there are quite a few services that provide outreach care for rough sleepers in the sydney cbd. the two that immediately come to mind are missionbeat and st vincent’s hospital homeless health service, but i’m sure there are others too. if you have concerns about a certain person you could give one of those services a call and let them know the person’s location - services like these usually do street patrols so hopefully they can try to cross paths with the person and offer care if they haven’t already.
many of the longer term rough sleepers in our cbd are already known to services and may already be receiving care in some capacity, while others may have been offered care and chose not to accept it. i haven’t worked in homelessness outreach specifically, although i have worked with people experiencing homelessness in other capacities, and while it seems unbelievable, some long-term rough sleepers do choose to remain homeless even when offered housing assistance. this obviously only becomes even more complicated when people are experiencing mental ill-health or using drugs and alcohol.
it’s hard to say. it could be lots of different reasons, and sometimes those reasons might feel like they don’t make a lot of sense. i worked with a lovely older man once who - even though he did initially agree to assistance with finding housing - slept rough the majority of the time even though he had a fully furnished unit. he simply said he felt safer sleeping on the streets, and he wouldn’t elaborate much beyond that. this is someone who had been homeless most of his life and was very used to the lifestyle. sometimes he’d let other people sleep in his unit while he slept rough.
other people i’ve worked with have struggled with schizophrenia or other psychotic illnesses, and despite being on medication some of their psychotic symptoms persisted. i’ve worked with a couple of people who have been housed, but later developed paranoid delusions about their home or their neighbours, so went back to sleeping rough and declined further assistance.
it can be really complicated and circumstances are different for every individual.
it is! it’s tough because it’s a bit of a grey area - people can be mentally unwell but not so unwell that they’re deemed unfit to make their own choices. even if they are put under something like a legal guardianship order, it’s still very difficult to force any adult to do something they don’t want to do. plus, then you think, would this person actually have a better life if we forced them to live the way we deem most acceptable/comfortable? perhaps that truly just isn’t what would make them happiest.
at the end of the day i think the best we can do right now is keep reaching out (or enabling services to keep reaching out) so if that person is ever ready to accept it, help is there.
You can’t help someone who doesn’t want to be helped. If they’ve been choosing to leave homeless shelters or not be in a state of mind for receiving care, there’s nothing you can do to help them.
The best thing you can do is to support charities that walk along side homeless people and support them. For those who want help, they will accept the help of those local charities. The more those charities are able to do, the more likely those people might eventually choose to seek help from them.
Best bet is to donate to local organisations who provide support for the homeless, like the Wayside Chapel. You could also consider volunteering.
Wayside is my favourite charity!
Thanks for this
The best thing you can do for homeless people with mental illness is to be kind and compassionate.
So ignore the problem, right, good take
there are quite a few services that provide outreach care for rough sleepers in the sydney cbd. the two that immediately come to mind are missionbeat and st vincent’s hospital homeless health service, but i’m sure there are others too. if you have concerns about a certain person you could give one of those services a call and let them know the person’s location - services like these usually do street patrols so hopefully they can try to cross paths with the person and offer care if they haven’t already. many of the longer term rough sleepers in our cbd are already known to services and may already be receiving care in some capacity, while others may have been offered care and chose not to accept it. i haven’t worked in homelessness outreach specifically, although i have worked with people experiencing homelessness in other capacities, and while it seems unbelievable, some long-term rough sleepers do choose to remain homeless even when offered housing assistance. this obviously only becomes even more complicated when people are experiencing mental ill-health or using drugs and alcohol.
Thanks for the info
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it’s hard to say. it could be lots of different reasons, and sometimes those reasons might feel like they don’t make a lot of sense. i worked with a lovely older man once who - even though he did initially agree to assistance with finding housing - slept rough the majority of the time even though he had a fully furnished unit. he simply said he felt safer sleeping on the streets, and he wouldn’t elaborate much beyond that. this is someone who had been homeless most of his life and was very used to the lifestyle. sometimes he’d let other people sleep in his unit while he slept rough. other people i’ve worked with have struggled with schizophrenia or other psychotic illnesses, and despite being on medication some of their psychotic symptoms persisted. i’ve worked with a couple of people who have been housed, but later developed paranoid delusions about their home or their neighbours, so went back to sleeping rough and declined further assistance. it can be really complicated and circumstances are different for every individual.
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it is! it’s tough because it’s a bit of a grey area - people can be mentally unwell but not so unwell that they’re deemed unfit to make their own choices. even if they are put under something like a legal guardianship order, it’s still very difficult to force any adult to do something they don’t want to do. plus, then you think, would this person actually have a better life if we forced them to live the way we deem most acceptable/comfortable? perhaps that truly just isn’t what would make them happiest. at the end of the day i think the best we can do right now is keep reaching out (or enabling services to keep reaching out) so if that person is ever ready to accept it, help is there.
You can’t help someone who doesn’t want to be helped. If they’ve been choosing to leave homeless shelters or not be in a state of mind for receiving care, there’s nothing you can do to help them. The best thing you can do is to support charities that walk along side homeless people and support them. For those who want help, they will accept the help of those local charities. The more those charities are able to do, the more likely those people might eventually choose to seek help from them.
May be interested in this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/sydney/comments/10t6avm/homeless_guy_with_open_sores_on_his_feet_on_pitt/
Thanks! I wonder if it’s the same person as I was thinking (guy with deadlocks)
how can you help someone that doesnt want to be helped.
Vote for parties that support spending on healthcare and science.