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Article
Publication date: 1 December 2006

Christopher Scanlon and John Adlam

We begin with a discussion of the psychosocial concepts of ‘personality disorder’ and ‘homelessness’, and then seek to re‐define and re‐locate both from the internal world of the…

Abstract

We begin with a discussion of the psychosocial concepts of ‘personality disorder’ and ‘homelessness’, and then seek to re‐define and re‐locate both from the internal world of the patient/client to the psychosocial ‘dis‐memberment’ associated with what we have called the ‘unhoused mind’. We then explore the complex reciprocal relationship between the ‘ordered’ and the ‘dis‐ordered’, the housed and the unhoused, and consider some possible implications for individual workers, staff teams and organisations tasked with attempting to house and/or to care for and support such people.

Details

Housing, Care and Support, vol. 9 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1460-8790

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 June 2011

Peter Cockersell

This paper seeks to discuss the association between homelessness and poor health, both physical and mental. A pilot project run by St Mungo's suggests that adding clinical mental…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper seeks to discuss the association between homelessness and poor health, both physical and mental. A pilot project run by St Mungo's suggests that adding clinical mental health interventions, notably psychotherapy, makes existing social care interventions several times more effective, enables deeper recovery, and frees people to move on across all the domains of their lives.

Design/methodology/approach

St Mungo's was awarded a grant by the Cabinet Office as one of the national pilots working with “adults facing chronic exclusion” (jointly funded by the Department of Work & Pensions, Ministry of Justice, Department of Health, Department of Communities, and Department of Families and Children – because these clients impact on the remits of all these departments). The aim of the project was essentially simple: to test the hypothesis that, if chronically excluded adults were excluded because of their psychological disorders, then could a psychotherapeutic intervention reduce their exclusion?

Findings

Recently, 274 people have attended for therapy; 30 per cent of these are women, 70 per cent men, with 68 per cent white and 32 per cent black. In total, 30 per cent did not come to the initial assessment session, and there are many reasons for this, for example, people abandoning or being evicted from their accommodation, death, imprisonment and resettlement. Some were also referred without proper consultation, so that when they were contacted it turned out they did not want psychotherapy or, in a few cases were already accessing it elsewhere. Of those who did attend assessment, 80 per cent went on to attend four or more sessions; most clients attended either two to four sessions, or more than 12. Attendance overall was 76 per cent, and non‐attendances were noted on 11 per cent of occasions.

Originality/value

Many homeless people become caught in the “revolving door” of hostels, prison, hospitals and the streets, often for many years. This paper argues that this form of homelessness affects people because of their mental health, and that social solutions alone are not sufficient, which is why the door continues to revolve. Offering appropriate clinical interventions alongside existing social ones could begin to transform this situation.

Details

Journal of Public Mental Health, vol. 10 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5729

Keywords

Content available
Article
Publication date: 8 June 2012

Robin Johnson

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Abstract

Details

Housing, Care and Support, vol. 15 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1460-8790

Article
Publication date: 20 March 2017

Catriona Phipps, Martin Seager, Lee Murphy and Chris Barker

Many homeless people have significant levels of early adverse experiences and consequent mental health difficulties. The purpose of this paper is to examine the experiences of…

Abstract

Purpose

Many homeless people have significant levels of early adverse experiences and consequent mental health difficulties. The purpose of this paper is to examine the experiences of residents and staff living and working in a psychologically informed environment (PIE), a new model of hostel for homeless people which aims to update and make more flexible the principles of the therapeutic community, thereby meeting the psychological and emotional needs of residents.

Design/methodology/approach

Semi-structured interviews were carried out with nine residents, ten staff and five psychotherapists at two PIE hostels in London. The data were analysed using thematic analysis with a phenomenological epistemological approach.

Findings

Analysis generated 18 themes for residents and staff combined, organised into five domains: what makes a home, resident needs, managing relationships, reflective practice and theory vs practice of PIEs. The study suggests that PIEs broadly meet their aim in providing a different type of environment from standard hostels. Efforts to build relationships with residents are particularly prioritised. This work can be challenging for staff and reflective practice groups provide a supportive forum. There are limits to the extent to which the theoretical PIE can be put into practice in the current political and economic climate.

Originality/value

This is one of the first qualitative studies of PIEs. It provides perspectives on their theoretical background as well as how they operate and are experienced in practice. It may be informative to services intending to establish a PIE and to commissioners in assessing appropriate resources.

Details

Housing, Care and Support, vol. 20 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1460-8790

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 March 2018

Steven Lucas, Philip John Archard, James Tangen and David Murphy

The purpose of this paper is to report an analysis of arrangements in English mental health trusts to meet the needs of adult service users who are homeless. Homelessness is…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to report an analysis of arrangements in English mental health trusts to meet the needs of adult service users who are homeless. Homelessness is associated with various forms of mental ill-health, yet homeless people are not always well-served by statutory mental health services. In recent years, practice guidance seeking to improve health outcomes for the homeless has emphasised the need for NHS services to improve care pathways and professional provision for this service user group, in part by collaborating more closely with homelessness organisations.

Design/methodology/approach

Responses to freedom of information requests sent to trusts were analysed. The requests asked trusts for information concerning partnerships with external agencies, particular projects/staff, training available to trust professionals, referral pathways, and intervention models/approaches informing work with homeless service users.

Findings

In total, 49 trusts provided information that could be used in the analysis. Just under half of these had dedicated arrangements or resources, including outreach teams and clinical staff co-located in accommodation and support services for the homeless. The remaining trusts indicated that they either had some limited specific arrangements, such as links between local agencies working with the homeless and existing services, or no dedicated arrangements in place. Training to improve staff awareness around, and knowledge in, working with homeless service users tended to be minimal if provided at all.

Originality/value

This analysis further evidences gaps in the way the needs of the homeless population are addressed by statutory mental health services and adds support to concerns about the homeless having equitable access to care and treatment.

Details

Mental Health Review Journal, vol. 23 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1361-9322

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 May 2019

Clare Watson, Lizette Nolte and Rachel Brown

Trusting and empathic relationships between project workers and people experiencing homelessness (PEH) form the cornerstone for their needs to be met. However, under the UK…

Abstract

Purpose

Trusting and empathic relationships between project workers and people experiencing homelessness (PEH) form the cornerstone for their needs to be met. However, under the UK austerity agenda project workers practice in a context of increasing pressure and limited resources; with relationships often characterised by conditionality and disconnection. The purpose of this paper is to report on a study investigating project workers’ experiences of building relationships with PEH living in supported housing projects.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative design was employed in which focus groups were carried out in six projects, using an opportunity sample of 22 project workers. Data were analysed using thematic analysis, within a social constructionist epistemology.

Findings

Three main themes were identified: “Working hard to build connection”, “Supporting each other within an unsupportive context” and “Draining but sustaining”. Project workers acted out of strong value systems in building relationships with residents against a backdrop of systemic disconnection.

Originality/value

Clear clinical implications are put forward with in a Psychologically Informed Environment framework. Services supporting PEH need to be psychologically informed and organisations need to embed reflection within their policies and every day practice. In developing services for PEH interdependence not in/dependence needs to be the aim. Finally, the responsibility for improving the lives of PEH should be placed back on society to provide a context in which PEH can thrive.

Details

Housing, Care and Support, vol. 22 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1460-8790

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 February 2020

Jonathan Hobson, Kenneth Lynch and Alex Lodge

The purpose of this paper is to examine how residualisation is experienced across a supported housing provider in an English county. The analysis is in three parts: firstly, it…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine how residualisation is experienced across a supported housing provider in an English county. The analysis is in three parts: firstly, it focuses on organisational provision, including impacts of change on decisions on market entry and exit; secondly, it reviews evidence on service provision and the adaptations services are making to reflect the changing pressures of the sector; finally, it considers the impacts on service delivery and the experiences of those that rely on the provision.

Design/methodology/approach

The analysis uses interview data across the organisation, together with material from the UK Government department consultation (2017) and a UK Parliamentary Select Committee inquiry (2017) to examine the impacts across the different tiers of service, including the day-to-day experience of residualised services for those that deliver and receive that support.

Findings

The paper concludes that residualisation is a direct outcome of the neoliberalisation of welfare states, introducing limits to state involvement and funding, a greater emphasis on quasi-market involvement in the sector and a shifting of responsibility from government to individuals.

Research limitations/implications

It not only demonstrates the impacts of reducing state support on the supported housing sector but also emphasises the importance of residualisation as a conceptual framework applicable to the wider implications of austerity and neoliberal ideology.

Practical implications

This paper demonstrates the way that the burden of responsibility is being shifted away from the public provision of support and onto the individuals. This can be problematic for the individuals who are vulnerable as a result of their economic medical or social circumstances.

Social implications

The retreat of the state from supported housing is both a political change and an austerity-led change. This article provides insight from a single-supported housing provider. In so doing, it illustrates the pressure such an organisation is under.

Originality/value

This paper provides a unique insight from the perspective of all levels of a supported housing service provider, combined with the analysis of government consultation and parliamentary inquiry.

Details

Housing, Care and Support, vol. 23 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1460-8790

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 June 2012

Christopher Scanlon and John Adlam

This paper aims to offer a critical analysis of the potentially traumatising nature of working with (dis)stressed and traumatised people with complex needs who are homeless. It…

663

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to offer a critical analysis of the potentially traumatising nature of working with (dis)stressed and traumatised people with complex needs who are homeless. It also seeks to provide a commentary on the contribution of Psychologically Informed Services: A Good Practice Guide in addressing the impact of these difficult dynamics upon workers, teams and organisations.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is an invited piece and is based on the specialist experience and viewpoint of the authors working as psychotherapists with a background in therapeutic community work and of their experience of reflective practice and team development consultancy with teams working in homelessness services.

Findings

With increasing demand and more restricted funding for homelessness resettlement services, the authors raise issues in the complex interaction of institutional and social and interpersonal dilemmas for staff “stuck in the middle” between the (dis)stressing nature of clients' “unhoused” minds and the (dis)stressed response of the systems of care. A group‐analytic, systems psychodynamics approach is used to shed light upon the risks to workers when services do not make time to reflect upon these (dis)stressing and potentially traumatising dynamics. They also point towards some of the personal and professional characteristics required in consulting to staff teams and agencies working with such complex dynamics.

Originality/value

The new operational guidance is welcomed, however, the authors suggest that the successful implementation of Psychologically Informed Environments (PIEs) is reliant on the capacity of any given organisation to build effective cultures and structures to support the development of reflective practice and team development.

Book part
Publication date: 14 December 2023

K. Parameswaran

Legal systems govern social behaviour. They attempt to regulate order, collective peace and harmonious developments in society. The external social behaviour that law deals with…

Abstract

Legal systems govern social behaviour. They attempt to regulate order, collective peace and harmonious developments in society. The external social behaviour that law deals with is also a part of internal human behaviour. This external and internal nature of human behaviour, needs to be consciously studied and interlinked when legal systems desire elements of justice, equality, liberty, fraternity, dignity, integrity and unity for social collectivity. These elements, that legal systems guarantee come from an integration of individual and collective life on matters of social, political, economic etc., of various levels. The individuality and collectivity on these matters and levels are deeply psychological and spirited in sense as human behaviour operates through stimulus from inside to leave external effects outside or vice-versa through a function of thought-emotion-sensation-body complex. Thus, we see, our behaviour gets shaped by a two-way process of inner motivation and outer circumstance, individual and collective dimensions on a given matter and level. At this juncture, a critical study on this two-way relation in human behaviour and a set of unifying values to be identified for progressive intersections seem to be the future of legal systems for achieving greater goals of humanity. Additionally, legal systems that deal with justice are now becoming more than social, economic and political justice as new knowledge is revealing interrelations of spirit-mind-body or thought-emotion-sensation-body complex leaving us to think of new dimensions in justice. Thus, spirituality, as an exercise of human experiment and experience, provides a new scope for legal systems to deal with human and social behaviour to achieve order, peace and development. At this juncture, one even finds another unknown dimension gaining grounds and sinking to integrate or bring holistic responses to human problems and social challenges of the collective is the actual linking of spirituality through or with psychology or vice versa. Law and legalities of the thoughts and norms are interspersed in between these two disciplines. This is indeed a welcome trend as the psychological human and the social collective have become the axis on which every wheel of knowledge is tested and allowed to represent as spokes for inclusive, sustainable and harmonious inter-relational movement of things. One might see, know, feel or even ought to bear this interconnection that very often come in the actual spiritual practices where psychological dimensions emerge leading to wholesome experience of the state of our own individual and socio-collective nature. Among many kinds of spiritual experiences and experiments, two of them stand out for our legal consideration. One, an experience of timeless, space-less and boundless consciousness-awareness beyond life and world with which we witness, observe and understand the movement of things inside life and world, without our participation into them. Two, an experience of consciousness-awareness as power and force operating and animating through thought-emotion-sensation-body complex with our active participation in the movement of life and world. The former experience prepares the ground to remain free from all fetters of self-aggrandizing individualization before wider collectivity and, the latter experience prepares us to re-enter into wider collectivity to contribute with a freed sense of individualization, not imprisoned by its ego-aggrandizement that cuts the individual from the collective. These two spiritual experiences, one of the consciousness-awareness of freedom and, another of the consciousness-awareness with all potentials, when allowed to animate inside the human, it gives crucial understanding of the challenges of life and, pro-activation of solutions for those challenges that are extremely crucial for law and legal systems. A power of understanding the knowledge using spiritual experience of these two states of consciousness-awareness along with rationality, reason and logic, a strength operating through concentration of the energies in body aiding movement of knowledge, a harmony releasing itself through motivating-empathy and mutual-collaboration using knowledge and strength and, finally a near-perfect action operating through strategies, stages and steps in organizing daily life, human capital and all kinds of the systems of the world using knowledge, strength and harmony become our positive tools of empowerment. The combination of these two spiritual experiences of consciousness-awareness is useful to legal systems that look for solutions to human crises using interactive nature of individuality and collectivity on all issues of life, world and society. The chapter attempts to demonstrate that this kind of spirituality and its applied processes thus provide us the clue and strategy to achieve what the human nature and social existences of all kinds all over the world seek and aspire in the form of individual as well as collective peace, joy and compassion. It is also argued that this peace, joy and compassion that is spiritual in nature are in fact the origin and source of inspiration and stimulation for social, political and economic equality, liberty and fraternity in law, and the harmony and perfection of these elements seen as the justice that balances everything. The chapter demonstrates how applied spirituality can be used in law in the sense of law-making, judicial-interpretation, executive-governance, legal profession and finally a grand introduction of spirituality and its values into legal academics and research that are waiting to be liberated from the clutches of mere analytical knowledge of life and world moving towards new enriching powers of radiant collective life and wonderful harmonious world.

Details

Applied Spirituality and Sustainable Development Policy
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83753-381-7

Keywords

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