One of the most surprising things I’ve learned about homeless people (and myself) is just how expensive they are. I always thought that homeless people were free, housing was too expensive, and the government had other priorities. The reason homeless people are expensive is because they circulate through jails and hospitals before landing back on […]
The Homeless Experience: Criminalization vs. Care
A couple days ago, I was invited to speak for a seminar held at a Lutheran Church. When I arrived at the church, the first thing I saw was a person in a thick sleeping bag resting beside the church’s front door. The weather was bitter cold, with strong, freezing wind. On seeing this person, […]
Experiencing Schizophrenia: Stigma
I recently submitted this to “End the Stigma.” It can also be viewed on their website, here. After I graduated from the University of Cincinnati, I spent two years writing about my unexpected and full recovery from schizophrenia, which eventually became the book Mind Estranged. During those two years of writing, I spoke confidentially to groups of […]
The Homeless Experience: Relationships
From a reader: When you were homeless, what were your interactions like with other homeless people? My response: The only other homeless people I saw living outside at that time were men. I had no interaction at all with any of them. However, I did develop friendships with a photographer who worked in the park […]
Experiencing Schizophrenia: Homeless and Needing Help
I recently received this message from a nurse: I understand your goal of wanting everyone to have access to psychiatric evaluation/care, and to a large extent, I agree with you! But there are laws by which police and hospitals MUST abide, in order to protect every citizen. In order to be admitted to a psychiatric […]
The Homeless Experience: “Hardcore” Homeless
I hear so often that about 40% of the mentally ill are “homeless” (1). But I think this statistic does not consider the full picture. First, there are homeless people who have had struggles or bad luck, and their resulting homelessness is a temporary situation. They want to “pull themselves up by their bootstraps,” overcome […]
Experiencing Schizophrenia: Simulation
I get questions all the time about what hearing voices is like. The experience of hearing voices is extremely difficult to describe. I often tell people it is like experiencing a dream, in some ways. People do not actually see or hear things in a dream, but may remember what they saw, heard and experienced, […]
The Mentally Ill Are Not Dangerous.
This article will be available soon. Thank you for visiting my blog!
The Homeless Experience: Finding Shelter in Bitter Cold Weather
It was especially cold today in Cincinnati, in the teens. While I lived outside in the churchyard in southern California, it never reached far below fifty degrees. The moderate weather made it possible for me to spend almost every night outside, from February of 2006 until March of 2007. This afternoon, I was in a […]
My International Friends in Cincinnati
Today, as I celebrate nearly seven years of good health, and a productive life, I find myself grateful for my friendships with a few special international students. This young woman is a college student from a part Nairobi, Kenya, Africa, where I lived in 2002. We met just this fall, 2014. I’ve enjoyed talking with her, […]
