Social media has been abuzz with pictures, commentary, and questions surrounding a homeless veteran who spent time near the I-65 North exit on Eastern Boulevard, which sits on the line right between Jeffersonville and Clarksville. This gentleman is well known to local outreach teams who have been serving him for more than five years. Paul Stensrud, from Exit 0, has formed a well-established relationship with Robert.
Robert previously lived in the wooded area between the I-65 exit ramp and the fence that separates it from Hospitality Way where Red Carpet and another hotel are located. Robert self-reports that he enjoyed sleeping in his tent in this area because the wind would blow through the trees and remind him of growing up near his childhood home in the country. Ever since the Indiana Department of Transportation cleared out the trees in that area Robert moved and has been exposed at the top of the hill.
Since the beginning of time there have been nomadic people groups that have chosen to live outside rather than take on the accoutrements of modern society. These groups prefer nature and freedom to being locked into a schedule that upholds societal norms. In and amongst this group of people there are also people whose lives who have spiraled out of control due to addiction and mental health.
I want to first respond to the public criticism that “no one is looking out for these people” and “why is no one doing anything to help them.” There are street outreach groups Exit 0 (the primary group that extends to both counties), Love Unlimited, and Uplift Them that reaches mostly Floyd County. These groups establish relationships with all the different street homeless groups that live outside. They check on them weekly, providing meal assistance, offering toiletries and clothing, helping provide showers, doing laundry, and getting them connected to services when the people are ready to accept them.
***I would like to strongly suggest BEFORE you drop an item you THINK a homeless person needs along the side of a road that you volunteer with Exit 0 or Uplift Them or provide the items they are requesting, otherwise you may be contributing to the problem instead of offering a solution.***
So why is someone like Robert, Marsha, Johnathon, Dottie, Doug, Fred, or any other person still on the street after years of people reaching out to them offering help? Our society has afforded these people a freewill human choice. They have a right to accept services for their mental health care or to deny services altogether. They have a right to be mentally unhealthy to the point that this choice causes “harm to themselves or someone else” or a “threat to themselves or someone else.” If a person is not homicidal or suicidal there is very little anyone can do to “force” a different choice upon them.
First of all, how does one determine if a person is a “threat to themselves or someone else?” This determination has to be done by a mental health professional (the very people that people who suffer from these conditions DO NOT want to see). How does one go about presenting them to a mental health professional when they are a potential harm to themselves or someone else? This is a very difficult endeavor in and of itself, often times placing an undue burden on law enforcement and homeless street outreach workers which they:
#1.) are not trained to handle
#2.) are apathetic toward due to the fact that MOST often these people will be placed on a 72-hour hold and be back out on the street with the very same behaviors after the medication they receive wears off.
Very few people go into a 72-hour hold and come out with the intention to continue treatment and medication. This fact creates a vicious cycle accomplishing absolutely nothing and presents a social problem still heavily pressuring our system. The “low-hanging fruit”, or easiest response for caring individuals who see a person in need on the side of the road, is to bring the person items that the “giver” thinks might be helpful. I appreciate this help and the heart behind it but this often times enables behavior that keeps our street homeless from experiencing the reality of their choices, especially if they have chronic mental illness or addiction.
What we NEED is a response that actually moves closer to resolving this social problem. We need policies and procedures that help a person get from a 72-hour hold to a mental competency hearing to see if that person is fit to make their own decisions moving forward. If they are found incompetent, then they need a court appointed advocate to ensure that they are receiving the services they need and to advocate for them through their housing options.
What currently happens is the person is medicated during their 72-hour hold and then let out when they are at baseline. Then they do not follow up with providers or get their prescriptions filled. Eventually, these individuals spiral and end up back in the same situations again. With the deinstitutionalization movement shutting down state run mental health hospitals we have no place to house people who are chronically mentally ill even when they are a continual threat to themselves or someone else. In a hypothetical situation, if it were 31 degrees outside with a wind-chill factor of 27 degrees and a person was exposed on the side of the highway, then their decision making should be in question. But, if said person is also naked from the waist down, with excrement on their back and stuck to their behind, suffering from open sores and possessing only a light throw blanket to cover themselves…we can all agree that they are definitely a threat to themselves. In these circumstances, a few hand warmers and a Popeye’s chicken meal isn’t going to solve the problem. Nor is putting this person on a 72-hour hold going to solve the problem. We need services in place to help people; and it’s going to take us coming together and talking to legislators, leaders in our community, and people who can change policy in order to make a real difference.