Here is the article that I'm basing this on: http://huff.to/1zhWAx7 Here it is again...a blue-print for what we can accomplish. And I'm going to repeat an earlier message. If we were to provide supportive housing and services for those living with serious mental illness, how much money could we save? In spite of the belief that not spending means the problems go away, we KNOW that incarceration and homelessness end up being expensive. So does crime. And of course, the loss in potential productivity is incalculable. How many could be helped if we simply tried? I love the solutions presented in this article. Having a sufficient number of affordable housing options is an excellent tool to lead people into the supportive programs that may save lives. And they may restore the possibility of growth and productivity. We have to try. We need to commit to create instead of punishing. Bootstraps are only useful in people who are capable of functioning. Until you provide the most vulnerable with the support necessary to accomplish, all you do is deal with crisis.
I think that the kind of short-sighted attitudes that talk about 'free-market' and 'do the work or you will be left behind' don't take into account the needs of those functioning with illness. Mental or physical illness inclusive. When I was a case manager, many of my clients were on the streets. And when you have a client on the streets, all you can do is put out fires. You are chronically trying to find options to put your client in housing or provide for basic medical care. Without housing, feeding your client is the goal of most days. Your simply end up working to help your client stay alive. And mental health treatment? All you can really do is make sure that they can get stabilized long enough to function. You work from crisis to crisis. Or you lose your client to the streets.
What is the consequence of this short-sighted view? We see it. High levels of incarceration. Huge numbers of homeless mentally ill people. What do we actually accomplish? NOTHING. We don't have any options to assist people to work towards recovery. We spend our time chasing people around on the streets instead. Case management has the potential to work with people to create paths to recovery. And while the goal may not be to create a Wall Street banker, we can create people who are employable. Really. Here is the difference between someone who believes that closing mental hospitals is THE approach...without providing alternatives...and someone who looks for the systemic approach that will lead to real and lasting change. What is so difficult to see in this? Let me know what you think. Continuing the dialogue is the only way to move us forward.....
I think that the kind of short-sighted attitudes that talk about 'free-market' and 'do the work or you will be left behind' don't take into account the needs of those functioning with illness. Mental or physical illness inclusive. When I was a case manager, many of my clients were on the streets. And when you have a client on the streets, all you can do is put out fires. You are chronically trying to find options to put your client in housing or provide for basic medical care. Without housing, feeding your client is the goal of most days. Your simply end up working to help your client stay alive. And mental health treatment? All you can really do is make sure that they can get stabilized long enough to function. You work from crisis to crisis. Or you lose your client to the streets.
What is the consequence of this short-sighted view? We see it. High levels of incarceration. Huge numbers of homeless mentally ill people. What do we actually accomplish? NOTHING. We don't have any options to assist people to work towards recovery. We spend our time chasing people around on the streets instead. Case management has the potential to work with people to create paths to recovery. And while the goal may not be to create a Wall Street banker, we can create people who are employable. Really. Here is the difference between someone who believes that closing mental hospitals is THE approach...without providing alternatives...and someone who looks for the systemic approach that will lead to real and lasting change. What is so difficult to see in this? Let me know what you think. Continuing the dialogue is the only way to move us forward.....
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