A vast majority of the chronically homeless are mentally ill

As many of you know, I've been writing a series on a bipolar, homeless veteran lately.

It speaks poorly of our culture that this is acceptable. At least DU is better then the general population. Don't you wish the world could catch up with us?

of Repub policies. The most vulnerable people are the ones that are not afforded a safety net. The "something for nothing" crowd has won and there doesn't really seem to be anyone in either party that really cares.

Edit: Recommended.

Only families were really concerned and they were "ashamed" by the mental problems due to the stigma stamped on people with Mental Illness.

If you look at how the Nazi's did it, they stigmatized the mental health and then other outliers such as homosexuals, gypsies with the ultimate victim being Jews.

One can only wonder who the Reagan Administration thugs had in mine while they started the bubbled up the wealth of the middle class toward the richest amongst them...

We all know where that leads to.


David Duke comes to mind.

Teens and young adults with mental illness also make up a large segment of the homeless in many areas of this country. They may not be chronically homeless -- yet -- but a SPMI increases the chance that many will.

In my opinion, it's a sin. As many DUers do not share my belief system, I'll add that it's a crime against humanity.

They are 'the least of these' and deserve better.

in social work, homeless teens/youth were a too often ignored reality in area communities. It's not just the big cities, as some want to think. And you are, of course, exactly right: they are among the Least, and definitely deserve much better.

Thanks!

It's a sin.
I's a crime against humanity.


peace~

the question is what are we as a society going to do about it

because they are homeless or if they are homeless because they are mentally ill!

ETA: The flip-side to this situation is that the institutionalization of some of these people may have lead to them being abused or mistreated behind the closed doors of the sanitarium. Sometimes, some awful sick phucks got jobs at in-patient facilities!

is it being published somewhere?

Where's bobbolink???

That's a sad and tortured soul, with much anger

Reagan was so anti-mental health. Closing facilities threw thousands on to the streets, and that's just a start.

... and imo it's a crime that this should be so.

I'm glad you are writing about it. What is being done to address the issue at a city/county level?

I don't know about elsewhere, but authorities in my county have been strategizing for years about how to deal with this problem, because there is an ever-decreasing amount of funding for county public health and county mental health facilities, and what happens is the police dept and sheriff's dept become the de facto mental health facilities.

People who are mentally ill and homeless, and possibly "dual diagnosis" (meaning self-medicating with alcohol or street drugs), are likely to run afoul of the law for any number of minor infractions, such as public drunkenness, public urination, or even just sleeping out of doors. An arrest follows, and then jail. Last I heard, jails are the largest "mental health facility" in California, and they are just a revolving door back to the streets.

The issue that faced the authorities here was, given that reality, how to at least minimally train cops on the street and guards in the jails in how to identify and handle people who are mentally ill.

I heard about it a decade ago -- I don't know how it's working out, given the budget, but I was glad they were at least trying to get something done across several county departments.

Governor Ronald Reagan -- what a schmuck.

Hekate

Thank you~

peace~