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Hi there. I am starting a thread for the first time. I hope that I don't get flamed out and banned. The subject I want to talk about is not funny or humorous (but I do have funny stories). I work in the field of homelessness. I am not a social justice warrior so please bear with me. A bit about me: As a young man I grew up on the west coast. I moved to the east coast and worked as a medical chemist for around 9 years. I started a family and the city I was in was not conducive to raising children safely. I returned to the west coast and was having a hard time finding work as a medical chemist. My first job offer was from a scary man who offered me 25k to start a meth lab. At this point in my life it was hard to say no due to the level of my desperation. I took some time to think and decided that there was a future in addiction counseling (shocking right?). I took a college course on addiction and community support and incurred about 25k in student loans to be able to sleep at night. What happened next is the most exciting chapter in my life. I decided to perform my practicum at the local homeless shelter. I started out as a petrified student going to a place that always had firetrucks. ambulances and police on site. From student I went to On Call staff for 4 months. After that I became "Front Line" staff for 14 months. Then I became a Caseworker to the homeless for 3 years and 14 months ago I became manager in charge of Casework, Street level Outreach and Internships for the organization. Please don't think that I am bragging in any way. My intention with this thread is not to talk about how "great" I am. I am in search of understanding and catharsis. I hope to share knowledge and in the sharing reach a better understanding of myself. Where I live we are in a state of emergency due to fentanyl. Area-wide we have lost approx 1k people due to overdose in the last 12 months. I go to work every day wondering who died. I don't necessarily want to focus on overdose deaths but this is a large reason on why I am here. I cannot vent to my employees, I cannot vent to my superiors (as they are faith based and have agendas) and have few professional supports to talk to. I hope to share experience and knowledge with those that are interested. Rules for you: Please don't ask me to identify clients/coworkers/locations Please don't flame for the sake of flaming Rules for me: I will endeavor to keep clients and coworkers anonymous I will try to use numbers and percentages out of things unless I have personally performed the research (call me on this) any statistics I am not totally sure of will be worded in terms like majority/minority or anything not having numbers attached and should be considered as opinions I will answer honestly (even if it makes me look bad) I hope to share some of my experience and knowledge. I hope to even perhaps help others to understand and look at things differently. Fire away, ask anything to do with the homeless and those that work with them.
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May 5, 2017 06:37
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Since you feel like you can't vent to anyone/have no support, have you considered seeing a councillor or therapist? Burning out is a real risk for people in your line of work.
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May 5, 2017 10:49
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Agreeing with Scudworth, can you talk to a therapist or counselor? Professional burnout is a big deal in any line of work, but rates run much higher in social work than in most fields. And it's something that can ruin you for a couple years if you don't catch it early enough.
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May 5, 2017 11:19
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I have actually talked to a counselor as it comes in my benefit package. I'm not really looking for a pity party here, I just thought to share some knowledge and experience.
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May 5, 2017 13:08
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1) What's one thing we can do to improve homelessness 2) Does throwing money at the problem work, or would that just require another bundle of money next week and next month and next year
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May 5, 2017 16:10
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What inspired the field switch into addiction counseling? E.g. did you have personal experience with addiction prior to going into that field? (If too personal, feel free to disregard the question) This is an extremely broad question, but very interested in your perspective on this: what key factors, based on your experience, lead to addiction? What is key for recovery? Psychological factors, social support, environmental exposure, etc.
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May 5, 2017 16:15
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I also spend a great deal of my time at work with homeless populations. We do targeted outreach towards Veterans and homeless families in the Oklahoma City area. Overwhelmingly, the margin of error between paycheck to paycheck and homelessness is razor thin. One major medical expense with no paid sick leave, or a car breaking down with no emergency fund can easily lead to homelessness.
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May 5, 2017 16:52
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@ photomikey 1) Many of the issues causing homelessness in my region are systemic. It is a mixture of low wages, no government intervention and unbridled greed from landlords in a hot market that is not regulated. As an individual I would say that one thing a person can do would be to not instantly judge homeless people or make assumptions. This vulnerable population is already disenfranchised and dehumanized by society at large and the simple act of giving respect might push them in a new direction. Some of the biggest impacts that I have made were with off-handed remarks that I did not think much about. I have learned through error that off-handed remarks cut both ways so I am quite careful about any potentially negative things I might say. 2) Money always helps in supporting programs that are already in place to help. If you interested in giving my personal advice would be to find a charity with a philosophy that you agree with and donate that way. Just throwing money at it does not help. There needs to be structure, accountability and good shepherding of resources. Also this cuts down on waste and duplication of services. @Mumby Box Not too personal as my personal experiences have led me to the life I live. When I was 21 my first son was born. He saved my life. I stayed home with him as he was allergic to sleep and I was helping my wife. 2 weeks after he was born my best friend got a $5m inheritance from his grandfather who worked in the oil industry. So while I stayed home with my family my entire circle of friends started smoking crack. When my son started sleeping through the night I started visiting my friends and I saw the devastation that had happened. I missed the party. I did not see the "fun" part and only saw how low all of my friends fell. It was shortly after this that I decided that my home town had nothing to offer me. That is how I ended up moving my family across the continent. I took the lessons that my friends taught me and never personally fell into addiction. To this day I credit my son with saving my life. Here I will list what I will call single track avenues to addiction and this will be very simplistic (there can be many different combinations of interplay between avenues) From my personal observations I believe that there are 3 main avenues that lead into addiction #1 would be excitement and peer pressure (the party), #2 would be traumatic events and #3 would be depression/hopelessness/loss. Something I find interesting is that there are trends in what types of substances are used depending on which avenue. Avenue #1 will quite often be stimulant addiction such as crystal meth, crack/cocaine or even prescription amphetamines. Avenue #2 will quite often be opiate addiction such as oxy-codone, dilaudid, heroin or fentanyl. Avenue #3 will usually be alcohol. Again this is personal observation. A sad thing that I am seeing is that all tracks seem to lead to fentanyl these days. In my city we are seeing overdoses happen from fentanyl being mixed into all street drugs including marijuana. Hmmm, the "key" to recovery. That's a tough one. For most addictions I would say that learning effective coping strategies through either inpatient or outpatient treatment programs with a balanced mixture of professional, personal and hopefully family supports. There needs to be a recognition of triggers and a preset response to stressors. However, the most important ingredient to recovery is healthy self worth. This can be achieved through a "Higher Power" such as 12 step programs and Christian approaches (the assumption being that this Higher Power loves you thus giving you worth). It can also be achieved through social positive reinforcement and a sense of purpose. This purpose can come from employment, volunteering or care-giving. There is a very successful recovery centre here that assigns puppies to all new program participants. It is pretty new but is showing positive results. @f1av0r Yes it is heartbreaking. At the shelter I work at 1247 people accessed our shelter program from Jan 1, 2016 to Dec 31, 2016. 9% (112) of shelter users were canadian/american veterans and 11% (137) were over 65 years old, the oldest being 86. I live in a city where disability benefit rates can barely get you a bedroom and regular income assistance cannot get you anything. There is a 0.3% vacancy rate in the rental market so a lot of people are turning to selling drugs in order to make ends meat further exacerbating the problem. I apologize if my spelling or grammar are off, I am typing responses to questions after a 10 hour work day and my brain hiccups a bit.
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May 6, 2017 02:25
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This is a good thread OP. Would you say that addiction and homelessness got worse in the last decade? I'm not a US resident so I'm not sure just how bad it is, aside from the overdose deaths.
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May 8, 2017 13:25
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So, we have a grant that helps put people back into permanent housing, but it's not as intuitive as you might think. Basically, you qualify through mental health issues where you get placed with a community mental health center that has housing services, or you are someone about to be evicted and you are trying to prevent that process. The grant for eviction takes into consideration your rent/income/expense ratio and actually turns down alot of people who have unsustainable rent situations. It's quite common to find someone who signs a lease that's 50-70% of their take home. At some point they get evicted, so they find themselves unable to find a new apartment who will work with them, and begin staying at motel/hotels week to week. Eventually, some sort of unexpected expense happens again (get sick no pto, car breaks down can't repair, ect) and lose their job. We've had pretty good success with veterans, because there's a federal grant backing that up along with nonprofit groups. Personally, I would say a single dad with kids, are basically the forgotten demographic for homeless services. Typically, shelters or transitional programs split men from women with kids (for safety reasons). So you will have: Single men shelter, Single women or women with kids shelter, youth shelters, "Family shelters" that just split them into the previous groups.
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May 9, 2017 19:26
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@Horrible Lurkbeast The shelter I work at is funded for 60 low barrier men's beds in a community of approx 120k population. I started out in the industry in 2011 and then we were averaging 45-50 men in the winter and 70-75 men in the summer. Since 2015 we have been averaging 90~ men and we opened up a women's dorm that sleeps 20 and is always full. When I started there were a few somewhat functioning heroin addicts and the big problem was the growth of crystal meth and all the behaviors that come with that. Since the advent in fentanyl we have seen an explosion of opiate addiction that renders people completely non-functional. Now by no means are the hard drug addicts the majority. We serve a very diverse population that found many paths to homelessness. @f1av0r Wow sounds like your community has a lot more housing than mine. Hotels here cost about $2k in the winter and $4-5k in the summer making that route impossible. I totally agree that in every aspect of the social system single dads get hosed. Here if a single mother loses her housing the whole community bands together to find a solution; if a single father loses his housing the Ministry sends social workers to gank the kids as dad must be a deadbeat. Numbers are up so high that today for the first time in history we put up a full shelter sign. It was heartbreaking to tell people that they would have to sleep outside but the dorms are full and our dining room looks like a mash unit. As serious and important I find this thread I think that at the end of every post I will share one of my favorite memories be they funny or warm and fuzzy. (I apologize if I have black humor sometimes but that comes with the turf and isn't meant as insensitive). Today will be a two-for. 1) In my area there used to be a long term mental health hospital. Then the government decided that there should be no MH hospitals and that it was A-ok to be as mentally unwell as you wish. When the hospital closed they just released all of the patients into the wild with no care plan. I met on of these individuals after he had been drifting homeless for a number of years. This man had un-managed disorganized schizophrenia, severe diabetes and an overeating disorder. It was not unusual to call an ambulance when his sugars spiked to 35-40 (you want it under 10). Well after working with him and his mental health worker I was able to get him into independent supportive housing. When we gave him the key he went into his apartment and turned backed to me. He said " I am 49 years old and I have never had a key to anything". I cried like a little girl. That is one of my favorite memories. (he is still housed and mentally and medically stable after 3 years) 2) I have worked with a guy ever since I was a practicum student. This guy is the loving man. He is totally out there, a raging meth addict, Mensa level intelligent and fearless. One day he found an old Adidas kilt and decided that that was his new style. He cleaned it up and wore it constantly... traditionally. He also picked up Yoga. His new favorite thing to do was to walk up next to people eating lunch in the dining hall and do deep stretches with his foot on the table. His bits would poke out of the bottom of the kilt while the poor hapless diner would recoil in horror and pretend not to see. I spent many a hilarious lunch hours watching front line staff chase this guy around trying to stop him from stretching. (I have many small stories about the guy)
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May 11, 2017 04:24
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whoa whoa whoa... Adidas made kilts?
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Jun 21, 2017 21:01
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Forevergiving posted:A bit about me: Let me get this straight: You decided to use 25k from a meth lab start-up to get a 25k drug counseling diploma and become a casework manager. You figured the nitty gritty experience of the drug world would give you a critical edge above the competition as you climbed the management ladder on the solution side of it. It didn't make you uneasy because you told yourself that you were doing it to fix problems (specifically the ones you started by producing meth) and that it'd be better work than remaining a meth lab guy; a gig you had taken out of desperation over the lack of med chemistry jobs in the West Coast; which had been your plan A. As your plan B came together, the irony underlying your advantage started to feel like a heavy weight, one which you were struggling to conceal, because by then it started to feel like a testament to a duplicitous genius. That is why you posted this thread. You could no longer hide the duping delight that you are the sickness and the cure. Is that about the long and short of it?
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Jun 25, 2017 17:55
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Deep Thought posted:Let me get this straight: You decided to use 25k from a meth lab start-up to get a 25k drug counseling diploma and become a casework manager. You figured the nitty gritty experience of the drug world would give you a critical edge above the competition as you climbed the management ladder on the solution side of it. It didn't make you uneasy because you told yourself that you were doing it to fix problems (specifically the ones you started by producing meth) and that it'd be better work than remaining a meth lab guy; a gig you had taken out of desperation over the lack of med chemistry jobs in the West Coast; which had been your plan A. As your plan B came together, the irony underlying your advantage started to feel like a heavy weight, one which you were struggling to conceal, because by then it started to feel like a testament to a duplicitous genius. That is why you posted this thread. You could no longer hide the duping delight that you are the sickness and the cure. Is that about the long and short of it? I'm reading that he declined the job offer and instead took out a loan for the course.
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Jun 25, 2017 19:31
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Deep Thought posted:Let me get this straight: You decided to use 25k from a meth lab start-up to get a 25k drug counseling diploma Your reading comprehension is great, keep it up.
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Jun 25, 2017 23:06
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I, too, would like to indicate that this poster's joke is not factually accurate
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Jun 26, 2017 00:04
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Deep Thought posted:Let me get this straight: You decided to use 25k from a meth lab start-up to get a 25k drug counseling diploma and become a casework manager. You figured the nitty gritty experience of the drug world would give you a critical edge above the competition as you climbed the management ladder on the solution side of it. It didn't make you uneasy because you told yourself that you were doing it to fix problems (specifically the ones you started by producing meth) and that it'd be better work than remaining a meth lab guy; a gig you had taken out of desperation over the lack of med chemistry jobs in the West Coast; which had been your plan A. As your plan B came together, the irony underlying your advantage started to feel like a heavy weight, one which you were struggling to conceal, because by then it started to feel like a testament to a duplicitous genius. That is why you posted this thread. You could no longer hide the duping delight that you are the sickness and the cure. Is that about the long and short of it? Wait, you didnt know Breaking Bad was partially based on his story?
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Jun 26, 2017 18:28
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Here's a question for the professionals in this thread: What, if anything, should I give out to homeless folks at intersections through my car window? I am a conscientious person who would really like to be a part of the solution.
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Aug 12, 2017 21:23
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Give them the pamphlets that LDS folks leave on your door.
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Aug 12, 2017 21:33
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Really interesting, but please use the Quote function, OP.
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Aug 19, 2017 08:27
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Hope you don't mind some thread-hoppers. The lay of the land is vastly different depending on local services, so my answers might be different than OPs.Horrible Lurkbeast posted:This is a good thread OP. It's definitely worse in British Columbia. When I was doing homelessness/additions outreach a decade ago, fentanyl wasn't a problem--now it's killing people who aren't even on the street. I'm not working directly in that field any more, but 9/10 if I see a memorial post go up on FB, it was caused by fentanyl. Fentanyl is a heavy duty painkiller that wasn't meant to be used outside of hospitals, but China started cranking it out for cheap, and now it's all over. It gets cut into everything because it's inexpensive and packs a punch. Problem is, the difference between getting high and dying of an opiate OD is so narrow that experienced users can mess it up--if they even know what they're dosing with. There's also carfentanil, which is ten thousand times stronger than morphine, and is even easier to OD with. Here's what a deadly dose can look like. On the homelessness side of the equation, the housing crisis + inflation keeps pushing more at-risk people under water. I do disability advocacy now, and for a lot of our people, the line between housed/homeless is one bad week. PurpleButterfly posted:Here's a question for the professionals in this thread: What, if anything, should I give out to homeless folks at intersections through my car window? I am a conscientious person who would really like to be a part of the solution. I haaaaate intersection panhandling, but I cave when it's obvious they're suffering to do it, or if I know them. In my city, able-bodied homeless folk can always find free snacks/sandwiches during the day, and dinner on weeknights. A lot of the panhandlers are saving for cigarettes, alcohol, or drugs--but also bus tickets, medication, or food. I usually don't give handouts (I'd rather donate directly to a shelter) but I always keep a stash of $5 Tim Hortons cards and bus tickets in my car. If there's a heatwave, sometimes freeze a flat of water bottles and give those out to anyone stuck outside. None of that solves things, though. Just makes someone's day a little less lovely. I've started carrying a naloxone kit when I'm downtown. I don't expect to need it, but I'd rather stab a stranger with a needle than watch anyone else die that way. ODs send a big negative ripple through a community that struggles enough without more grief.
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Aug 20, 2017 03:04
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Pixelante posted:Good ideas Thank you! That helps. 
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Aug 26, 2017 15:31
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PurpleButterfly posted:Here's a question for the professionals in this thread: What, if anything, should I give out to homeless folks at intersections through my car window? I am a conscientious person who would really like to be a part of the solution. Nothing. Donate directly to a shelter or a soup kitchen. People flying signs honestly make hundreds of dollars in a few hours, they don't need your money.
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Oct 30, 2017 06:54
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Pohl posted:Nothing. Donate directly to a shelter or a soup kitchen. People flying signs honestly make hundreds of dollars in a few hours, they don't need your money. Don't suppose you have a source on that? I see claims every so often about beggars, homeless, street musicians, various panhandlers and people collecting cans or bottles just making bank, and I'm inclined to believe that those claims are pretty much all completely false and hurtful, since I rarely see donations actually happen.
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Oct 30, 2017 12:54
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Grandmother of Five posted:Don't suppose you have a source on that? I see claims every so often about beggars, homeless, street musicians, various panhandlers and people collecting cans or bottles just making bank, and I'm inclined to believe that those claims are pretty much all completely false and hurtful, since I rarely see donations actually happen. I'm a case-manager at a homeless shelter. I have at least 2 people with tens of thousands of dollars in the bank, yet they go fly a sign everyday. They refuse help in terms of medical, psychological, housing, etc... they are comfortable where they are. They are getting disability or Social Security checks every month, and ever penny goes into the bank, along with their beggar money. They are probably the exception, but everyone that flies a sign tells me they make a ton of money in a few hours. If you give money to the shelter or local churches we can feed and clothe them, if you give them cash you are just supporting their addictions. I know it isn't the same in every area around the country, but this is what a normal day looks like for the people I work with: They wake up and get coffee, do a small chore, then move to the day shelter. At the day shelter they get breakfast and more coffee. They get to shower and check their mail, charge their phone, etc. They can hang out in the day shelter if they want, or they can go out into the streets. The day shelter servers lunch at noon. At 6 pm the gates to the night shelter open up, and dinner is served from 6-8. There are also 5 churches in town that serve dinner on a rotating basis, and the dinners rock, like Thanksgiving everyday. It is pretty amazing. My shelter hands out feminine hygiene products, health and beauty care, provides showers, clothing, towels... etc. We go through a ton of socks, because even though we offer a laundry service, people just wear them and throw them away when they get dirty. I'm trying to start a clothing exchange program right now, because the absolute waste is horrific. When they get tired of carrying something around they just ditch it and then ask us for new clothes later in the day. We've made some major changes however. I'm a case-manager for employment, and I work with a few teams of people that we have negotiated hiring with the city. We worked with our local parks and rec dept all summer, and this winter we are moving to the city proper and doing miscellaneous chores until it snows, when we will be doing snow removal. We have two teams of people working for the city, and we provide them an on site case manager to facilitate communication and advocacy. It works great, everyone is extremely happy. We've already had 3 people move into their own housing, and we allow them to continue with the program. On March 1st, we will go back to the parks and rec division for 8 months. At one point, almost 9% of our shelter population was involved with this work program, that number has fallen, but we aren't giving up. The dividends are huge. Once people are in the program, they tend to accept outside help more, also. I've gotten people into rehab, counseling, coerced them into seeing the Dr., gotten people glasses, etc... things we could never get them to do before. Most of them are saving their money and cleaning up their credit history as we move to looking at housing them... its been amazing. All I can cite is my personal experience as far as how much people flying a sign bring in. What I do know is your money is far more valuable to a shelter or a church, and the outcomes will be much better if you decide to donate.
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Oct 31, 2017 06:04
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This is all very fascinating. I admit that I give loose change (I have a lot of pennies and dimes) out to pretty much anyone who asks for money and chat for as long as the light allows. I'll try instead to have a conversation first and ask them if they're doing all right. I suppose a person holding a sign is asking for an undocumentable donation, but someone who tells me to my face that they need the money is literally begging me directly. Please let me know what are the causes of the homelessness that you've witnessed up close. If you could have n number of wishes to end involuntary homelessness/poverty permanently everywhere, what would you try?
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Oct 31, 2017 07:36
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Forevergiving posted:When I started there were a few somewhat functioning heroin addicts and the big problem was the growth of crystal meth and all the behaviors that come with that. Since the advent in fentanyl we have seen an explosion of opiate addiction that renders people completely non-functional. . His new favorite thing to do was to walk up next to people eating lunch in the dining hall and do deep stretches with his foot on the table. His bits would poke out of the bottom of the kilt while the poor hapless diner would recoil in horror and pretend not to see. I spent many a hilarious lunch hours watching front line staff chase this guy around trying to stop him from stretching. (I have many small stories about the guy) Foregiving, I read your 3 avenues to addiction. I remember in my hometown in western Washington state when meth use and addiction greatly increased in the 1990s. My hometown did not have many high paying jobs and many jobs were repetitive-type jobs that were not mentally stimulating (for me at least) with little opportunity to advance. I wonder if mundane jobs and low wages caused some of this meth addiction? As for the Opiate and Fentanyl epidemic, it seems meth (which still exists) has been replaced by Opiate addiction in my hometown. How culpable are the phamaceutical companies (e.g. Oxycontin) responsible for this, in your opinion?
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Oct 31, 2017 08:18
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Caufman posted:This is all very fascinating. I admit that I give loose change (I have a lot of pennies and dimes) out to pretty much anyone who asks for money and chat for as long as the light allows. I'll try instead to have a conversation first and ask them if they're doing all right. I suppose a person holding a sign is asking for an undocumentable donation, but someone who tells me to my face that they need the money is literally begging me directly. The main causes of homelessness are mental health issues and addiction. These often go hand in hand, so giving someone soliciting money only feeds their addiction and compounds the problem. There are certainly people that end up homeless due to lack of resources and hard luck, but the majority are there through choice, because they won't accept help or they refuse to contact family members. I can't believe the number of people I work with where their family has no idea where they are or how they are living. A rough estimate from what I have seen is 90% of people won't fly a sign, because they have too much pride. Not every homeless person stands on the corner and begs money, it is actually a very narrow sub-group of people hanging out on corners begging for money. I would love to see a Universal Basic Income for everyone, though I'm not sure that would fix the problem. I love the Utah model, where they essentially housed all homeless people, that is what I think cities should be working towards at this point. The real ideal is universal health insurance with guaranteed free housing... I know that sounds socialistic, but the reality is, we aren't going to solve this problem until we stabilize these people or families in safe environments and work on their underlying issues. This isn't about people being lazy, this is about people not fitting into society.
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Nov 3, 2017 08:46
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Pohl posted:This isn't about people being lazy, this is about people not fitting into society. I have a Sociology degree, so I understand how lovely this sounds. There are in fact, a large number of people that don't want to live in our society. That should be ok, but we can't let them starve or lose their teeth, etc. We really need to find a solution to this beyond everyone works poo poo minimum wage jobs. If anything, these people refuse to do minimum wage work. They know their worth and refuse to be wage slaves.
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Nov 3, 2017 09:02
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Pohl posted:I have a Sociology degree, so I understand how lovely this sounds. There are in fact, a large number of people that don't want to live in our society. That should be ok, but we can't let them starve or lose their teeth, etc. We really need to find a solution to this beyond everyone works poo poo minimum wage jobs. Thank you. This sounds accurate to me, and you draw an important distinction between the non-working and the poor, working wage slaves. I have a million more questions I want to ask, if you please. What sorts of mental illnesses have you encountered, and what role did they play in whether a person sought help or not? What's best at fighting addictions? If society really cared about riding addictions, what should we be doing differently? Do you have any stories about the role the family played in the individual's homelessness? I'm inclined to believe that a person does not leave a happy home because they prefer homelessness, and rather that a person flees a home that is unstable or abusive. But is that not the case? Are there family members that are willing and able to help the homeless person, but the person refuses for a valid reason? Why?
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Nov 3, 2017 10:02
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In Europe a lot of foreign beggars are supposedly (I heard this so often I think it's true) from Eastern Europe who have to return their earnings to some kind of pimp (they even employ children). Do the US have a similar problem of organised crime?
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Nov 3, 2017 22:08
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lllllllllllllllllll posted:In Europe a lot of foreign beggars are supposedly (I heard this so often I think it's true) from Eastern Europe who have to return their earnings to some kind of pimp (they even employ children). Do the US have a similar problem of organised crime? "I hear [thing] about eastern europeans a lot" is one of the worst reasons I've ever seen someone give for believing anything
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Nov 3, 2017 23:27
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lllllllllllllllllll posted:In Europe a lot of foreign beggars are supposedly (I heard this so often I think it's true) from Eastern Europe who have to return their earnings to some kind of pimp (they even employ children). Do the US have a similar problem of organised crime? Ignoring all the tabloid scare stories, there absolutely are organised begging gangs like you describe in the UK. One more reason to give money to homeless shelters and charities instead of directly.
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Nov 4, 2017 04:30
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Caufman posted:Thank you. This sounds accurate to me, and you draw an important distinction between the non-working and the poor, working wage slaves. I have a million more questions I want to ask, if you please. There is way too much to unpack in your question. I appreciate your interest, but you are asking more thank I can answer. To the best of my ability: -People gently caress up so much their family won't help them anymore, or; they hate their family so much they won't ask them for help. This is the big dilemma, when family isn't available to bail someone out of the trouble they have found themselves in. No one else is going to help them, certainly, so what do we do with them? Do we just feed, clothes and house them until they die? -Schizophrenia and Bipolar are the big ones, though I see a lot of personality disorders. Frankly, mental illness is the primary driver, I'm incredibly surprised that the majority of the people I work with that aren't addicts. I have a few alcoholics, with no real mental health issues outside of their alcoholism, but helping them is difficult. I can get them into treatment but I can't make them stay. Plus, living the shelter life is really difficult, staying sober is almost impossible. I don't care how much someone wants to stay sober, once they have a few weeks of sobriety under their belt, they are left with the fact that they live in a homeless shelter and a beer sure sounds good... The majority of people I work with don't drink or do drugs and they just want somewhere warm to sleep. Fighting addiction... good doctors and the proper medication, I guess. I can attest that AA is a loving useless long term travesty. Homeless people don't get good doctors and the proper medication, however. Edit: to answer all or your questions, we should have a universal health care system. We should also have have a Universal Basic Income. Our social system is hosed, and it is only going to get worse. We should be doing our best to help alcoholics and drug addicts, because they are going to die young useless deaths. It annoys me to death that all of our resources are directed toward children, but I guess the Republicans don't care about kids since they hosed up CHIP. Basically, our government doesn't care about poor people. Seriously, our Gov. does not care about poor people, but homelessness grows more and more everyday. The reasons are varied and complicated, but the reality is, more people are homeless everyday because our society sucks. Pohl fucked around with this message at 07:41 on Nov 4, 2017 |
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Nov 4, 2017 07:24
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I really appreciate your answers. I don't expect a perfect response to any question.Pohl posted:-People gently caress up so much their family won't help them anymore, or; they hate their family so much they won't ask them for help. This is the big dilemma, when family isn't available to bail someone out of the trouble they have found themselves in. No one else is going to help them, certainly, so what do we do with them? Do we just feed, clothes and house them until they die? My gut reaction is that we owe everyone at least that much. It's the cost the dominant society should pay for monopolizing the abundance of the country. Those who've gained the most by the setup have the greatest responsibility to those least enfranchised. Beyond just food, clothes, and shelter (which can be provided through fiscal management), I think we're also obligated and able to offer the next rung up on the hierarchy of needs: love and belonging. And like a progressive fiscal tax, those most loved owe the most to those least loved. Your answers inspire me to look into spending more time around shelters. I shitpost enough here. I think I shall go over there and talkshit.
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Nov 4, 2017 08:44
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This might sound weird, but is it better to donate stuff to a homeless shelter than drop off at Goodwill? I mean stuff like used (but clean) clothes and toys, books, etc? Doing some winter cleaning and was about to dump everything at the Goodwill a mile from my place, but if a shelter could use it more, how would I do that? In Phoenix AZ if that helps. If shelters even take donations from the public anymore. I'm sure they receive some bad poo poo.
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Jan 16, 2018 15:51
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Contact the shelter and ask them. Let them know what materials you have and see if they could use them.
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Jan 16, 2018 16:05
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