Intro to Crisis Counseling Notes

Although flawless counts are impossible to come by – the transient nature of homeless populations presents a major difficulty – VA estimates that 107,000 veterans are homeless on any given night. Over the course of a year, approximately twice that many

Today, hundreds of thousands of service men and women and recent military veterans have seen combat. Many have been shot at, seen their buddies killed, or witnessed death up close. These are types of events that can lead to Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder ("Post Traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD: A Growing Epidemic. “) Anyone that has gone through a traumatic event can be diagnosed with PTSD but research shows, military men and women are more susceptible to having PTSD (PTSD: A Growing Epidemic.) And, with little help from the US, many Veterans do not get the help they need or get treated for PTSD. Military men and women begin to

“A 2014 study of 204,000 veterans, in The Journal of the American Psychological Association, found nearly two-thirds of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans stopped Veterans Affairs therapy for PTSD within a year, before completing the treatment. A smaller study from the same year found about 90 percent dropped out of therapy.”

In America today, there are between 2.3 and 3.5 million people experiencing homelessness, and nearly one-quarter of all homeless adults have served in the armed forces. There are about 200,000 veterans experiencing homelessness on any given night. Considering that this number is so large, there should be several federal agencies helping, but there is not. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is the only agency that works to resolve the issue of homeless veterans.

In spite of having many advantages, veterans over-represent in the homeless population. The question “Why?” begs an answer. Forty years have passed since the Vietnam Conflict ended and homeless veterans became a representative image in American society. Surprisingly, it appears there are no studies on the factors contributing

47,725 or about 8% of the homeless population are veterans and 50% of the homeless people are over 50 years old in the U.S. Homelessness is an unsatisfactory issue that we as humans do not see the importance of the help they need. In our community, we take things for granted and not worry about the importance of helping others. The unfortunate people living in the streets have passed through difficult times and appreciate small or big things. Homeless is a person without a home, and therefore typically living on the streets. Some homeless people have become abusive of drugs, alcohol, and other different type of drugs. Homelessness is a major problem in our society. Homelessness contaminates our city, makes our city look dirty, and it is priority to fix this problem.

Across the nation about 18% of veterans are homeless, which accounts for 7% of the entire population (Carlson, Gavert, Macia, Ruzek, & Burling, 2013). Combat exposure alongside past trauma can contribute to the large number of homeless and suffering veterans, PTSD is especially common within this population.

The large amount of veterans who are homeless is a major issue in this world because out of 22.5 million United States veterans, between 529,000 and 840,000 are homeless at some time during the year, which was calculated by The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans. As there is a big number of veterans who are homeless, there are still about 1.4 million veterans who are at risk

In conclusion, the population of the homeless veterans has gone up over the decades due to many problems or disorders that can develop, but there are many programs and support systems trying to reverse this problem. Programs and support systems are being put in place so there will be a lower amount of homeless veterans. Homeless veterans population can be seen over the years, even from the Vietnam-era and more recently from Iraq and Afghanistan wars. In the recent wars with Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who were exposed to traumatic events come back from combat are different from who they were before. The traumatic events that the veterans were exposed to have an effect on them when they come home and try to transition back to the

The Housing Urban Development (HUD) released a report; called the Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) this report has facts about the homelessness among veterans. “Hsu, 2014 talks about how the AHAR shows there is a 10 percent of veterans are living on the streets at any giving night”. (p. 18) “Larger number of homeless veterans’ dwell in residential, emergency, and traditional housing that is available to the veterans that is in need.” (HSU,2014(p. 18)

There are more than 500,000 homeless people in the United States.” In January 2014, communities across America identified 49,933 homeless veterans during point-in-time counts, which represents 8.6 percent of the total homeless population.” (http://www.endhomelessness.org/library/entry/fact-sheet-veteran-homelessness). 91% are male, 98% are single, 76% live in the city, 54%have a lingering mental and/or physical disability. “... veterans live with lingering effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance abuse…”(http://nchv.org/index.php/news/media/background_and_statistics/). We sit here on our electronics while there are homeless veterans that chose to fight for our country and now that they’re

In the U.S about 11 percent of the adult homeless population are veterans. Accoring to National Coalition for Homeless Vetrans "most veterans are single, live in urban areas, and suffer from mental illness,alchol and or substance abuse, or co-occuring disorders. " Very ofter veterans are considered high risk due for being homeless due to all of the poverty and mental health issues that the vetrans go through. Many vetrans are also homeless due to "extreme shortage of affordable housing, livable income and acess to health care, a large number

The U.S. military produces some of the bravest most heroic men and women on earth. From the moment the oath of enlistment is made to the time of separation or retirement, these courageous souls endure a number of amazing, historic and sometimes unbelievable events. They are praise for their service and lift even higher for their sacrifice, although most are unaware of the true sacrifices are made by some of these men and women. The most visible sacrifices or “outer sacrifices” are loss of life or loss of limbs while the inner wounds are bouts with depression, sexual assault, divorce, and most common alcohol other drug abuse.

In 2004 Operation Iraqi Freedom became the deadliest American military conflict since the Vietnam War. Military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and Vietnam have brought heightened awareness of military related PTSD, as well as the relationship and family problems that accompany the disorder. Studies have shown that 11% - 20% of Veterans that served in Iraq and 6% - 11% of veterans that were deployed to Afghanistan have suffered from PTSD. Veterans of operation Desert Storm suffer at a rate of about 10% and Vietnam veteran estimates have been as high as 30% – 50%.

Homelessness in America has been slowly decreasing since 2013. In 2014 the New York City shelter system reported an increase of seven percent, from 50,135 in 2013 to 53,615 in 2014. In 2013 more than 111,000 different New Yorkers looked to the shelter system to give them safety, this is also including 40,000 different children. Overall homelessness has dropped by at least 2.3 percent, homelessness has decreased among every subpopulation. Veterans make up 10.5 percent of all homeless people, Veteran homelessness has dropped down to 25.5 homeless veterans out of every 10,000 veterans.