Community food pantries are based on the generosity and goodwill of community members. Food pantries are invaluable to individuals and families who are either homeless or suffering from food shortages.
As an education specialist for a large non-profit organization, I (Seneka Arrington) oversaw the day-to-day operations of our local pantry. In the background, from ceiling to floor, non-perishable food – organized from soups, vegetables, meat, snacks and drinks – lined the walls. On a shelf were prepared grocery bags that were made by hand and ready to be distributed to those in need.
One afternoon a man went through our front doors and asked for a bag with the words: "I haven't eaten for days."
I took a grocery bag with pleasure and handed it to our guest. Famished, he decided to open the bag in front of me to "have a few bites". However, to his dismay, he was unable to access the food as a utensil was required to open each can in the bag.
Discouraged, he mumbled: "It's so hard to come here. Now it's hard to get the food out. It always happens."
I quickly apologized for the inconvenience and asked if I could get the situation right. I took his bag, went back to the fully stocked pantry, and looked for a meal to offer my guest. I noticed three items in pop-top boxes on the middle rack. I grabbed all three and created a gift bag for my patron to enjoy. When the man received this new grocery bag, he smiled and hugged my shoulders.
For me, this experience showed contradictions in the way in which our society tries to support, care for and help the homeless. Although there is usually goodwill in these initiatives, a lack of intentionality often plagues efforts to reduce suffering in this community. I saw how education can increase the effectiveness of the support society offers. From that point on, my mantra became that all grocery bags "make sense and only have to contain pop-top cans."
Homelessness is an omnipresent problem in communities. The problem is far from invisible. More than half a million people in the United States are homeless every night. The National Coalition for the Homeless highlights three types of homelessness: chronic, temporary, and episodic.
Chronic homelessness is used to describe the people who are most vulnerable because they have been homeless for at least a year while struggling with a substance use disorder, physical disability, or severe mental illness.
People who are temporarily homeless are dependent on the protection system for a short time. These people are likely younger and have become homeless as a result of a disastrous event.
Episodic homelessness includes people who suffer from mental health problems, medical problems or drug problems. These people are chronically unemployed, which leads to frequent shuffling of the homeless.
Homelessness and helping the needy has been a passion of mine since I was in third grade. In working with this population, I have found a frequent lack of intentionality in those who donate or serve, and a subsequent lack of self-esteem in those who receive those donations or services. What do we say to a person when we give them food they have no access to? As helpers, how do we feel about giving something to those in need? Do our services reflect our support?
It is important to first consider our prejudices against the homeless and the difficulties associated with asking for help.
Stereotypes about homelessness
Throughout my career I have heard words like annoying, needy and lazy that were applied to people affected by homelessness, often as justifications for a person's lack of desire to serve this population. Such words are often used when describing panhandlers. "If this person can ask for money, they can get a job" is a prevailing mindset that negatively affects people's willingness to help those they deem undeserved. There is also the idea that, with all of the community and government efforts to help the homeless, those who are still asking for help are not using these resources.
Homelessness is repeatedly associated with choice. Those burdened with homelessness are often viewed as individuals whose predicament results from their own bad choices and who have full autonomy to pull themselves out. Many of these people want stability, but the added stress of humiliation, worrying about where to sleep at night, and food insecurity are their reality.
Your loss of employment, housing and family are generally viewed as a result of poor decision-making and mismanagement. These negative impressions are so ingrained in our society that even well-meaning citizens have difficulty giving something to those in need. Understanding the complexities of homelessness, addressing our personal prejudices, and updating those beliefs are the first steps on the way to advocating for this population.
Understanding homelessness through the lens of a counselor
Community mental health authorities support the reception of people suffering from homelessness. These agencies usually accept Medicaid / Medicare or offer sliding emotion scales to help these individuals get services.
Other organizations where counselors can work with the homeless include nonprofits, Department of Veterans Affairs agencies, and child and family service agencies. In addition, school counselors can help students whose families are temporary or homeless.
As consultants, our task is to be influencers of hope and developers of self-esteem. We create spaces for growth and facilitate transformations. Even as we help individuals cope with the difficulties of homelessness linked to the psychological processes, we need to recognize the basic needs. Often it is a lack of basic needs that significantly hinders or hinders an individual's progress. Counselors are therefore encouraged to reaffirm the existence of these barriers, as well as the barriers to discrimination, poverty, injustice and need.
Counselors can create spaces in which individuals can overcome the guilt, shame, helplessness, hopelessness and fear associated with simple day-to-day survival. Counselors can also work with clients who are homeless to improve their overall wellbeing. We recommend addressing the “Six Dimensions of Wellbeing” created by Bill Hettler, co-founder of the National Wellness Institute. The six dimensions are:
1) Emotional well-being: reduce stress and improve sleep
2) Environmental Wellness: Creating Happy, Clean, and Safe Spaces
3) Social well-being: relating, interacting and communicating
4) Physical well-being: regular exercise, proper nutrition and good sleeping habits
5) Intellectual wellbeing: problem solving, processing and creativity
6) Spiritual wellbeing: meaning, purpose and guidance
In addition to addressing the emotional and psychological needs of people affected by homelessness, counselors rely on community resources and relationships with community interest groups to meet the needs of this population. Through interdisciplinary partnerships, consultants can build a broad support network. These tasks – e.g. Such as food security or shelter – are usually split between support from professionals rooted in various disciplines other than counseling.
Factors advisors should consider
The stigma of asking for help: Even with a strong support system made up of coworkers, friends, family members, or helping professionals, asking for help can be difficult. People affected by homelessness are often viewed as distressing, which can reduce their willingness to seek help.
In addition to the stigma of asking for help, few give organizational and individual resources without first asking or asking that individuals meet certain criteria. The number of documents required to prove homelessness and obtain housing, food, and security temporarily hinders the process. Having the counselor come in and be educated about how to navigate the complex help system can help homeless clients get in touch with the assistance they need.
Health : Homeless people can face serious barriers in accessing basic health and nutrition needs. The conditions for obtaining medical services, as well as the financial means to maintain them, hamper access and coherence. Health complications, poor hygiene, lack of adequate or diverse nutrients, possible drug and alcohol abuse, and environmental stress all have a direct impact on the health and well-being of people affected by homelessness.
Illnesses from which most people recover within a few days (e.g. colds) can become serious problems for homeless people who live in unsanitary conditions. Chronic illnesses are critical as they require consistent medical treatment and healthy lifestyle habits to control them. If not treated appropriately, these physical conditions worsen over time and can contribute to mental health problems and a deterioration in the quality of life.
To support these clients, counselors can help facilitate seamless transitions to medical offices. By partnering with local transportation networks, churches, food banks, health professionals, local free medical clinics and protection systems, consistent care can be created and a supportive community can be built to work together to tackle homelessness. Support is often evidenced by donations and collaborations.
Mental health and emotional well-being: Mental illness can either be the cause or the result of homelessness. A study by the National Institute of Mental Health found that approximately 6% of Americans are seriously mentally ill, compared to 20-25% of people who are homeless. The predominant mental health disorders among people living in impoverished conditions include depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. Mild but widespread mental health problems take the form of generalized anxiety and attention deficit disorder in adults.
Counseling services require weekly meetings for effective treatment. Consistency is the key to progress, tracking, and accountability. However, lack of sleep and access to immediate needs can constantly disrupt the counseling process for the homeless.
A recommended strategy that consultants can use is to conduct a weekly needs assessment to identify the client's basic needs and determine whether they are being met. It can also be helpful to connect clients to resources that will enable them to participate in the consultation more consistently, such as: B. Free transportation and stable protection. It is recommended that counselors take a diverse approach to addressing the needs of people living with homelessness and providing them with adequate mental health care.
Effects on the support of professionals
People affected by homelessness are particularly at risk because they do not have access to stable housing, reliable communication, financial means and medical resources. These barriers also limit access to preventive health care and treatment that could help maintain a more balanced and healthier lifestyle.
Gaps in professional partnerships often hinder consistent and effective care. The continuity of care should be from the adviser to the doctor, the domestic worker to the volunteer in the pantry. If this process is inconsistent, so is the individual's access to these services. Collaborative efforts, or the lack of them, severely strain the homeless' ability to meet their physiological and psychological needs.
Most housing and homelessness organizations are fragmented and enigmatic systems. The difficulty of navigating such systems often leads to a feeling of hopelessness and helplessness in those in need. People are forced to get information about available services and programs through peer-to-peer interactions. Crisis response centers are not adequately equipped. Assisting professionals in obtaining incomplete information on available resources and eligibility criteria for existing programs. Unfortunately, this promotes individual detachment and distrust of public systems.
Consistently addressing crises and concerns such as trauma, addiction and emotional disorders with clients can be an overwhelming task for counselors. This is characteristic of environments where doctors are prone to work stress, burnout, and compassionate fatigue. The latter can lead to a lack of intentionality and patience when working with people affected by homelessness.
Due to the physiological requirements, working with homelessness requires patience and persistence, which are not typical for everyday counseling sessions. As a result, counselors can experience a parallel process of hopelessness and subsequent compassion fatigue and burnout. To combat burnout, organizations can provide space for processing groups where counselors can support one another. These groups can be expanded to include partners in the community.
Action steps
In order to adequately and competently meet the needs of the homeless population, the diverse principles of homelessness must be deliberately examined and understood. The following figure shows the steps necessary for counselors to work with homeless communities.
Specific training for counselors and counselor trainees is essential to address the deprivations of the homeless community. Training can be offered through municipal and private mental health institutions and integrated into counseling programs. Practitioners and stakeholders can play an active role in addressing and supporting identified needs by providing corporate training in the form of panels, lectures and service learning. Help professionals and organizations leverage the literature on the care and attention of homeless communities.
Commitment efforts and the realization of the next steps can be demonstrated through interdisciplinary partnerships and cooperation. Immersion, public relations, and advocacy can also serve as action steps for awareness raising and hands-on experience.
Action steps for working with homeless communities
Hopes for the future
Emphasizing access and engagement is critical to bringing about change and promoting spaces where homeless populations can be cared for. Several health and human resources agencies, including the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Authority (SAMHSA), are prioritizing liaison with programs that help fight and prevent homelessness. As noted in its Strategic Plan, SAMHSA's core tenets include expanding access to the full continuum for mental and substance use disorders, as well as liaising with clinicians, fellows, patients and the public.
Health and personal services typically include discharge planning in addition to financial support from Housing First programs. The Housing First model was developed by Sam Tsemberis in New York City in the 1990s. Tsemberis claimed that housing was the only solution to homelessness. The model highlighted the importance of permanent housing for the chronically unconditional homeless.
Counselors can be on the front lines for the integration of this model, with modifications that include deliberate interaction, targeted food contributions, advocacy and activism, preparation, partnership and hope. A modified approach might focus on enabling people with homelessness to adopt healthy and stable lifestyles through holistic treatment. Specific methods for consultants include:
Training in the mother tongue
Pursuing partnerships with low cost grocery stores to provide coupons to customers
Improving access to medical and clinical services through remote customer monitoring and telehealth media
Ensure continuity of care by granting computer access in clinical rooms
Offer career advice
Establishment of a commuter service program by working with an independent transport network and providing transport vouchers
Neglecting the resources that can contribute to the success of people with homelessness is comparable to giving someone a can of groceries to which they have no access. A pop-top can-oriented organization or professional help embodies compassion and the essentials that promote change and growth. Counselors can further fill the gap by offering substantial interactions with built-in goals to meet the hierarchy of clients' needs, promote comprehensive treatment, and encourage hope by helping the homeless discover exceptions.
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Seneka Arrington seeks to bridge the gap between research and practice, emphasizing the importance of connecting, collaborating, and translating research into clinically meaningful information. For the past decade, her practice and research has been in the non-profit sector, with a focus on homelessness, mental health, career guidance, and service delivery. She is a licensed professional advisor and a current PhD student and teaching assistant at Idaho State University. Contact her at [email protected].
Chad Yates is an Associate Professor of Counseling at Idaho State University. His counseling experience includes working with those with substance abuse disorders, domestic violence abusers and survivors, families, and as a generalist dealing with a wide variety of client problems. His research interests include evidence-based counseling practice, customer-centric outcome assessment, and the treatment of individuals with drug abuse and concomitant disorders. Contact him at [email protected].
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It should not be assumed that opinions or statements in articles appearing on CT Online represent the opinions of the editors or guidelines of the American Counseling Association.
