The homeless revisited

The other day I posted about an encounter that my wife had with a homeless person on the streets of NYC. I said I loved the story that she told me about her encounter, and that may have seemed strange to some. I loved the story for two reasons. One, somebody did not go to sleep on the street hungry that night, and two, it was not possible for anyone who read the post not to understand that this old woman was suffering from some form of mental illness. Yes, being on the street is enough to drive anyone mad, but let’s face it, generally only those with diminished, limited, or otherwise compromised mental capacities end up there permanently. There are of course some who spend a short incremental period in a compromising situation (moving back home, or “living in a van down by the river”, as the late Chris Farley once so eloquently described it, and as only he could), but for those of whom I speak, and for the vast majority of the chronically “homeless”, they are mentally challenged, and they need much more than what they are getting in the way of care and comfort by our current standards and methods.

Before the Reagan administration (I liked him pretty much by the way) began cutting subsidies and causing our state hospitals to close, we had a place to feed and house these people who had no where else to go. Were they great places to be housed in? No, of course not! Many were almost dungeon like, and ill staffed, but that would not be the case today. We have learned from the mistakes of he past. We have mental health professionals who know how to deal with a variety of disorders that they could not have even approached ten or fifteen, or thirty, or sixty years ago.

Yes, we all heard , and saw the terrible, indeed horrible conditions that our mental patience were living in and under, but as usual, how did we react? We closed down, and tore down buildings that could have been renovated and put to very good use. We over reacted, as we always do. We sent these people ( the patients) on their way, to make it on their own, and as such, we have created the monster known as the homeless problem.

Take an old mental facility like Danvers State Hospital (I use this as an example because of the recent publicity due to the fire there, and the fact that it was the location set for the film “Session 9”, which I happened to like very much (good psychological thriller).

B and my take on this would be to have kept these buildings alive and well, with new, modern psychiatric treatments, and pleasing living situations for those incapable of functioning in the outside world. At the same time, major advances have been made in the field of psychiatry, psycho-biology, and psychiatric pharmacology, which allow for the treatment of many conditions that would have dictated the use of straight jackets and other forms of restraints only a few years ago.

Some will enter these facilities never to leave. Others, who could be treated, could be offered real vocational training (not the “basket weaving” garbage we used to offer people in institutions), and they could emerge prepared for assimilation into normal society!

Sure, we need a few local mental health facilities too. Some people to make sure the “meds” are being taken, the patient is working, and acting as a productive member of his or her neighborhood. We had these things once. In those days, and I remember them, we did not have a “homeless” problem. We had a few "bums", and what we used to call “Hobos”, but that was it. These were people who, for what ever reason, couldn't handle institutionalization, or the real world either, so they took there own path, and they truly were few and far between.

Imagine what would have happened if, instead of taking a dramatic, 180 degree turn from our approach to treating mental illness, we had taken a more logical approach.

Imagine what it would be like now, with all we have learned, and all our knowledge?

But that’s not mankind. That’s not us.

We are destined to learn everything the hard way, and this is really too bad for us all.

Comments

[Andy Swan]

Good post and on the money. Alcoholism and mental illness pretty much sums it up. The Dad of one of my best friends runs the Evansville Rescue Mission. They do great work and understand that food/shelter is not what these people need....it's hope!

Hope doesn't come from handouts, it comes from personal progress, faith and goal-setting.

I really don't "diversify" my charitable giving. There is only one organization where I know the man who runs it (he married us), and it happens to employ two of my best friends.

It helps people from my home town sleep comfortably and fight their personal demons.

I'll put all my eggs in that basket.

I'm sure your and B's charitable work will be just as successful as everything else you've done in life :)

[Stephen L. McKay]

Thanks Andy. Sounds like you have made a good choice (Evansville Rescue Mission).

There are those who cheat the system, and then there are the truly troubled, and those are the ones B, I, and it sounds like you as well are focused on helping!