On any given night, there are over 643,000 homeless people residing in
shelters and on the streets across America. What can we do to help?
"Levy crafts stories of characters who sear the memory: Old Man Ray, the
World War II veteran who resents the VA system and regards himself as
the de facto night watchman at Port Authority; Ben who claims to be a
prophet disowned in his own country, crucified by the government and
enslaved by poverty finds a bridge to the mainstream services and a path
to housing through the common language of religious metaphors, including
redemption and forgiveness; and Andrew who has been 'mentally murdered'
is helped to understand his own situation and gain disability benefits
through the language of trauma; among others.
These stories are deftly interwoven with theory and practice as Levy
constructs his developmental model of the engagement and pretreatment
process. The outreach worker strives to understand the language and the
culture of each homeless individual, builds a bridge to the mainstream
services, and helps those providers to understand the special
circumstances of these vulnerable people. Levy bears witness to the
courage of these pilgrims who wander the streets of our cities, and his
poignant book is a testament to the healing power of trusting and
enduring relationships."
--Jim O'Connell, MD - President and Street Physician for Boston Health
Care for the Homeless Program
The reader will...
Experience moving real life stories that demystify homeless outreach and
its central objectives and challenges.
Learn about effective strategies of outreach & engagement with
under-served populations.
Understand and be able to utilize the stages of common language
construction in your own practice.
Learn about pretreatment principles and their applications with persons
experiencing untreated major mental illness, addiction, and medical
issues.
Discover new interventions via outreach counseling, advocacy and case
management with people experiencing long-term or chronic homelessness.
Understand how to better integrate policy, programs (e.g. Housing
First), and supervision with homeless outreach initiatives.
About the Author
Jay S. Levy, LICSW has spent the last 20 years working with individuals
who experience homelessness. He has developed new programs and provided
clinical staff supervision. Jay is one of the architects to the Regional
Engagement and Assessment for Chronically Homeless Housing program
(REACH). This was adopted by the Western Massachusetts Regional Network
as an innovative approach toward reducing chronic homelessness.
Learn more at www.JaySLevy.com
From the New Horizons in Therapy Series at Loving Healing Press
www.LovingHealing.com
SOC025000 Social Science: Social Work
PSY010000 Psychology: Psychotherapy - Counseling
POL002000 Political Science: Public Policy - City Planning & Urban
Dev.
