Posted on July 6, 2011
This blog was written by VSH’s summer PR intern, James Denison
Recently, a CNN article brought the idea of homeless individuals using Twitter to national prominence. When they became homeless, Rd Plasschaert and AnnMarie Walsh started Twitter accounts as ways to release their feelings and search for information. However, their tweets eventually led to permanent housing when they caught the eyes of case managers and concerned individuals. Mark Horvath, who has experienced homelessness himself and who helped Plasschaert find housing, later started WeAreVisible as a way to inform homeless folks about social media and give them a platform to share their stories.
WeAreVisible inspired three interns at a New York advertising agency to create Underheard in New York; they gave four homeless men prepaid cell phone and taught them how to use Twitter. In a month of tweeting, the four men each gained about 2,000 followers; they were also showered with encouragement and gifts. One man, Danny, even used social media to reunite with his daughter and grandchildren, whom he hadn’t seen in more than a decade.
These stories are inspiring; everyone can be glad that Danny was able to find his daughter and that Plasschaert and Walsh are housed now. And with the advent of WeAreVisible, more and more homeless folks will probably start accessing social media as a way to share their lives with others. As Danny told one of the Underheard interns, he always had wanted to tell his story, but he hadn’t before because he thought nobody would be interested.
But these social media initiatives emphasize an underlying irony. Danny’s story was waiting to be told the whole time. Twitter gave him a way to package and publicize his feelings, but it didn’t change the content of his story in the slightest. Why is it that we want to hear about him now that his thoughts are neatly packaged into 140-character limits? Why is it that we walk past destitute individuals on the streets without even acknowledging them, but we offer encouraging words and job tips to homeless folks over the Internet? Is Twitter a nice, sterilized way to deal to homeless people without actually having to meet them, or smell them, or touch them?
Twitter is a powerful tool that can give homeless people a voice and allow them to network and make connections. But we as a society should already be listening to these individuals; they shouldn’t feel like they need a Twitter in order to be heard. For every tech-savvy homeless person who uses Twitter to share his feelings, there are dozens of others who lack the know-how or access to social media. We can – and should – always bring a listening, meek spirit when we interact with homeless folks, whether we’re on Twitter or on the street corner.
For a year, VSH has been using Twitter to connect with homeless individuals and service providers, including WeAreVisible. To find us on Twitter, click here. We also provide a wide range of tangible assistance to homeless individuals, including housing, mental health support, and financial workshops. Whether through social media or physical housing, our goal is to transform and give a voice to formerly forgotten lives.
Posted on June 21, 2011
This blog was written by VSH’s summer PR intern, James Denison.
According to a 2009 study from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 20-25% of America’s homeless population suffers from some sort of severe mental illness. That means one out of every four homeless individuals is struggling with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or another paralyzing mental instability. Statistically speaking, one out of every four homeless persons may be hearing voices, having hallucinations, or suffering from mood swings.
For some of these individuals, their mental illness is severe enough to warrant a temporary detention order to a psychiatric hospital. Because of the “danger of imminent harm to themselves or others”, they could legally be committed for inpatient treatment. Yet all over Virginia, psychiatric hospitals are turning hundreds of patients away each year, simply because they don’t have room for them. If they don’t have family to stay with, these individuals end up trying to fend for themselves on the streets. Without the care and treatment they need, they exist in constant danger of harming themselves or being victimized by others.
How did things end up this way? Mental institutes are downsizing, but that is not the heart of the problem. Smaller, community-based facilities were supposed to pick up the slack as a more humane way to treat patients with mental illness. However, that hasn’t happened, and persons with mental illness are paying the price. At Virginia Supportive Housing, though, we’re striving to ensure that individuals experiencing homelessness are properly cared for before they reach a point where they need to be committed.
At VSH, we believe it is unacceptable for anyone to be homeless, especially someone suffering from mental illness. Our program, A Place To Start, provides stable housing and comprehensive mental health services to chronically homeless individuals in the Richmond area. Thanks to a committed team of clinicians, case managers, a nurse, and a psychiatrist, APTS has housed 62 clients since December 2007. All but one of APTS’s clients have not returned to homelessness.
APTS has shown how compassion, empathy, and determination can bring people off the streets and save Richmond money to boot. In addition, the greatest benefit of APTS comes from watching our clients move from instability and fear to security and peace. As our psychiatrist Jeannette Schoonmaker put it in last week’s blog: “The thing that makes my day is when I’ve seen people come into the program who are really desperately depressed, hopeless, and don’t know where to turn. And in a few months, I can ask them how they’re doing, and they say, ‘I’m happy. Life is good.’ That’s flat-out amazing.”
Posted on May 25, 2011
This week’s blog was written by Robin Gahan, Program Manager for the Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness and former VSH intern.
“Housing is a human right.”
“Homelessness is a public health issue.”
“This is not an issue of who is deserving or undeserving, but a matter of life or death.”
Statements such as these are heard now more than ever before as the growing concern about the vulnerability of persons experiencing homelessness is resonating across the globe. The examination of homelessness, housing, health, and mortality have increasingly appeared in the literature across a range of fields including social work, medicine, psychology, and public health. According to the National Health Care for the Homeless Council (2008), persons that are homeless are three to six times more likely to become ill than those who are housed and are three to four times more likely to die than the general population (O’Connell, 2005). As a social worker, I am called to challenge social injustice and feel passionately that a world that tolerates the death of people living on the streets without housing is unacceptable. While serving as an intern at VSH, I had the opportunity to see the Housing First philosophy in action, a philosophy that is client-centered and has successfully kept the most vulnerable people housed.
While there is a great deal of research available on the impact of housing for persons that are homeless with mental health and substance use issues, there are still significant gaps specific to housing’s impact on physical health. At VSH, the support staff expressed concern about the rate of resident deaths related to health issues. It became apparent that there are a number of formerly homeless adults who are aging and/or medically frail living in permanent supportive housing. While housing can decrease certain risk factors such as exposure to frostbite and hypothermia, long-term chronic illnesses such as end stage renal disease or diabetes do not decrease simply as result of being housed. With the support of VSH, I sought to conduct an agency-based needs assessment to determine the health needs of persons once housed to enhance existing services and increase the programmatic response to physical health needs of persons living in permanent supportive housing.
Through secondary data analysis, I found that since 1997, 30 known residents have had serious health issues that resulted in their death, almost 50 percent of which have occurred in the past three years. The mean age of residents at their time of death was 55 years old. Second, I administered a modified version of the Vulnerability Index, designed by Dr. Jim O’Connell and Becky Kanis. I found that all participants surveyed reported having a disability, 75 percent reported a substance abuse related disability, 63 percent reported mental health disability, and 75 percent reported a physical disability. The most frequently reported physical illnesses included hypertension, arthritis, diabetes, and heart disease. Other responses included kidney disease, hepatitis C, osteoporosis, COPD, asthma, stroke, epilepsy/seizures, and emphysema.
I then conducted eight qualitative interviews with current residents in order to engage in more open dialogue and learn how each individual defined their own health and their perception of need. From the interviews, the following themes emerged: (1) loss and changes to physical ability, (2) impact of physical health on mental health, (3) access to services in the community, and (4) satisfaction with support and additional needs. Overall, those surveyed expressed high levels of satisfaction with agency support received. However, when asked how health needs could be better met, participants provided suggestions that would require services to more directly address health through increased on-site health screenings and classes, available medical equipment, and on-site medical expertise such as a registered nurse. In conclusion, it is hoped that the dissemination of this study will be utilized to enhance existing services and increase the programmatic response to physical health needs of residents living in permanent supportive housing.
I am deeply grateful to the men and women with whom I had the pleasure to interview for my study. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to share your story, to better understand your needs, and for providing authenticity to a highly controversial issue. I would also like to thank all of the social workers, peer specialists, and support staff that assisted me in collecting data, selecting residents for interview, and patiently tolerated my barrage of emails. Last but not least, a sincere thank you to Kristin Yavorsky, the VSH Director of Support Services who not only brought this issue to the forefront of my mind, but whose wisdom and support of my learning process allowed me to take on this endeavor.
Posted on May 18, 2011
This past weekend staff from Virginia Supportive Housing and Homeward took part in the 100,000 Homes Registry Week Boot Camp in Philadelphia. On Saturday and Sunday staff learned how to implement to 100,000 Homes Model in Richmond. Part of that model is a Registry Week where the community administers health surveys to people experiencing homelessness. Volunteers, including Boot Camp attendees, went out at 4am three days in a row to canvas the streets of Philly to find and survey homeless individuals and families. It was an amazing experience. The blog below is after the second day of Registry Week. Please stay tuned for more information on Richmond’s Registry Week (August 1 through 5th) and how to get involved.
This is a guest post by the 100K Homes Philly Campaign. This blog post was originally posted on 100K Homes Philly blog. Tuesday, May 17, 2011 at 07:50PM
It was cold, rainy and just messy on our streets this morning, which means most people want to stay in their nice warm safe beds as long as possible. Thankfully, the 100KHomes Philly teams rose at 2 and 3 am to hit the streets of Philly and see who among us did not have a warm and safe place to be.
Teams were deployed to Horizon House’s Navigation Center, where over 50 people slept on a floor in Mantua to stay out of the rain. We attempted to survey everyone and most agreed. Teams went again to the SEPTA [subway] concourse and now most folks knew we were coming and organized themselves into a line to do the survey. Teams that had walked the streets and found no one had learned to check under the bridges and I-95 and found 4, 5 or 6 people today where yesterday, they had seen none. The same teams want to go back again tomorrow, because they are learning, you just have to keep looking. People are there.
Perhaps most exciting, the NEAT team (also known as Team 3) engaged a person on Monday, who had every vulnerability criteria that the folks from 100K Homes national taught us about on Sunday. Long time on the streets, alcoholism, serious mental illness and chronic health conditions, over 60 years of age, long physical health hospital admissions and ER visits. We had to act. So the NEAT team went and engaged him again today with his case manager of 10+ years from PATH and staff from Pathways to Housing PA, who have housing PLUS services to offer him. We hope we can have him housed by Friday and will keep you posted.
KYW stopped by and did some interviews at 315 S Broad St and went out with a team. Check out their interview at http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2011/05/17/volunteers-conduct-census-of-homeless-in-philadelphia/
This job would be impossible without the dedication and skill of our volunteers. Please don’t lose steam now; we’ve got one more big day and dozens of more people to reach! To date, we have 377 unduplicated interviews. Even for teams that haven’t completed lots of interviews, you are giving us a better idea of where homeless people stay (and where they don’t), which is absolutely invaluable information that will have service and policy implications. Kudos to all who are supporting us.
A warm loving shout out to Project Home and Bethesda Project, that had their opening for Connelly House today. 79 formerly homeless men and women now have a warm, safe place and a community downtown, thanks to the efforts of these two tireless agencies.
Stay dry, stay safe, stay warm, till you come join us again tomorrow. And even when this event ends, we are not done. Stay connected to the site for updates on events or how you can support the efforts. Follow us on Twitter at @100KhomesPhilly or like our Facebook page at 100K Homes Philly.
See you tomorrow. It’s supposed to be wet, so be prepared.
Posted on May 11, 2011
On a beautiful spring evening last week, VSH held a reception to thank volunteers at the home of VSH Board President Leon Shadowen. It was our first official volunteer recognition event since implementing our volunteer program in 2010.
If you look at sheer numbers alone, our embrace of volunteerism has been wildly successful: over 450 volunteers in 2010 compared with 50 in 2009. We logged almost 500 hours per month of volunteer time in 2010!
But, who’s counting? What’s really important is the experience that volunteers have working with VSH, its properties and clients (volunteer satisfaction with their experience was either good—64% or excellent—36%). Even more important is the impact that volunteers have on VSH and the lives of our clients. Just watch the YouTube video that features Capital One volunteers helping Joe Brightful move into his new apartment to get a sense of the impact.
While many volunteers supported us in many valuable ways last year, we felt compelled to give special recognition to three groups of volunteers who went above and beyond the call of duty. We were privileged to give our Bob Sledd Volunteer of the Year Award to:
- Capital One for logging over 600 hours on VSH projects!
- Grove Avenue Baptist Church for faithfully bringing dinner and fellowship to New Clay House residents for more than 10 years!
- Commonwealth Chapel, whose many projects at New Clay House include a 12-hour day installing new tile in the community room—and they’re still coming back for more!
This wonderful new volunteer program at VSH doesn’t just happen on its own. VSH is extremely blessed to have the best volunteer coordinator in town, Alison Jones-Nassar, who tirelessly works alongside the volunteers, smiling and encouraging all the way. The volunteers do an amazing job because they know that every single activity and project they do helps us accomplish our mission to end homelessness!
So, thanks to everyone who attended this beautiful event last week and thanks to Leon Shadowen and his wife Laurie for hosting the event. Most of all, thanks to every VSH volunteer for giving the gift of your time so that we can do what we do best – provide proven, permanent solutions to homelessness. We can’t do it without you!
To see photos of volunteers in action, click here. To be a part of VSH’s volunteer program in 2011, click here.
