homeless people lost their dwelling, but they have also lost their safety, privacy, control, and domestic comfort.
With the rising number of homeless rising every night it is becoming harder for the shelters to house them since they do not have enough space or resources available to help. Since 2013 there has not been a new report done to count how many homeless people are living in Phoenix, but one thing that is known is that an “anticipated 250 families in Maricopa County are homeless every night”(Taylor ). There are currently 13 shelters that house the homeless each night in Phoenix, AZ, many of them not only provide housing but also “services such as alcohol and drug rehab treatment along with clinics’ (Phoenix Homeless Shelters & Services for the Needy.) Though the shelters do provide some help there is not enough of them to provide the assistance and housing needed to help the homeless. The number of shelters is not enough and more need to be built with proper staffing and resources to help keep the homeless people out of the unforgiving Phoenix heat and possible death. If
"Overview of Homelessness In America." Homelessness In America. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Dec. 2013. .
Many believe that a common thread among the homeless is a lack of permanent and stable housing. But beyond that, the factors leading to homelessness and the services that are needed are unique according to the individual. To put them into one general category ? the homeless- suggests that people are homeless for similar reasons and therefore a single solution is the answer. Every homeless person shares the basic needs of affordable housing, adequate incomes and attainable healthcare. But a wide range of other unmet needs cause some people to become or remain homeless which include drug treatment, employment training, transportation, childcare and mental health services (Center 8.)
"Who Is Homeless?" Nationalhomeless. National Coalition for the Homeless, July 2009. Web. 3 May 2014. .
.... The homeless community is a growing problem that only worsens with time. If we don’t make an effort now, to help the most vulnerable among us, then we are only contributing to this problem. With our unsure economy, nothing is guaranteed, so just be considerate for others who are in an inferior situation, because who knows when you might need a hand.
There are many other cases of why the homeless are homeless like domestic violence, mental illness, addictions, and unaffordable health care. Homelessness is a problem which has been caused by many different aspects but mainly money because of massive unemployment rates. A hidden aspect to homelessness that we may not think of is ...
“Homeless is more than being without a home. It is tied into education needs, food, security; health issues both mental and physical, employment issues, etc. Don’t forget the whole picture.” (“Boxed In” 2005 pg. 108)
As the number of homeless people in America continues to rise, homelessness has become a central issue in the County of Orange. A homeless person can be defined as an individual who lacks a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence and has a primary nighttime residence that is a supervised, publicly or privately operated shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations. (“U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development”) Whether homelessness is a result of individual choices, drug abuse, poor work ethic or the expensive cost of living, one thing is for sure, statistics show that the homeless population in Orange County has increased 54% over the past four years. As Orange County has 5 of the
Fitzpatrick, Joanne. “ONI Opening Doors Project—Improving Health for Homeless People and Families.” Community Practitioner 85.2 (2012): 19+. Academic OneFile. Web. 17 Oct. 2013.