...who do not have a physical home and have mental health problems that prohibit the wonderful feeling we feel when at home. These people are the mentally ill who are homeless. We walk past the mentally ill homeless everyday, yet we often choose to turn our heads the other way and ignore the ache of a person in need, a person who doesn’t have a home. Today in America there are more than 600,000 people are afflicted with homelessness. While there...
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...2015 ). Retrieved from http://www.portlandrescuemission.org/learn-more/myths-about-homelessness According to ‘the Portland Rescue Mission’ (2015), “The methodology for finding and counting the homeless is imperfect; we simply do not find everyone”. “Why are they all out there? What is Homelessness and what causes it? Homelessness is a very complicated issue that has no social or economic boundary. Mental illness, substance abuse, domestic violence and economic times affect all ages of the Homeless” (G. Davis, personal communication, June 29, 2015). 1. Homelessness and Mental Health Mental Illness seems to be one of the leading causes of homelessness. “During my involvement with the homeless, I knew of a women name Frankie. Frankie was a school teacher, had a husband and two children. One night their home burned down with Frankie’s husband and children being lost in the fire. Frankie lost all rational thinking, not understanding why she lived. Frankie had a complete mental breakdown and ended up on the streets of Dallas homeless. This is a case of mental illness being the cause of homelessness. (G. Davis, personal communication, June 29, 2015). 20-25% of the homeless suffer from mental illness (Portland Rescue Mission. 10 Causes of Homelessness, #3). “Serious mental illness disrupts people’s ability to carry out essential aspect of daily life, such as self-care and household management. Without assistance, these men and women have little chance of gaining...
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...Mental Illness and Homelessness When most people hear the term, "homeless" they more than likely initially think of the physical hardships of being without a home. If you're homeless, where do you sleep? What do you do without a bathroom, or a shower? How do you live without all of the everyday possessions most people take for granted, like a toothbrush or a comb or a child's beloved stuffed animal? Most People, however, do not consider the effects being homeless can have on a person's mental health. The stress that they endure and the depression that can overwhelm become secondary to their physical and material trials and tribulations. However, the mental effects are just as important, affecting the mind that is ultimately the powerhouse and control center for the body. Being mentally ill does not occur as a result of being homeless. Mental illness may just be more prominent among the homeless. Most people are mentally ill before they become homeless and are affected by their respective symptoms before they're out on the streets. Oftentimes as a result of their mental illness they are unable to keep up with their bills or take care of themselves. This is what leads to their being homeless. If someone was living in a home and seeing a doctor, then their symptoms could be under control. After becoming homeless, since they can't afford to see a doctor, their mental illness could surface more readily. Over 40 years have passed since many psychiatric institutions in the United...
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...The Chronically Homeless Mentally Ill, and Their Plight to Recovery Janelle Morrow Social Work Practice Lab Professor Williams Final Individuals described as chronically homeless are those with a protracted homeless experience whose stays in the homeless system or on the street are both frequent and long. People that are homeless are reflective of every population demographic. There is no single path to homelessness, and despite stigmatizing images, no single stereotype fits. Individuals that are chronically homeless represent a range of individual vulnerabilities and face a many of systematic barriers that impede accessing adequate housing and services. Current economic climate presents the chance for homelessness to remain high (Coalition for the Homeless, 2002a). According to research, a substantial reduction in the occurrence of chronic homelessness could be achieved by linking affordable housing with treatment and support services. Alcohol and substance abuse is known as both a precipitating factor and consequence of homelessness can effect an individual’s ability to retain housing or limit housing options offered by programs requiring sobriety, and mask underlying or related mental health issues undetected or untreated...
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...(PIT) data to the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regarding the demographics of the homeless population throughout the country. People become homeless for a number of reasons. Primarily homelessness is due to a lack of funds. Homelessness can also be attributed to severe mental illness and chronic substance abuse. In the United States, 20-25% of the population is affected by some form of severe mental illness. People affected with mental illness are more likely to become homeless than the general population. Mental Illness can disrupt a person’s ability to carry out essential daily tasks of living, such as self care and household management. Mental illness can inhibit...
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...Many Americans have heard of Homeless vets and homeless runaways, but a very uncommon yet very percentage of homeless are out on the streets know as the mentally ill and homeless. According to the Treatment Advocacy Center, approximately one-third of the total homeless population are people with an untreated serious mental illness. Most of the people with mental illness include people with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or A major depression. It’s is next to impossible for these people to get a job and without jobs they would not be able to pay rent. To make matters worse, most of these people don’t know their problems and how and where to go to get their problems fixed. Being mentally ill makes it easier for others to push them around....
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...Homeless Persons Heather Gustafson Axia College of University of Phoenix Homeless Persons A problem that continues to grow in the United States is Homeless people. Millions of people are homeless due to a variety of circumstances and the number still grows daily. History In the United States, de-institutionalization of the mentally ill -- unaccompanied by promised outpatient psychiatric and social services -- led to a large increase in the homeless, mentally ill population in the late 1970s. The number of homeless grew in the 1980s, as housing and social service cuts increased. This was in part a consequence of the transfer of federal dollars to a huge military buildup (including the spectacularly wasteful and unsuccessful "Star Wars" strategic missile defense initiative) and consequent large budget deficits. Fortunately, public compassion soared, and in 1986, 5 million Americans joined hands across the country to raise money for homeless programs (May 25, 1986 Hands Across America). In 1987, the McKinney Act authorized millions of dollars for housing and hunger relief (Donahue, 2007). Nature and Issues of Social Problems Homeless and poverty go together. People are unable to pay for food, clothing, shelter, child care, health care, and education. Choices have to be made to have what they need for their daily life so they have to put other things behind to cover necessities. Domestic violence leads people to become homeless because they are...
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...solutions are responsibilities of the society Affected Population The meaning of being homeless in the United States helps define who is able to receive shelter and assistance from health and social service providers. In order to live a normal life requires having a home to live in. Yet people with no home and unable to afford anything can be found in all countries. The main reason is the individual cannot get the housing loans or welfare accessible to others. The causes of homelessness can be caused by family altercations or tragedy (or prison), or even a natural disaster. The larger proportions of homeless parents who are separated from their children in the US and the larger number of families in the homeless population are both likely because of the US social policy. Higher levels of inequality and lower levels of social benefits are associated with higher rates of homelessness. The Stewart McKinney Homeless Assistance Act of 1987 describes a homeless person as any place not meant for regular sleeping accommodation by humans. In 2005, an estimated 744,313 men, women, and children were homeless in the United States (National Alliance to End Homelessness, 2007). Adults that are homeless are poor and have high rates and they don’t qualify for health care. There are also a large number of former veterans who become homeless. It is estimated that between 23 percent and 40 percent of homeless adults are veterans (National Alliance to End Homelessness). Poverty is related with...
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...When i’m riding in a car or walking down the street and spot a homeless man or woman, I begin to have mixed thoughts. Part of me wants to know how they ended up there.The other part of me wants to help. It pains me because sometimes I feel that I am too young to help. In school, teachers are hard on students, tellings us to stay in school or else we will end up on the street. But dropping out of school isn't the only reason people become homeless. Family and relationship problems, drug or alcohol abuse and even eviction can cause homelessness. Homelessness can result to mental illness, hunger and loneliness. Homelessness is a serious problem all communities all over the world need to address. Homelessness affects a person’s health...
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...Depression in the Homeless Population According to the National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI), one in four Americans will experience mental illness in their lifetime in any given year (NAMI, 2014). Approximately 6.7 percent, around 14.8 million people suffer from major depressive disorder. NAMI (2013) found that sixty percent of adults suffering from mental illness did not receive any mental health services in the previous year. Mental health illness is a serious financial drain on the American health care system, with NAMI (2013) reporting around 200 billion dollars in lost revenue per year. Mood disorders such as depression can cause frequent hospitalizations; it is the third most common cause of hospitalization in the United States for both youth and adults (NAMI, 2013). The American Psychological Association (APA) found that the rates of mental illness among the homeless population were twice that of the general population (APA, 2014). Disparity Nyamathi & Marfisee (2012), identified factors in the homeless population that makes them susceptible to health care disparities such as age, homeless status, and lack of education. Johnson & Chamberlain (2011) found that while mental health issues are prevalent among the homeless population, it does not always precede homelessness. However those suffering from mental health illnesses experienced more long-term homelessness compared to those who did not. Wright (2014) found that 54% of homeless patients reported negative attitudes...
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...People with Mental Illness One problem that those suffering with mental illness face is the fact that the term mental illness can mean just about anything that involves the psychological or emotional struggles. Mental illness is harder to diagnose than a physical illness and comes with much more of a stigma. Those suffering with mental illness face a life full of obstacles. Many have a hard time finding or keeping a job and end up homeless. Those suffering with mental illness need a place to be treated that does not cause them more harm. Institutions are not set up for those with minor mental health issues and can cause more harm if the patient is not treated appropriately. Those with a mental illness may not be able to properly care for themselves and need and need someone to help them learn basic living skills. If they do not have a caring family member to do this they may end up living in destitute. The Community Mental Health Centers Act of 1963 was put in place to offer service to those with mental illness. The plan was to cover five main goals, which consist of in-patient and out patient care, emergency care, partial hospitalization and education. Hospital emergency rooms may offer help to those with emergency mental breakdowns. Local health departments offer training and education to those with loved ones with mental illness. Most states offer in-patient and out patient mental hospitals that can help those who have nowhere else to turn...
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...org/wiki/Homelessnes). Homelessness has become a huge problem that looks us in the face daily and is putting a large number of children, teenagers,women and our elderly at risk daily. It impacts our society negatively. According to National Alliance to end Homelessness, '82 people experiencing homelessness on any given night in the United States.Of that number, 239,403 are people in families, and 394,379 are individuals. Slightly fewer than 16 percent of the homeless population are considered "chronically homeless,"and About 13 percent of homeless adults- 62,619 - are veterans. '(National alliance to End Homelessness.(2013). Snapshot of homelessness. Retrieved from http://www.endhomelessness.org/pages/snapshot_of_homelessness)'. Some of the causes of homelessness and the extent homelessness affects our society today are as follows- Domestic violence is one of the leading causes of homelessness in the U.S. Statisctics show that in 2008 28% of families where homeless in the united states due to domestic violence.(National Homeless Organization.(2013). Domestic Violence and Homelessness . Retrived from www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/domestic). Over the years our society has seen a surge in violence largely due to media and poor gun/weapon control. Domestic violence spreads throughout our society irrespective of gender, race or even class. Most of the individuals affected often do not speak up for fear of their lives and or even children and/loved ones. Rather than run away...
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...Homeless Veterans and Mental Health Shana Holt NUR/408 August 24, 2015 Ann Reagan Homeless Veterans and Mental Health According to the "National Alliance on Mental Illness" (2015), "Veterans make up as much as one third of the nation's population of homeless people." (Homeless Veterans). The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans estimate that 45% of these veterans are also living with a mental illness and half suffer with substance abuse problems like drug addiction or alcoholism. This population is predisposed to a number of medical, psychiatric, and social problems such as tuberculosis, HIV infection, hepatitis, alcoholism and substance use, skin and foot disease, schizophrenia and related psychoses, malnutrition, and trauma. Many of these veterans have lost their families, homes or even both as a result of the inability to adapt to civilian life. America's homeless veterans have served in all wars including some of our most recent like Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn. The Veterans Administration (VA) currently provides specialized homelessness programs to almost 150,000 homeless veterans. “Since 1987, VA's programs for homeless veterans have emphasized collaboration with such community service providers to help expand services to more veterans in crisis." ("National Coalition for Homeless Veterans", n.d.). Epidemiology Paper Roles This paper will explain the role epidemiology plays in the surveillance of mental...
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...times there is no doubt we, as a whole nation, have had to make some compromises. One of the biggest, broadest issues our country has been facing is the recent budget cuts in numerous different categories including mental health care. Mental health care has gotten the short end of the stick in the last few years, and it has become a spiraling problem in the United States. Between 2009 and 2011 the United States witnessed some of the largest state budget cuts in history, and we are still suffering from the consequences of doing so. Where does a majority of homelessness, suicide, substance abuse and jail overcrowding stem from? If you take a closer look it will become very clear that cutting the funding for mental health research and treatment has left these mentally ill patients with very few options suitable enough for their varying conditions. Due to the lack of appropriate facilities needed to properly diagnose and treat mentally ill patients, jails are becoming overcrowded and homelessness is at an all-time high. The importance of mental health care is being put on the back burner while, instead, it needs to be a priority and that is why President Obama’s proposition to increase funding to aid the mentally ill in 2014 is extremely necessary. As states cut mental health care funding, prisons are becoming an asylum. There is a very common misconception among the general public that mentally ill individuals are extremely violent, however, this statement has proven to be very...
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...Homelessness: Understanding Why Abstract In January of 2014, 578,424 people were going through homelessness, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness. The three main reasons for the large measure of homeless families and people in America and other countries as well are affordable housing, low wages, and mental illnesses. Other reasons also include addictions, abuse, health care, and/or natural occurrences are contributors towards the distressing circumstances of homelessness, which often leads to divorce, health concerns, and educational obstacles. This paper introduces where homeless began and where it needs to end. Homelessness: Understanding Why T.S, Elliot stated “Home is where we start from”. David Belgum, a volunteer Chaplin with the Salvation Army Corp, asked these simple questions, “Is the length of residence in one place a criterion? How substantial does it have to be to be classified as a home? Who should judge whether or not the category of homelessness is to be applied in a given situation—the resident or residents, or someone from the "establishment"?” (Belgum). For many people this is true, but for many it’s not, but whose call is it to make? Many studies are inadequate when it comes to know accurately knowing how many people are in shelters or on the streets. The information found through these studies can be helpful when it comes to knowing roughly the amount of people that use the places like shelters and soup kitchens, but it could...
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