Reply III

Choice n.

1. The act of choosing; selection.
2. The power, right, or liberty to choose; option.

I both agree and disagree with your point about choice. Boy, that does sound like a politician waffling doesn’t it? I think that your comments about choice is to broad, that it is the same as applying ‘homeless’ as a label to what is in fact a very broad and diverse group of individuals.

I would not say that many of the homeless are in that state because they chose homelessness, but as a result of bad choices. I know that sounds like hair splitting but I honestly believe it is an important consideration in choosing how you approach dealing with people’s situations. Behind a person’s homelessness lies a path of choices, generally bad choices leading to the person’s current state of being homeless. If we just say they chose to be homeless there is little chance we can help them get themselves back together. We need to look at all the bad choices they made in order to understand what steps they need to take to start to get themselves back. For you are right there is nothing I, you, we all can do if the person we are trying to help has not made the choice to change (how many physiatrists does it take to change a light bulb? One, but the light bulb really has to want to change).

I am going to cite the hooker point you raised. I do not imagine to many of the ‘ladies of the evening’ said to themselves “what do I want to do with my life? I know I will be a hooker”. A friend of mine worked with one or the current ‘ladies’ and knows her story. She fell in love, got badly hurt, turned to drugs to easy the pain, became addicted, became unreliable, lost her job, and turned to prostitution to feed her habit. She did not directly choose to be a hooker. A series of bad choices led to this point in her life. But in trying to do anything for her, focusing on her needing to choose not to be a hooker would not accomplish anything. She needs to get off the drugs and to do that she needs to address the issues/pain that led here, since if you got her clean but did not address the reason(s) for the drug use she will just start making bad choices because of the unresolved issues.

Still, you are right, it is all about CHOICE. The question then becomes: how do or what is needed to get them to make better choices?

One point I feel I must make and I expect you will disagree with is the idea that addiction is a choice. In dealing with the left over ‘isms from my upbringing in an alcoholic household I have come to realize that addiction is a disease. A form of insanity. Or perhaps you can explain what sane person would do to themselves what alcoholics and drug addicts do. It is treatable and many people are successfully recovering from this disease. I suppose that what convinced me that it is a disease is that as I dealt with (continue to deal with) my mental health issues I found just how many of the ‘isms of alcoholism I had caught or been passed as a result of my childhood. Something that can be passed through and down families is a disease. It may not be the flu, but like the flu exposure to a family member with the disease can pass it to you. But you are correct that there is choice involved. I have chosen to deal with these ‘isms, as painful as that is at times. And in order for alcoholics and addicts to begin to recover they must make that choice, the choice to recovery.

As I have noted Street Hope has been evicted. So they have changed, they are still going to minister to the homeless and those in need but with a different approach. Getting out there, get to know the individuals, their needs and address those issues that stand in their way to getting better. My understanding is that the idea is to reduce the excuses until they are left facing ‘The Choice’. Since the individual must make a personal choice anything that brings them to face making a choice is useful. I suspect it will be necessary to cycle through making the choice several times until the person is ready to stop making bad choices.

But society as a whole has a part to play in this, a choice to make and yes it requires money be spent. Connected to the idea of choice is the concept of ready vs. not ready. Ready to make a choice, to seek treatment vs. not ready to chose, unwilling to seek treatment. We need to invest in those who are ready to choose and want to seek treatment. I know someone (actually more than one) who has an addiction (hard not to when know addicts when homeless oneself – tends to give you a different view of the problem) and had made a good choice and was seeking help. He was upbeat, hopeful and headed for treatment – had a spot in two weeks. I saw him on the day he was scheduled to enter treatment, stoned and back into the cycle of addiction. My personal observations are that we are dealing with people so change is a fact of life. There seems to be decision points were individuals are ready to seek help and choose to get straight. Those that are fortunate in the timing so that they get into a program RIGHT THEN do much better (with people you will never get 100% success) than those who are told “later, wait, no beds, not room”. I have seen far to many who were told they had to wait miss the ‘window of opportunity’ and fall back into making bad choices.

YES! “Why are people homeless - 20% mental illness, 30% drug and alcohol issue, 30% lack of education, 20% plain hard luck (Toronto Sun)”.

Both the mathematician and accountant in me appreciate the figures provided. One of the biggest frustrations I have with the current system of social assistance in this province and the City of Abbotsford is that it only sees, and thus focuses on, the drug and alcohol portion of the homeless. Which does nothing for the other groups. It is also very important to keep in mind that each of these segments is made up of different people with different needs. There are major differences in the support and services that different mental illnesses need. One of my major desires is to get the public and especially those making and implementing policy to realize the need for the flexibility to address the different needs of the many different individuals that make up the group labeled “homeless”. We need policy choices that address the diversity of the needs. We need policies that offer choices to those who wish to get up and out.

I admit my own ignorance here. I had not realized 20% was the result of plain hard luck. But this group should be the most helpable, a job to replace the lost one, a little extra funding for shelter (some kind of housing subsidy) until the cash flow from the new job smoothes out and they should be well on their way back. BUT they do not get thet in a system aimed at those who have addictions or wish to abuse the system.

20% mental illness. That shameful statistic is in keeping with my observations – it may be even higher in BC as a result of the policy change made years ago to “integrate” the mentally ill more into the community. They failed to put any safety measures in and these poor citizens just began to slip through the cracks until they ended up homeless and wandering the streets. How can they make any kind of good choices that would get them out of homelessness when most are incapable of making any kind of rational choice at all? I make a joke about myself – I am considered somewhat weird/different by many of my fellow homeless – “don’t blame me, I just do what the voices in my head tell me to”. But think about mental illness and how it renders you incapable of making good choices. What does it say about our society that we currently have abandoned this 20% to the streets?

Laugh. I had planned to ask you about mental illness in arguing about choice. I landed in my current position when my mind abandoned me. I did not choose to have panic attacks when the phone rang, to cower in my condo when someone knocked on the front door, to have days were I could not walk out that front door, to gain weight as a result of to much take-out and not enough health foods, on those days I could get out the door to make dozens of trips back to make sure I had locked it – even if it meant I wasted the better part of an hour on this pointless activity or a three day anxiety attack over a simple choice between a 20 or 24 inch television to replace my old one. I would not wish that on anyone and would certainly not have made it a personal choice. My GREAT LUCK was that I had enough resources left to get healthy enough so that when it all hit the fan I could deal with matters and continue to get healthy and to get my life back into some semblance of order. But I also concede that there was and is a great deal of choice involved, especially as I am healthy enough at this point to make good choices. I am also fortunate that I have managed to build a support system of good mental practices and people to help keep me real and in making good choices.

As is so often the case with complex issues and more so those that involve people we are both right on the question of choice. ME: It is usually a series of bad choices, not just one that leads to homelessness and addiction. For some it is not a matter of choice that they fell into this mess (mental illness chooses you, I certainly would not have chosen it). We need to understand the series of bad choices if we want to help set up good choices. YOU: That ultimately it is a matter of personal choice. That there is nothing that can be done for those who continually choose to make bad choices and refuse to change. Those I have watched get their lives together did so because they choose to. I am and will get it all together because I so choose. A major part of addressing the issues of homelessness and addiction is CHOICE..

Just remember that it is not just choice on the part of the homeless, mentally ill or drug addicted. What our society, our citizens choose to do is equally important. Will you insist that policies be changed to stop causing problems and rather address the needs and issues? Are you willing to stand up and say “Yes, we need to address this issue”? Are you willing to reach out and help when an opportunity presents itself that your actions will have a positive effect on somebody’s life? If we all just think about it are there not many small actions that can be taken that would produce beneficial results in many lives? How can people complain about how society is deteriorating while ignoring the misery on the very streets of their City?

“Unless someone like you cares an awful lot,
Nothing is going to get better.
Its not.”
DR. Seuss