this post was submitted on 12 Jul 2024
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How many homeless people have you spoken to? Of course everybody is different so treating someone like a person may look different depending on their circumstances, but the principle still applies, including towards homeless people with severe mental illnesses.
And also that's just not my experience tbh. Both from speaking to homeless people on the streets, and also when I was in prison I met a lot of the typical types of people who would end up street homeless, including people who were street homeless prior to being incarcerated and people who were street homeless and mentally ill, and they're still people. I managed to form good friendships with a lot of them. I don't know, possibly you have genuinely tried to interact with homeless people and you've hit a brick wall, but in my own experience that's just an assumption or first impression people have and not the reality if you just try talking to them for a few mins.
Hmm, where I live it's more frequently people living in decrepit buildings than properly homeless. The one guy that actually wanders around just doesn't talk. I heard him say "yup" once, in a situation where he was pretty much forced to. I've had less than positive experiences with rough-looking people. Other times it's been fine.
This is me regurgitating what I've heard from actual professionals.
Care to explain what you mean by "actual professionals"?
People like you, shrinks. Do you disagree?
I'm not a shrink lol I'm a case manager.
I disagree with the idea that so many homeless are so mentally ill that conversing with them isn't worth it. It should take the most minimal ability to read human behavior to see when someone is having a hard time and you shouldn't engage but there are many who don't experience persistent psychosis who you can talk to, or at least give a nod and hello.
Yes, to be clear that was a list. I've heard both chime in, online at least. In real life I think the only relevant conversation was about what a therapy session looks like when your client is homeless.
I didn't mean ignore them - they're still humans, OP is right about that. I said use judgement. I can totally see a younger version of myself Kool-Aid man-ing into a random homeless person's life and expecting I can be their best buddy.
When I encounter them now, I treat them like every other stranger. I think I'm doing the right thing.
Lolllll Kool-Aid man! That's fair, I'm so used to people automatically dehumanizing homeless people (thanks reddit) that I'm ready to throw hands when the conversation comes up lol. I appreciate you being rational