Thesis on "Homelessness, Mental Illness and the Failure"
Thesis 8 pages (2598 words) Sources: 6 Style: APA
[EXCERPT] . . . .
Homelessness, Mental Illness and the Failure of Public AgencyFor many Americans, the gamut of social crises such as domestic abuse and drug addiction, while troubling, may be easy to avoid. These, like a significant number of infirmities that plague the population quietly and persistently, occur largely behind closed doors. Until such crises effect individuals personally, said individuals may never have to encounter them anywhere outside the realm of mere theoretical consideration. This unaffordable luxury is what sets homelessness apart from a broad range of social problems. Homelessness is right out in the open and, on occasions that are familiar and frequent to urban and metropolitan communities, it is won't to demand attention. Indeed, as a reflection of those who are living in the greatest despair in an otherwise prosperous society, they homeless problem speaks to a fundamental failure in public agency, which is addressed in this discussion with intent to provide recommendations for reconciliation of this failure.
As we examine this problem, it is the set of public agencies given the responsibility of attending to the nation's homeless problem that will direct our gaze. The agency which is most primarily responsible for the administration of programs designed to assist the homeless, and especially those who are homeless and suffering with mental illness, is the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Its central role in monitoring or sponsoring all programs, services and campaigns related to public health makes it an important vehicle through which legislation is implemented to aid the homeless.
Specific aspects of its relationship to
download full paper ⤓
Case for Action:
Efforts to this end would be concentrated in those urban locales most demonstrative of a social problem. To the point, the greatest number of homeless people, according to data as recent as 2001, is concentrated in major cities. Here, over 70% of America's homeless fall across a spectrum of categories, though there is a particularly disproportional number of African-American men who are homeless when compared to the percentage population of this demographic (CMHS, 1). While the problem of homelessness is generally believed to be a chronic one, this is not actually the case for the majority of homeless people. In fact, most homeless people are only temporarily out-of-doors, with an overwhelming 80% of them finding some form of temporal or makeshift shelter within two to three weeks of their eviction from a residence. Though these individuals are accounted for in assessing the annual total of homeless people to be somewhere in the approximated range of 3.5 million, they do not represent the most vexing facet of the homelessness problem.
While these individuals may find personal, communal or legal resources to draw on for assistance, those who are chronically homeless are most consistently sufferers of mental illness, substance abuse or both. Those with severe mental disorders are of greatest concern due to the complexity and abstruseness of the topic itself. While only 4% of the American population is considered severely mentally ill, homeless individuals are some six times more likely to be mentally impaired. At twenty to twenty-five percent of the homeless population, this group is undeniably indicative of a larger social incapacity to handle severe mental disorders (USDHUD, 1).
By and large, the popular association between homelessness and mental illness is well-founded and fueled by routinely explicit evidence. As the likeliest candidates for habitual homelessness, and in addition the most visible and distressing homeless individuals, the mentally ill strike observers immediately as those unable to help themselves. Moreover, due to the severity of their illnesses, these individuals are unlikely to have any remaining familial or social networks that could potentially provide support.
Those suffering from disabilities of such a nature as to be considered severely mentally ill are usually people with debilitating depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or multiple personality disorders. Among the symptoms of these and other such mental disorders are paranoia, social dysfunction and cognizance deficiency, all of which can make it difficult or impossible to negotiate ordinary functions such as employment and residence maintenance. Lacking the proper initial resources for treatment, such individuals often will find themselves on the street as a result of unraveled family structures, a background of poverty, chemical dependency or various manifestations of socialized discrimination that single out the mentally ill. This is a situation that is only compounded by the individuals' lack of wherewithal to seek assistance through the appropriate venue.
Without the ability to comprehend any number of legal and social services that may be available, disturbed individuals are extremely vulnerable to sustained, isolated homelessness. In addition to the variety of social circumstances that will obstruct the disturbed individual from reconciling the situation, the pitfalls commonly associated with homelessness are likely to dramatically worsen his chances of making a transition into residency. Exploration of the heightened susceptibility of mentally ill individuals to homelessness also reveals some alarming resultant trends. They are substantially more likely to contract HIV / AIDS while homeless due to a perilous combination of a cognizance deficit and financial desperation, both of which can invoke the individual to behave in a healthfully compromising manner. They are also uniquely vulnerable to substance abuse, with 50% of all severely mentally disabled homeless people simultaneously grappling with addictions as well. There is also a well-documented relationship between mental disorders and severe hygiene and health deficiencies. Beyond the already prodigious difficulty of contending with the mental disorder, an individual is likely to be suffering from additional health problems that will range anywhere from treatable to fatal.
Surprisingly, most of the individuals accounted for in this census of mentally disabled homeless people (derived from the National Resource Center on Homelessness and Mental Illness) have had encounters with various forms of treatment or shelter. But on a whole, the most severely disturbed individual, though on record as having been an in-patient or out-patient for a state or municipal mental health facility, has maintained residence only for brief and fleeting periods. In many instances, individuals have been ejected for amassing the consecutive days of stay permitted by those shelters that levy such limits. In other cases, the mental disorders themselves may be too disruptive to tolerate. Also arriving at halfway houses and jails by way of frequent arrest, it is often the case the mentally disturbed people have removed themselves from those undesirable situations intentionally, opting instead for homelessness. This demonstrates a degree to which the treatment of the homeless falls short both of providing tolerable living conditions in lieu of homelessness and a regard in which mental illness contributes to a somewhat elusive social problem. Changes in agency approach would be fundamentally guided by the demand to improve upon the mental health support services that might prevent homeless recidivism.
Analysis:
In our analysis, we find that the brief history of the homeless problem in America pertains directly to the absence of meaningful human support services.
In the early 1980s, America first began to acknowledge that it had a homelessness crisis on its hands, but with little concentration on the mental illness factors contributing to this problem. At the time, a rash of new economic factors, from the re-integration of two-million Vietnam War veterans to a sustained rise through the 1970s in the overall unemployment and poverty level, rendered the United States' major cities with considerable quantities of homeless people. In the ensuing years, it would become a major issue for public servants on all level of governance. President Ronald Reagan, by reason of political necessity (refer to the above-mentioned visibility of the homeless problem), became the first president to enact serious legislation to the end of creating publicly funded housing for the homeless (Burt, 34).
In the wake of this collective revelation, a wide variety… READ MORE
Quoted Instructions for "Homelessness, Mental Illness and the Failure" Assignment:
SSW 304 CURRENT SOCIAL POLICY ISSUES
SOCIAL POLICY TERM REPORT
Understanding how policy can be used as a tool to effect change is critical in social services. This assignment is intended to build your critical thinking skills as well as provide you with the opportunity to apply policy models to the practice of social services.
Task
Your task is to develop a proposal to address a social policy issue of your choice. Using a range of publications and information sources available to you, select an issue of social implication that relates to poverty, homelessness, physical or mental health supports, family structures, or other matters of social relevance.
Deliverables
Policy Proposal
You are being asked to develop a recommendation to the appropriate level of government to address the issue. The proposal should include:
*****¢ Clear statement of the issue
*****¢ Assessment of why the issue requires a policy response
*****¢ Impact analysis *****“ what exactly is the issue, who does it affect, how does it affect them and what is the impact regarding quality of life as a result of the failed policy.
*****¢ Possible options and considerations to improve the policy.
*****¢ Identification and discussion of who is excluded from the policy (e.g. specific population based on age, race, employment status, economics, etc.).
*****¢ Explanation of who benefits from the policy and in what ways.
*****¢ Recommendation with rationale.
The paper should be between eight to ten (8-10) pages in length
Written Work Format
The assignment grade will be lowered by up to 10% when format requirements outlined below have not been followed in the paper. Written assignments:
*****¢ Should not exceed the page limit for the assignment excluding references and appendices where required.
*****¢ Must be written in essay form, that is content should not be provided in point form and sub headings should be used to organize your arguments.
*****¢ Should use type size Times Roman or Arial, 12 pitch and double spaced.
*****¢ Have a maximum of one inch margins on each page (top, bottom, both sides).
*****¢ All pages must be numbered; and
*****¢ The cover sheet should correctly identify your student number, course, and faculty
Technical standards for the submission of written work are as follow:
*****¢ It must include a list of the at least references from books, journal articles or government/agency publication (e.g. report or research publication) cited in the text. Citations in the text and references must adhere to the APA standard.
*****¢ Quotation marks are required at the beginning and end of direct quotes.
*****¢ No direct quote can be more than five sentences. You are encouraged to limit the number of direct quotes by summarizing the author*****s thoughts in your own words.
*****¢ While you may use web sites, newspaper, and magazine articles these sources cannot be included as required reference sources. References from online academic journals are acceptable.
Style Guidelines
*****¢ Present perspectives, positions and contentions clearly and with evidence in support of your arguments. Contentions should not be assumed to be self-evident but must be referenced to citations and supported with evidence. Avoid the use of rhetoric.
*****¢ Sentence structure should be edited for clarity and coherence. Spelling and punctuation should be reviewed. Do not use capital letters for nouns, as for example welfare state, federal government, social work.
Evaluation
The report will be evaluated on the basis of the attached marking rubric. The term report carries a total weight of 30% of the final grade.
SSW 304 Current Social Policy Issues
Social Policy Term Report
TEMPLATE
Proposal to Update X Policy
________________________________________________________________________
Issue
*****¢ Describe the issue to be resolved in one or two sentences
Introduction *****“explains why the topic is an issue
*****¢ Describe the current status of the issue
o Is there a current policy in place addressing the issue?
o How long has current policy been in place?
o What does the current policy say on the topic?
o What is the intended purpose of the policy?
o What order of government has established the policy (i.e., has authority over the policy)?
Case for Action *****“ sets out reasons for the policy change
*****¢ Consider statistical or demographic evidence and its influence on the issue
*****¢ Draw on research to explain socio-economic, political context; use footnotes/endnotes appropriately
*****¢ Organize information to reflect that with the most influence to the least influence
Analysis *****“ assesses the research
*****¢ What does the research suggest?
*****¢ What opportunities or gaps emerge from the research?
Options *****“ lays out the options for consideration
*****¢ What are feasible courses of action?
*****¢ What are the pros and cons for each option; what risks exist and how should they be mitigated?
*****¢ Who is missing or left out by the course of action under consideration?
*****¢ When considering each option, factor in:
o Financial implications (increase in budget; opportunities for trade-off)
o Human resource implications (staffing impacts)
o Political implications (contentiousness, upcoming elections, polls)
o Alignment with broader policy agenda (government priorities)
Recommendation
*****¢ Outline the recommended course of action and rationale to support the recommendation.
*please do not use Wikipedia for your research. Also all the research materials should be based on Canadian social policy. The writing style should be Canadian. Thank you.
How to Reference "Homelessness, Mental Illness and the Failure" Thesis in a Bibliography
“Homelessness, Mental Illness and the Failure.” A1-TermPaper.com, 2009, https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/homelessness-mental-illness/421688. Accessed 3 Jul 2024.
Related Thesis Papers:
Homelessness in the United States Term Paper
![Paper Icon](https://www.a1-termpaper.com/images/term-paper-3.png)
Homelessness
IN the UNITED STATES and ITS INFLUENCE on CHILD DEVELOPMENT
People Without Homes
Points to Ponder
CONTRIBUTING CONSIDERATIONS
Snapshots of Homelessness
The Number of Homeless
Facts about homelessness in… read more
Term Paper 35 pages (10814 words) Sources: 12 Topic: Family / Dating / Marriage
Outpatient Civil Commitment and Mental Illness Research Paper
![Paper Icon](https://www.a1-termpaper.com/images/term-paper-3.png)
Outpatient Civil Commitment and Mental Illness
Should the courts force individuals with mental illness to take medication in the form of outpatient civil commitment?
Should the Courts Force Individuals with… read more
Research Paper 3 pages (1104 words) Sources: 3 Topic: Psychology / Behavior / Psychiatry
Homelessness in Canada Term Paper
![Paper Icon](https://www.a1-termpaper.com/images/term-paper-3.png)
Homelessness in Canada is considered by many experts to be a paradox of sorts because the economy of Canada is one that is characterized by growth and expansion, which leaves… read more
Term Paper 5 pages (1320 words) Sources: 5 Style: APA Topic: Sociology / Society
People Vulnerable to Homelessness, and Identify Term Paper
![Paper Icon](https://www.a1-termpaper.com/images/term-paper-3.png)
people vulnerable to homelessness, and identify recent policy to address the homeless population in New York City. Homelessness is one of the largest social problems in America today. Today, the… read more
Term Paper 3 pages (1018 words) Sources: 1 Topic: Sociology / Society
Dual Diagnosis Population Seminar Paper
![Paper Icon](https://www.a1-termpaper.com/images/term-paper-3.png)
Population Needs and Assessment
Dual Diagnosis, Comorbidity, and Modified Therapeutic Communities
The term dual diagnosis is a term typically reserved for someone suffering from a mental disorder and a comorbid… read more
Seminar Paper 5 pages (2112 words) Sources: 1+ Topic: Psychology / Behavior / Psychiatry
Wed, Jul 3, 2024
If you don't see the paper you need, we will write it for you!
We can write a new, 100% unique paper!