Homeless Culture

The homeless culture is interesting to learn about. I was expecting to learn about the variety of cultures of the homeless population, what separates them from other populations, and reasons behind their life circumstances.

I learned that a large number of youth homeless are runaway adolescents. Most of them identify situations of abuse as reasons they've left home. More than half of the homeless youth suffer from post traumatic stress disorder, and continue to suffer traumatic events. A large percentage of these youth also participate in risky behavior such as unprotected sex, drug abuse, theft, and violence to obtain their means. 

This is important to understand and be able to recognize teens and adults who come to the hospital with nowhere to go, or someone to take care of them. It's a policy to not discharge patients when they have nowhere to go, and we try to find resources to help them obtain stability. Understanding reasons why individuals are homeless, and some of the unique set of issues they deal with will help me decide what kind of care I give. These individuals are more likely to not trust me, have more fear of what is going on, and need the aid of social services to find the resources they need. 

I have empathy for those who are homeless. I can't say that I know what that is like, but through reading some articles, I understand better some of the reasons these individuals are in the place that they are. I have often times looked at some of these people as being lazy, not upholding societal expectations in order to have the security they need, but from my research it seems more often, especially with youth, they have very limited options, or have grown up this way and don't know any better.