From Streets to Stability
Just recently the concept of incentives was mentioned. Maybe you are wondering how incentives can help with Homeless Addiction Disorders! All they seem to focus on is the next re-up, or getting good, “you have a couple dollars?” The only care in their world appears to be scoring more alcohol, heroin, or cocaine. Well, let’s change the way we look at things. Let’s look at what is being achieved by more of this or that stuff, solely. A first thought may be chasing a constant state of euphoria, satiating a selfish “high,” or they are obsessing over a self-centered greed for more.
What if they’re chasing something they’ve never had and simply cannot comprehend, a path that seems to be nowhere in sight? And it is something needed for healthy human development and survival, like affirming that it’s ok to be human with a hug, a smile, or handshake. Are you predisposed? Biologically, we all inherit predispositions from our parents’ DNA. We also develop them culturally while living and learning in our environments – family, friends, teachers, landscapes, social status, etc.
It may be a last-ditch effort to survive the experience of a childhood trauma, abuse, or neglect that is what they’re looking to obtain. Their addiction may have been seeded by a desire to simply fit in with others, someone, anyone willing to appreciate them for being themselves, as they walk along their path. Or let’s look at an excerpt from Author Richard’s book, “Saving Papas Tales,” as another example. Richard was eleven years young and navigating severe lifestyle stressors. The dog his mom, Judy, got for him was killed by a garbage truck incident. That was her initial attempt at calming Richard’s reactions to his transient stress, before the dog died.
“By evening I still cried. After Judy had finished her second glass of wine and was well into her third, she asked me to come sit with her. Then she poured me, my own glass. My introduction to alcohol had begun and I started to learn that, happy or sad, booze was there to get you through.”
But does alcohol really get you past your sadness and depression, or does it just delay your dealing with it? Doc will tell you that from a harm-reduction perspective, alcohol is the most harmful, the worst of all addiction disorders.
Our city manager, Mr. Golden, said it well in an article written by Peter Currier recently. The article, published in the Lowell Sun, spoke of our Restoration Center as being on a path to stability: “Nobody chose this for their child, nobody chose this for themselves,” said Golden. Our congresswoman is on point too: “We have been criminalizing illness, and this venture starts to change that,” said Trahan. Sounds like some of us are looking at things differently. A deeper comprehension of what Harm-reduction actually entails may be of interest here too. Doing our best to refrain from imposing our will on Homeless Addiction Disorders (HADs) is certainly a main ingredient of harm-reduction approaches.
We are onboard with much of the ideology mentioned for plans and operations at the Restoration Center, especially hearing a focus on reducing mandated treatment and/or incarceration. Remember, some have experienced someone imposing their will on them, and if experienced when very young, they see things most of us do not understand. Let’s design an appealing path to stability and allow climbing to new levels volitional. As a fundamental component of our ARMOR Program, harm-reduction aligns well with integrity and dignity of any client-centered health care system’s approach. Well, it’s how we see things anyway. Look and see for yourself and leave us a comment, please.
Doc’s closing: our featured image is a tribute to my lifelong true friend. For over forty years, we supported each other in our endeavors: through thick and thin, through loss or win, and over again and again. Arty was one of my earliest students at Belvidere Martial Arts Academy. Thank you Nick! Arty and I hosted our first demonstration in his Zorba room. The Olympia restaurant served many ARMOR Program clients too. Their introductory consultation and/or initiation meal was always courteous and professional there. More recently, Arty hosted recovery meetings for us in the Acropolis Room too, before opening on Saturday mornings. And thank you S&R, your support allowed Arty and I to enjoy many trips to the Restaurant Depot together, just before his passing! It is truly amazing what a little networking can achieve! My Dad told me once, “a friend in a Greek is a good friend,” and another was “if you can count your friends on one hand, you’re a lucky man!” I get it today, at nearly seventy.
I love the combined opening photograph!