Counseling and Homelessness - Term Paper Example

?Running head: Counseling and Homelessness Introduction It has been said many times that there are three basic needs for a human being. These are food, shelter, and clothing. With the advancement of time, the list of basic needs seem to be growing longer with some things that would have otherwise been considered as mere luxuries now being considered as equally basic. However, regardless of the numerous needs that people may have in their everyday life the first still remain basic and paramount. This is because, lack of any one of these basic needs will negative affect the life of a person. Take for instance, shelter. A person without a place to call harm is not only at the risk of becoming sick but also greater dangers which could lead to loss of life. This discussion looks at the concept of homelessness and how it could lead to health problems. This discussion will also look at how counseling could help people who have been homeless so as to prevent them from sinking into depression. Counseling has been identified as one of the most effective ways of dealing and curbing homelessness. According to research, counseling is one of the greatest ways of enhancing and building social relations. In many cases, most people who are homeless are so because of breakdown of relationships. A good example is when children are growing up. Normally, if a child feels that they are not getting the attention they would want from the immediate family, or perhaps there is a lot of violence in the family, there is a tendency to want retreat or completely get away from the reality. More often children may not figure out that they can put up in another person’s place, if situations at their homes are unbearable. The most common thing with such children to do is to run away. It is these m kinds of kids who later turn to become street boys and girls and as they continue to grow, then street families are borne. Homelessness has also been seen to contribute by and large to abuse of drugs. Many people who are homeless have to put up with severely harsh conditions in their everyday life of survival. Due to the pressure that comes with leading such a life, many of them sink into depression. In a bid to attempt to forget the reality in their world, most of them tend to abuse drugs and this become very detrimental to their health (Ward,1999). There are also many diseases that such people are exposed mainly because of the conditions in which they live in. While some of these diseases can be said to be self-inflicted because of the habits that such people exposed themselves, a large number of these diseases are as a result of the surrounding environment. For someone who has been homeless for a long time, bringing them back and helping them to begin to lead a normal life requires a lot of rehabilitation, it is at this point that counseling comes in handy. As already mentioned at the beginning of this discussion, researchers have asserted that there is substantial evidence that counseling goes a long way in bring such people back to society. It is during that counseling sessions that people who are homeless are helped to rebuild the broken relationships with their families and friends. It has been noted that during counseling, most people who are homeless tend to be bitter towards their families and will always blame them for all their problems. Counseling is therefore a step-by-step process which helps mend broken relationships and homeless people are slowly able to leave behind the past and reunite with their families and friends (Sue, 2006). Case Study Paula (real name withheld) grew up in happy family of two brothers and one sister. Life when growing up was pretty good especially because Paula’s family was well up. They had almost everything that a child would need. The dad was working in the army while the mums run a successful business empire. However, the perfect life that Paula seemed to have when growing would not be without pitfalls. The dad would drink so much and before they realized his alcoholic tendencies would go out of hand and he became an alcoholic. Whenever he would drink, Paula’s dad would be very violent towards the entire family and especially the wife (Paula’s mum). As the tendency continued, he got to a point where he no longer supported the family financially so that Paula and her siblings would not have school fees. When things got to the worst, the family had to adjust their lives, as they could no longer live lavishly as they were used to. It is this point that Paula became quite depressed and could no longer keep up with what was happening in their family. She therefore ran away from home, not knowing exactly where she was headed. She just wanted to get away from it all. Paula would then end up homeless as a street kid, sleeping on the corridors of building and surviving from handouts given by generous passersby in the street. After months of searching her family found her and it was such a big relief for them. However, the Paula they knew was long gone. The Paula in the streets did not want to come home to a family that did not offer anything but tears, depression, and ridicule from society. It took a lot of convincing to make Paula attend counseling sessions and make her see the need to reunite with her family. Paula completely refused to go back home with her family but she was willing to accompany some counselors. Paula was not interested in the advice that the counselors were offering, but she was willing to give it a try. Having been offered accommodation, Paula slowly began attending counseling sessions, in which she would be advised on the need to reunite with her family and also to quit intake of drugs a habit which she had taken while on the streets. It became apparent to the counselors during the sessions that Paula had become deeply affected by what was happening in her family and that it would take time for her to come around. She seemed as though she had the fear of going back to the violence that she had witnessed. Counseling as we all know is process and results in such a case, results are not always instantaneous. Patience should always be exercised when someone is going through counseling because some people take longer to respond positively to the counseling therapy (Andrew 2004). Paula does not see the point of going through the counseling sessions. She has the belief that not even the counselors can understand the pain she has gone through and turbulence she has witnessed in her family. Her biggest fear is having to go back and witness the violence that she saw being meted by her father to her mother. The mental adjustment of having to live on a more condensed budget when they were used to a good life is also another issue that seems to trouble Paula. The Counseling Process Paula is not just being given a general kind of counseling. Having been away from her family for a long period of time and having been separated from the ordinary society, she needs rehabilitation to be able to live a normal kind of life again. She has been traumatized having been living in the streets for a long time. The trauma also comes from the fact that she witnessed a lot of violence in her family. The trauma also came from the fact that they had to drastically change their lifestyle as a family due to drastic drop in their family income. However as explained below, counseling is not as easy a process and requires a lot of patience. First two counseling sessions did not bear much fruit. However as Paula continued to attend the counseling sessions, there was gradual improvement in her response and she even to got to a point where she started opening up about her life at home and the reasons why she decided to leave home. Paula has since agreed to go back home to her family, and although she is skeptical about the whole of issue of reuniting with her family, she has shown positive change which must be commended. Paula has also been going to hospital for medication because she seemed to have developed a mental problem due to the heavy intake of drugs as well as the depression. The response so far as far as her health is concerned is positive and it is believed that if she continues to be consistent with the therapy, then she will gradually recover. Counseling and homelessness continue to go hand in hand and there is enough proof as demonstrated by this case study that despite the various challenges that homeless people it is possible for them to have a turnaround in their lives so that they are able to lead normal lives. Issues of Access From experience, it is evident that people experiencing the problems that come as a result of homelessness are not easily accessible. This is in the sense that these people normally have a perception which one cannot easily do away with. For example, convincing such people to go back to their homes or at least become part of the ordinary organized society. Looking at the case study above, one realizes that Paula was adamant to go back to her family. It is as though she had some unexplained fears which prevented her from going back to her family. Barriers Some of the most common barriers that such people face include failure of acceptance by the society. The society, more often than not tends to treat these people with some kind of stigma as if they are not part of the society. Acceptance of such people takes time and thus hampers the rehabilitation and counseling process of such people. A keen analysis of the above case study reveals that partly some of the reasons that Paula is afraid to go back to her home is the kind of reaction that people will have towards her. References Andrew B. (2004).Homelessness: Written Evidence. NY: Sage Sue, D. W. (2006). Multicultural Social Work Practice. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Ward, J. (1999). Organizing for the Homeless. London Taylor and Francis Read More