Homeless people/addiction.

[shackattack]

There are many causes for homelessness and addiction , does one cause the other and vice versa. What is true, is that it can happen to any of us for sure. In a society where foodbanks have become the norm it can only get worse.
But there is help and the person needs to be motivated and focused on recovery.
For some abstinence may be the only solution and that's very difficult for some to comprehend.
You have to change your lifestyle, social circle etc and that's a massive change but with the right support it's attainable. I once worked in a drug rehabilitation unit in Hampshire and worked with people from all walks of life, possibly none of whom ever thought they would need help or even consider it a problem.

 

[Blue Maverick]

If someone is criticised these days ,instead of having a good look at themselves and thinking they might have a point and what can I do to change ,they instantly take offence blame everyone else and play the mental health card and this takes away from people who have real mental health problems

Mental health is the new bad back, people jump on it to excuse everything, sometimes you just have to get on with shit. I’ve had issues in the past, got some help from a GP then carried on, I could’ve easily turned to booze but I know that’s bad, I’m sorry but sometimes people use it as an excuse to get away with their actions.

 

[give it to gordon]

but for the grace of god.

I work for a local council and thanet has it's fair share of homelessness and drinkers. Most of them are polite to us and give us no problems. But these people shouldnt be pre judged.

We also work alongside and help the sally army who do amazing work.

Now if you had asked me 10 years ago I would have had totally different views. Sally army bible bashing nutters and bloody wine's.

Lots of these people have no support network, if your marriage breaks up you get no support etc. Its so easy to end up broken. They may come from trouble childhoods. Some may have mental health problems again little support.

If I didnt have a close family to support me after my marriage break I could have had serious problems. I was working 40 hrs but had no money, it was going to the ex to support our kids. I had nothing and no help from the government. I ended up with around 10k debt, my dad bought me a cheap mobile home to live in, but I couldn't afford to heat it, light it or even eat some times.
I was so lucky to have support and a strong mind set. But it took its toll, even with help, I am now on antidepressants but happily married.

But it could so easily have been me on the park bench.

Dont pre judged these people.

Not everyone is strong enough to ignore booze and drugs thankfully I was but there were times when I was thinking about ending it all. Thankfully I didn't

 

[Nellies left peg]

Mental health is the new bad back, people jump on it to excuse everything, sometimes you just have to get on with shit. I’ve had issues in the past, got some help from a GP then carried on, I could’ve easily turned to booze but I know that’s bad, I’m sorry but sometimes people use it as an excuse to get away with their actions.

I’ve got a wife with secondary progressive ms and up till now have worked and looked after her and have recently packed in work to care for her . My attitude is not poor us but how can I do thinks myself to make our life easier.Weakness is only in your head and you can overcome most thinks with a lot of effort and a bit of thought if you want to

 

[shackattack]

but for the grace of god.

I work for a local council and thanet has it's fair share of homelessness and drinkers. Most of them are polite to us and give us no problems. But these people shouldnt be pre judged.

We also work alongside and help the sally army who do amazing work.

Now if you had asked me 10 years ago I would have had totally different views. Sally army bible bashing nutters and bloody wine's.

Lots of these people have no support network, if your marriage breaks up you get no support etc. Its so easy to end up broken. They may come from trouble childhoods. Some may have mental health problems again little support.

If I didnt have a close family to support me after my marriage break I could have had serious problems. I was working 40 hrs but had no money, it was going to the ex to support our kids. I had nothing and no help from the government. I ended up with around 10k debt, my dad bought me a cheap mobile home to live in, but I couldn't afford to heat it, light it or even eat some times.
I was so lucky to have support and a strong mind set. But it took its toll, even with help, I am now on antidepressants but happily married.

But it could so easily have been me on the park bench.

Dont pre judged these people.

Not everyone is strong enough to ignore booze and drugs thankfully I was but there were times when I was thinking about ending it all. Thankfully I didn't

Though some condemn religion , the church organisations do some amazing work with the homeless. I worked with a 96 year old who sold a home to set up a homeless charity and was one of the biggest influences on how I percieve others. Alcohol is socially acceptable and if it was invented today would no doubt be a Class A drug.
On a side note I worked for the Deaf School in Margate, did they ever do anything with the site or is it still closed down?

 

[Tommy_Catons_Perm]

Like Begbie's dad in Trainspotting when they meet one night in the derelict Leith Railway Station. The scene is not in the film. It's in the book only, hence its title.

 

[Nellies left peg]

I do think that the increasing use of recreational drugs has made users more paranoid and insecure

 

[Saddleworth2]

I won't argue with you or issue any wrath but I'm sorry you have zero empathy for mental illness and even deny it's existence.

"Get a grip" "show some backbone" is probably the worst thing you could say to a sufferer.

Someone very close to me was told 'she needed a good kick up the arse' by her sister during a bout of depression.
She got help and is well now. Doesn't have any contact with her sister though.
It is the very worse thing you can say.

 

[Kirkstall Blue]

I won't argue with you or issue any wrath but I'm sorry you have zero empathy for mental illness and even deny it's existence.

"Get a grip" "show some backbone" is probably the worst thing you could say to a sufferer.

Absolutely and even when you try and help people you have other folk telling you not to, I always take some shopping round the food bank as that’s a really good way of helping people.
Money to someone with no legs as well “if I’ve got it” life is so hard only this morning a young woman jumped in front of a train with her child heartbreaking story no money for her bills and in debt.
The news scaremongering how bad it’s going to be with spending cuts dreadful for people on the edge. It would be more useful to tell people where to go for help.

 

[domalino]

I just heard this doco on the radio, absolute true story. Heartbreaking really. Told by a young woman who it happened too.
Her Mum & Dad, when she was around 13 years old split up. The Father left the marital home as agreed and rented himself a small flat. The Father had a decent job in a bank, not a high earner but secure income. Apparently, this break-up was more motivated by the wife.
Anyway, after a few months the husband is really suffering from loneliness and misses his wife and kids a lot. Keeps turning up at his old house and eventually told to stop calling round by the wife.
Then, after a short period, he finds out she has got herself a new bloke who eventually moves in.

This now makes the Father even worse and for consolation he starts going to the pub every night, (who could sit at home every night alone ?) for some company and he finds that the booze relieves a lot of the way he is suffering mentally with depression. He starts drinking at home, result, alcoholism brought on by mental illness.

One day at work his boss is talking to him and can smell alcohol on his breath , this happens more than once and eventually he is told to go home.
A week later he is sacked.
His life spirals with depression and he drinks more. He is drunk most of the time. He stops paying rent, bills, all his savings go on booze and he winds up being evicted, becoming homeless.
His daughter is on a school outing one day and she see's her Dad, asleep on a town centre bench in daytime, with his few meagre belongings. She is too ashamed to tell her friends that he is her Dad.
Six months after that sighting, her Father was beaten up late one night by some drunken youths and died of his injuries. He was found dead in a small park.
This was a very decent family man. The daughter is heartbroken although she could do nothing to help her Dad as she was a school girl with no income.
She is still heartbroken and suffering to this day with her thoughts of her once wonderful and loving Dad. She cries a lot.

Anyway, hearing this story made me realize that it can happen to anyone and that drunk guy sitting in a doorway or under a bridge talking to himself, could be anybody, a bloke who has worked for many years and paid taxes, or an ex-soldier etc etc.
Someone's Dad.

A story about NHS underfunding leading to awful standards of mental healthcare.


Which is also probably why the yank doesn't understand it, America demonises their homeless people in a way I've not seen or exerienced in any other country.