Illness and Homelessness

There is a major homelessness problem amongst the mentally ill. I myself have been homeless. Although I had two jobs I was having trouble for a little while when I was 20 finding a reasonably priced apartment. I was living in a resort town at the time. At that time in my life I was a ski instructor. In the time that I was between apartments I stayed in a storage unit. It was winter but my sleeping bag and wool hat kept me fairly warm.

Mental illness is one of the very top causes of homelessness. Studies show that 30% of homeless people suffer from severe mental illnesses. Often time's people dealing with symptoms of mental illness become estranged from their support systems and have difficulty in the work place. I have had experiences like this myself. I have had trouble at times both keeping jobs and finding jobs. It seems as though people with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia are especially vulnerable to homelessness.

One study shows that 27% to 36% of patients discharged from state hospitals in MA and OH were homeless within 6 months. Unfortunately out patient services cost a lot of money and are not made available to many people with illnesses. Another study shows that 60% of the chronically homeless suffer from severe mental illness. It is an unfortunate set of circumstances that people dealing with mental illness face.

There are many improvements that could be made within the system to help alleviate some of these issues. In my experience I have seen that hospitals could be staffed with people that know more about the problems their patients face. They could also attempt to educate their patients about their illnesses more. I would have benefited from these types of accommodations myself. One example of this is that in my experience I have not seen one peer recovery specialist on staff at a hospital. Treatment must continue after leaving the hospital aswell.