“A quart of beer is cheaper than the medication they need, so they self-medicate.”

A quart of beer is cheaper than the medication they need, so they self-medicate,” he said.

That is part of the problem right there. If people, not just veterans, get the medications they need, they won't have to resort to finding their own way to "medicate" their condition with. When we see a "drunk" on the street, we just assume they are an alcoholic. While that is true in some cases, it is not true in all cases. Veterans with no history of alcoholism find they cannot make it through the day without reaching for beer or other alcohol to kill off feelings they don't want to feel. While they are fully aware there is something not right going on inside of them, they are unaware of what the "it" is. We've come a long way in reach out work attempting to make them all aware that sometimes the war comes home with them but we still have a long, long way to go until they all know what PTSD is.

Some of these veterans may have mild PTSD symptoms for now. They decide to just "deal" with it on their own. They are unaware that as they attempt to "deal with it" their own way, PTSD is eating away at them. When their life becomes out of control, often it's too late to stop the cycle. They lose jobs. Financial strains added onto strains on their relationships are further challenged because of drugs and alcohol. With no compensation from the VA for their condition and treatment to heal, their lost incomes and estranged families, they become homeless. While they may manage to find friends still willing to take them in, their welcome is worn out sooner or later and no one wants them around. They end up drinking more, trying to establish a thing to "blame" for how they ended up where they are. Instead of acknowledging the wound they carry and find the strength to fight to heal, they fight on the streets to stay alive becoming bitter, angry added onto being drunk.

The cycle does not end there. Sometimes they take their families with them. Even in their absence from the family unit the damage is being done on a daily basis. The spouse will drive down the street and see the person they thought they would spend the rest of their life with begging for spare change. A child will shrink away from talking about their parent no longer in the house and all too often trying to find ways to ease the anger they feel toward them. They will turn that anger inward wondering what is wrong with them that their own parent no longer "loved them enough to stop drinking" and they have to cope with the loss of income from the missing parent. It happens all the time.

When people with mental illness go untreated, it is not just them suffering. The entire community does. The problem is, too many communities are unwilling to deal with the problem and address it instead of just trying to keep the homeless people away from their neighborhood.

Coos Bay deserves a lot of credit for taking a good hard look at the problem as well as what they can do about it. KC

“Trying to pinpoint cause, solution to homelessness
By Alexander Rich, Staff Writer
Friday, August 01, 2008

COOS BAY — Determining the cause of homelessness can be somewhat like asking — which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Some argue it’s a lack of affordable housing and family-wage jobs. Others blame addiction, which makes landlords and employers leery of providing shelter or jobs to such people.

Some say the health-care system drives people into debt and then onto the streets. And others contend not enough has been done to provide veterans a way to return home and re-adjust to civilian life.

The simple answer is there is no one reason for homelessness here. And at a meeting Thursday night at Southwestern Oregon Community College, a gathering of concerned citizens brainstormed on ways to find people homes.

It was the first of three meetings scheduled to discuss homelessness in Coos County and ways it can be ended. The topic was homeless families, though it veered off into discussions of veteran issues and mental health concerns.

Facilitated by Crystal Shoji, the meeting gave participants a chance to share their understanding of problems homeless families face and programs could be put into place to resolve them.

The recurring theme was there is a lack of affordable housing and the increasing number of landlords who resist renting to tenants with poor rental, credit and criminal histories.
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