Among the myriad challenges of people experiencing homelessness , addressing and maintaining adequate healthcare – including behavioral health needs – is only one of many experienced on a daily basis .
• “ Patient ’ s families aren ' t trained and don ' t know how to take care of their loved ones , so the patient gets kicked out of the house and they end up homeless .”
• “ Getting people a home , into therapy is next to impossible . It ’ s hard to track someone who is homeless . Make it easier to complete the paperwork - bring it to them using iPads , etc . in the field .”
• “ People feel indifferent to homeless , project superiority and that makes a patient ' s situation that much worse . They get runaround and feel like no one really cares . Some caregivers and police seem to accelerate the crisis situation and intimidate rather than decelerate and understand .”
• “ Harder for homeless to have paperwork . Harder to find documents , and the intake visit is harder for the homeless . People don ’ t have domicile paperwork that you can only have from the social services department .”
• “ More recovery houses for mental health and substance abuse with people who can help them get medications , and teach people how to become more independent .”
• “ More shelters or places for people to get off the street , even during the day , and also at night .”
• “ Many homeless have a history of sexual abuse or assault , and substance use disorder . Such a high percentage of the men who came into the office were sexually abused by fathers , uncles , or while in jail . Healthcare needs to deal with the trauma and urgency of the situation , and not put them in a place where people don ’ t understand homelessness – it ’ s not one size fits all .”
48