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Solving youth homelessness is a bit
like solving the dilemma between the two
main characters in ‘Fight Club’ (and no, I will
not be waxing philosophic about that film).
Not necessarily the battle between the raging id of Tyler Durden and the super ego of
The Narrator, but something more biologic
than Freud. The battle between these two
characters is closer to the struggle between
the amygdala and the neocortex of the
brain. My dream is to solve ‘Tyler vs Narrator’, and, in the process, perhaps unlock the
door to exiting youth homelessness.
For the past number of years, I’ve been
involved in helping minor victims of Commercial Sexual Exploitation recover what
was stolen from them. For many of these
youth, the first step into the commodification
of their body was the first step they took out
their front door. The number one entryway
into commercial sex for an American youth
is being a Runaway or Homeless Youth (RHY).
Working with these kids, there is a story that
I’ve been told dozens of times from dozens of
different victims. It goes like this:
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I got in a fight with my mom [or foster parent, or dad, or other guardian] and
ran away. I stayed with my friend for a few
days, but then her Mom got mad at me and
kicked me out, too. For a few weeks, I stayed
on couches or floors of other friends. One
night we were at this party. It was really
late and cold outside and I didn’t have anywhere to stay. The guy at the party to me I
could stay on his couch if I wanted, but I’d
have to give him [insert sex act here].
Survival means trading his or her body
for a place to sleep.
Survival is the keyword. We call these
youth ‘runaway’ not ‘run-to.’ There is no
grand plan. The majority of youth who find
themselves sleeping on the street, couch
surfing, or experiencing homelessness in
some other way report physical, emotional,
or sexual violence as a part of their story.
Almost half of the homeless youth population can be thought of as ‘throwaway.’
‘Throwaway’ youth are youth that have
been told to leave their house or left and
no one even bothered to report that they
were missing.
The trauma that leads youth to the
streets is rarely a one-time event. Homeless
Youth experience abuse and neglect as a
lifestyle from an early age. It is in this early
violence that we see the beginnings of the
‘Tyler vs Narrator’ or ‘Amygdala vs Neocortex’ battle.
When children experience abuse early
and often (the way homeless youth do), it
has a profound effect on the way their brain
develops. There is a small structure in the
back of our brain called the amygdala. The
amygdala is responsible for our fight, flight,
or freeze response. Sustained abuse causes
the amygdala to become over developed
(amongst other biological consequences).
This hyper vigilant structure causes the
brain to be constantly scanning for danger
instead of developing other areas of the
brain. Specifically, the front of the brain,
responsible for executive functioning (reason, hope, analysis, etc.), does not develop
as it should.
In fact, not only does the frontal cortex
not develop, but the pathways that carry information from the fear center to the rational center of the brain do not develop well
either. As a result, the world becomes little
more than a series of threats.
So, where you or I might experience
touch as a sign of affection, they may experience it as a sign of hostility to come.
Where you or I might get upset at a misunderstanding and then quickly calm down
when the situation is clarified, they get
upset and lack the ability (not the desire)
to calm down and rationalize through a
simple misunderstanding.
Imagine that the brain is a motor. For
runaway and homeless youth their motor is
operated by two gas pedals and no brakes.
I was once cooking dinner for a group
of survivors of Human Trafficking at the
Manasseh Project Trauma Recovery Center
in Grand Rapids, MI. We were having steak.
As the giant steaks were done cooking, I
would cut off a healthy piece and give it to
a hungry young woman waiting for dinner.
One young woman was a bit late for dinner.
When she came to get her steak, she didn’t
know that all the other girls had just had
pieces of larger steaks. When I cut hers, she assumed I didn’t like her so I was giving her less.
A minor misunderstanding.
Twenty minutes later, when all the food
was consumed and we were full and happy,
I stood up and asked if anyone would like
ice cream. Lazy smiles came across their
faces. Well, most faces.
‘I don’t want anything from that stupid
mother f***er!’, she screamed at me.
I’ve been called a lot of things, but rarely that after a great dinner. After two hours
of a patient staff member talking to this
young woman, it came out that she was
hurt that I’d cut her steak, but no one else’s.
A minor misunderstanding.
It took two hours to process a simple
slight. That is what trauma does to the
brain. This was just a mistake—no ill will.
However, because she was hurt so early in
life, her brain is now hardwired to perceive
the world as filled with threats rather than
filled with potential. It is something to sur-
vive, not something to engage.
Like this young woman, many homeless youth have a brain developed to help
them survive, not to thrive. Like youth
who are trafficked who grow into an adult
population trapped in the life, homeless
youth grow into intermittently or chronically homeless adults. However, while
they are chronologically ‘adults’ their brain
development is actually closer to that of
a child. They make poor decisions not because they want to live a life of danger, but
because they are simply choosing from
poor options with a mind shaped to find
momentary relief and find the safest route
(even if ‘safe’ isn’t so safe).
The frightened brain does not heal on
it’s own. While medical help is vital to these
youth, it isn’t in the medical field that we’ll
find the answer. No surgery can reform
neural pathways. While medications could
be helpful, refilling a prescription for Xanax
can be tricky when