As the Founder and former Executive Director of Victory House Ministries in Pensacola Florida, a 30 unit residential transitional housing facility, I have had a lot of experience with the homeless. I found that most people are homeless because they have been experienced problems and losses and have no home to go to.
There is a small minority that chooses to live on the streets and that have, even if inadvertently, adopted the philosophy of Timothy Leary: "My advice to people today is as follows: if you take the game of life seriously if you take your nervous system seriously if you take your sense organs seriously if you take the energy process seriously, you must turn on, tune in, and drop out". They are simply tired of fighting a system that has all the cards stacked against them. It's hard to get back up when you are broke, homeless, and without resources.
The vast majority of the homeless suffer from physical and mental disorders. Most people think the main reason for homelessness is alcohol and drugs. But this dismisses the root problem. As a psychologist and a certified addiction counselor who has worked extensively with patients suffering from addiction, I understand that addiction is a result of physical, and or, mental anguish and the resultant attempt to self-medicate.
For years Victory House Ministries was the only facility that accepted prisoners that were released in the state of Florida and Alabama. I found that many of these men were essentially victims of a corrupt justice system.
I hope that we as a people can come to understand the truth about mental health and addiction because EVERYONE will be personally confronted and affected by those that experience these problems at some point in their lives.
No comments:
Post a Comment