Mental Illness and Risk
Our members-only live training this month is a short course on mental illness. We’ll be covering which situations are high risk for violence and which are low risk. Then we’ll discuss what tools to use in low-risk situations. If your organization isn’t a member or you are busy this Thursday, here is a slice of […]
Burnout and the rhythm of world “repair.”
Staff burnout rates at homeless shelters are high. I have seen people burn out in a matter of months. I have seen other people, though, happily work for decades. From my experience, the biggest difference between the two is the source of their purpose: Thought Exercise: Addictions Counselor Imagine that it is your job to […]
Are spiders eating holes in my brain?
Hey everybody! As promised, here is another book excerpt from this month’s guest Esmé Weijun Wang about living with Schizophrenia: Dr. M told me that the longer the episode lasted, and the more frequently the episodes occurred, the more damage was occurring to my brain. It is disconcerting for anyone to be told that her […]
How do you hide a hallucination?
Howdy! Did you know as many as 27% of individuals who are chronically homeless suffer with schizophrenia? This month, we are interviewing Esmé Weijun Wang, a New York Times bestselling author. In her book, “The Collected Schizophrenias,”, Esmé shares her journey from being diagnosed with bipolar disorder as a teen to learning she had schizophrenia 12 […]
Don’t approach from behind.
Last week, I interviewed Dr. Kathy Platoni, a clinical psychologist, about veterans and PTSD. If you would like to watch the recording, the link is down below. Here is what I learned from the conversation with Dr. Platoni: #1 – Sometimes PTSD is Caused by Bad Management This was an epiphany for me. In war […]
Schizophrenia and Stalking
I ran a large homeless shelter outside of Chicago. Several years ago, a delusional resident stalked one of our staff members. In the end, we had to work with the police to get the man sent to prison. It was a long and terrifying ordeal for the staff member. It was one of the hardest […]
Schizophrenia and Alcohol both cause this cognitive distortion.
It was a few years ago. I still ran a large homeless shelter. I was outside the shelter. I think it was sunny. I was tired. It showed in my voice and facial expression. “Good morning” I said—without any real enthusiasm—to one of the residents. To my surprise he snarled, “Why are you talking to […]
Mental Illness Risk Assessment
There are three things you need to know to assess risk from someone who suffers from severe mental illness. FIRST: Most people with severe mental illness are not violent. 97.1% of people with a severe mental illness are not violent. If you add substance abuse to severe mental illness that number drops to 90%. So, […]
Most people would call Fred a jerk.
Fred lives in a homeless shelter I used to run. Most people would call Fred a jerk. He yells at people… a lot. He tells people when they have gained weight. He interrupts people when they are mid-sentence. He is moody. Fred is not a jerk. Fred suffers from traumatic brain injury (TBI). Traumatic Brain […]
Is there hope for “Everyday Sadists?”
People email me a lot asking how they should handle a staff person who enjoys enforcing the rules too much. It comes across as “picking on” people or “bullying” them. I tell them that their staff member is what psychologists call an “Everyday Sadist.” There isn’t really anything they can do to help the person […]
