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Homelessness occurs due to various factors, such as the inability to afford good housing, extreme poverty, insufficient government support, domestic violence, difficulties associated with one parent raising children alone, and a collapsed social support system. According to Woith, Kerber, Astroth, and Jenkins (2017), it leads to the loss of property, privacy, community, routines, and security. Besides, it makes people vulnerable to various kinds of traumas in the form of assault, separation, and violence. In the homeless shelter, children are among those who are seriously affected by homelessness, especially when their rates of falling sick are higher as compared to other kids nationally (Woith et al., 2017). Therefore, they have special health requirements, and their rates of ear infections are twice as high as indexes among other children who are not homeless.
There is a significant association between mental illnesses and homelessness. Aubry, Nelson, and Tsemberis (2015) state that a significant proportion of the homeless population suffers from one of the severe mental conditions. It is among the largest causes of homelessness among single adults. Mental illnesses often lead to the inability to get and obtain permanent housing. Besides, they prevent people from performing basic daily activities, such as managing their households or taking care of themselves. Furthermore, mental illnesses may deter persons from forming and sustaining stable relations or cause them to misinterpret the guidance provided by others and react in an irrational manner. Such actions lead to the deterioration of relations with the family, friends, and caregivers essentially pushing them away and becoming homeless. Therefore, combined with the stress of living with mental illnesses, these factors predispose such persons to being homeless unlike other people in the population.
In the shelter examined by Declan, most homeless individuals suffering from mental conditions are willing and can benefit from treatment and related services. According to Woith et al. (2017), assistance should begin with outreach programs that seek to create trusting relationships through a sustained association with those willing to offer help. Apart from housing, people with mental illnesses require continued treatment and services to ensure that they attain residential stability and do not go back to the streets. Supplemented housing programs should provide physical health care, mental health treatment, peer support, education, employment opportunities, daily living, and financial management training. They should incorporate outreach and engagement staff, various flexible treatment alternatives, and support to reintegrate homeless people into communities. Consequently, homeless individuals are likely to obtain residential stability if they can access such a program.
A combination of mental conditions, substance abuse, and poor physical health often leads to the development of mood disorders that affect people’s lifestyle. Maremmani et al. (2017) state that these disorders influence the way in which individuals perceive, think about, feel, or relate to others. A common mood disorder in the sub-population assessed by Declan is bipolar or manic-depressive disorder. It is characterized by strange shifts in energy, mood, activity levels, and the capacity to perform daily tasks (Maremmani et al., 2017). Mood changes include intense excitement, energized behavior, extreme sadness, and hopelessness. Individuals with mental illnesses and bipolar disease experience psychotic symptoms, such as delusions and hallucinations, which often match their extreme mood. According to Woith et al. (2017), persons may experience unusual episodes whereby they believe that they are famous, extremely rich, or have special powers. Homeless individuals with bipolar disorder may engage in substance abuse, exacerbating relationship issues and concentration in day-to-day activities (Maremmani et al., 2017). It is the reason why Declan should pay attention to this condition and administer appropriate care. An effective treatment plan for people with the mood disorder is a combination of psychotherapy and medication to control mood swings and other symptoms effectively.
References
Aubry, T., Nelson, G., & Tsemberis, S. (2015). Housing first for people with severe mental illness who are homeless: A review of the research and findings from the At Home-Chez soi demonstration project. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 60(11), 467-474.
Maremmani, A. G., Bacciardi, S., Gehring, N. D., Cambioli, L., Schutz, C., Jang, K., & Krautz, M. (2017). Substance use among homeless individuals with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 205(3), 173-177. doi: 10.1097/NMD.0000000000000462
Woith, W. M., Kerber, C., Astroth, K. S., & Jenkins, S. H. (2017). Lessons from the homeless: Civil and uncivil interactions with nurses, self-care behaviors, and barriers to care. Nursing Forum, 52(3), 211-220. doi: 10.1111/nuf.12191
