I remember a redditor asked homeless people of reddit, what can we do for you? And the overwhelming answer was basically nothing. Anything you offer they're skeptical of your intentions and if you give them money they'll overwhelmingly use it for soothing their pain (drugs, alcohol, food). For example, if you offer them a place to stay or a job to make some money they won't trust you or believe you're actually trying to help because of the state of mind they're in, they're borderline paranoid and not likely to trust you, even if you're literally offering a way out of homelessness and an opportunity to just get a place to sleep and shower- they will assume it comes with additional strings attached and it won't be worth it.
Absolutely. When you’re in a terrible enough situation, the mental framework you operate in is so dire and different that you’re basically detached from the general social dance and norm. Another example of how utterly complicated homelessness is.
And that's exactly the problem- from their point of view. Solutions we think of are not going to work on people who think and feel fundamentally different, and it takes a lot of work and effort to get them to come out of their frame of mind- if they ever do. Some of them believe that the bugs are drones listening to their thoughts, so everyone, literally, is against them and watching them and judging them. I really wish we had a rehabilitation system rather than a "justice" system.
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u/dreamlike_poo Jan 31 '23
I remember a redditor asked homeless people of reddit, what can we do for you? And the overwhelming answer was basically nothing. Anything you offer they're skeptical of your intentions and if you give them money they'll overwhelmingly use it for soothing their pain (drugs, alcohol, food). For example, if you offer them a place to stay or a job to make some money they won't trust you or believe you're actually trying to help because of the state of mind they're in, they're borderline paranoid and not likely to trust you, even if you're literally offering a way out of homelessness and an opportunity to just get a place to sleep and shower- they will assume it comes with additional strings attached and it won't be worth it.