Fifty-three percent of Halifax’s homeless population has been
diagnosed with at least one form of clinical mental illness.
Seventy-two percent have dealt with serious depression or anxiety, and
48 percent have seriously considered taking their own lives.Those are
the findings catalogued in a report issued Tuesday by the Community
Action on Homelessness. The findings are based on interviews with 158
homeless people (for the whole report, visit cahhalifax.org).
The bleak statistics apply to homeless youth as well, says Jean
Hughes, a professor of nursing at Dalhousie University who studies
homeless populations. Many youth are homeless due to abuse or poverty,
but mental illness is also often a factor, as teens leave home because
their mental health issues aren’t understood or addressed.
Conditions at homeless shelters in Halifax can exacerbate mental
health issues, says Claudia Jahn, director at Community Action on
Homelessness. She describes a dorm-type atmosphere with 80 or more men,
lights always on, fights, shrieking, drunken rages and police
patrolling around the room. Those staying in the shelters a long time
may develop serious anxiety or depression due to the environment, and
some choose to “sleep alone, even in the snow, to get a break.”
“When I am homeless, I don’t even have a place to cry,” one homeless
teen told Hughes.
Hughes says that giving coins to panhandlers does in fact help them.
Contrary to common belief, most teens only panhandle until they have
enough money to survive for the day. Jahn says it may be good to take
the time to stop and chat with a street person—all 158 people
interviewed for the report said they had nobody to really talk to.
Society has wrongly accepted homelessness to be the status quo, says
Jahn. “We need to form a public outcry against the crisis of
homelessness.”
This article appears in Oct 15-21, 2009.
oh oh, I know… let’s create a new bylaw incriminating these very people when they offer to squeegee your windshield for your change. Yup. Good idea, HRM, especially in light of this article. *shakes head*
too late Kay there was an anti-squeegeeing law passed a few years ago…
isn’t that the point of my comment, susan?
Dr. Jean Hughes brought up a good point regarding that. She said teens on the street prefer to make money through providing a service. Now that squeegeeing is illegal, and not every teen has an instrument to busk with, panning is their last resort.
Dr Hughes is spot on. As a former staff member at an emergency shelter, I am aware of how difficult situations are for those who use these facilities. these facilities are offten understaffed, and the staff are untrained in dealing with a person with a mental illness. a person who is acting out, may be acting out on something they are seeing, hearing or feeling on their body. This happens to both adults as well as adolescents. Proper training, and having all advocats on the same page will be a start at changiing how shelters are run
annon
Dr Hughes is spot on, regarding the homeless and mental illness. As a former shelter worker and a mental health worker, my experience has taught me that most of the shelters do not understand the difficulties that the mentally ill face. Many times the mentally ill, if the are not medicated do not belive they are ill. the largest male shelter in HRM packs up to 80 people in a night. In this situation, people who are mentally ill have a higher chance of reacting to their situation out off illness, and not merely acting up.
Fatman
This article offers a good perspective on homelessness, that I have never really thought about. I will definitly think twice about just walking by them now. We have to remember that they are people too.
Walk in a persons shoes for awhile…you can learn a lot.