Deinstitutionalization

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which make maintaining social connections difficult. The transition can be hazardous, with a critical rate of relapses due to the major changes. It therefore becomes imperative that social structure and support are available that offer proper coping methods as opposed to the help received by homeless friends. These friends teach and use approaches which consistently involve using poor coping strategies such as numbing pain with alcohol and drugs or other maladaptive behaviors which could potentially cause them to lose ground in their conversion into mainstream life (Ravenhill, 2008). Types of Shelters for the Homeless Though this is not an exhaustive list, the major forms of shelters will be examined for their success or failure in helping …show more content…

Deinstitutionalization was a movement which maintained that housing the mentally ill away in asylums and other institutions used for housing was not successfully making positive changes in the lives of those it treated, or society. These institutions were often overcrowded, unsanitary and associated with abuse of the patients (Goffman, 1961). There was a prevailing belief that these institutions encouraged dependence, inaction and isolation. Additionally with the emergence of many new drugs aimed at treating the mentally ill, the belief was that a move towards community mental health services would have more positive and significant benefits for these individuals. Unfortunately, deinstitutionalization is a movement filled with great intentions that have primarily fallen short. This is due to lack of funding. As a result many of the individuals who had previously been under the care of these institutions were released into the community, often with nowhere to go. There was often no accompanying community support to transition these individuals from a setting where they are treated for their mental illness and have many …show more content…

In a study conducted by Robert Rosenheck, homeless veterans were randomly assigned to one of three potential conditions. The first were placed in the HUD-VA group. This group would receive Section 8 vouchers for shelter and also receive intensive case management. In the second condition the participants only received case management without Section 8. The last condition was the standard veteran care. Standard veteran care consisted of short term case management in addition to linking veterans up with additional VA programs and community services. In the research conducted, the benefits of HUD-VA were seen to be much more useful in decreasing time spent on the streets with a 16% increase in time spent off the streets for those in the HUDVA over those who only received case management and a 25% increase as compared with the standard veteran’s care. Additionally a decrease in the amount of time spent under the

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