06/06/2013 - Almost 25 percent of the U.S. homeless population is veterans. The Veterans' Affairs Office projects that figure could rise to 50 percent in four years, said Rodger Ruge, a retired law enforcement officer, crisis counselor and author, during his "Crisis Intervention Training: Putting a Face on Mental Illness" sessions in Fort Bragg and Mendocino earlier this month.Various reports yield a soup of percentages, ranging from 13 to 25 percent of the homeless population being veterans. However, reports from the Veterans Administration and from the National Coalition for the Homeless agree that veterans are over-represented in the homeless population.
"That is a sobering statistic," Ruge said in a follow-up interview. "It is for most people, because you start thinking about the impact of that. Why are these veterans falling through the cracks?
"When you start seeing dysfunction at a government level like that, you start to realize that there is no help coming to the community. The community is either going to rally around, or suffer the consequences."
Ruge noted that the long wait to be seen in the VA, combined with the need for immediate help, especially for those with post traumatic stress disorder, and the stigma that exists in asking for help, create a recipe that is failing veterans.
"You have these vets who are coming in, who are disenfranchised from the system already because of their experiences. Now, they are not getting treatment or any help, or anything to get integrated back into life. How bitter is that individual?" he said. "Plus, they are highly trained, highly skilled and intelligent. read more>>>
No comments:
Post a Comment