Latest / Your Hope-Filled Perspective with Dr. Michelle Bengtson podcast / How Trauma-Informed Support Brings Hope to the Homeless and Restores Dignit

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How Trauma-Informed Support Brings Hope to the Homeless and Restores Dignit · Your Hope-Filled Perspective with Dr. Michelle Bengtson podcast

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Life audio.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: Homelessness is often viewed only through the lens of what
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: we see on the surface, sometimes tents on sidewalks, or
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: individuals holding signs, or people who seem lost in a crowd.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Yet every face is a story, sometimes marked by trauma, loss, survival,
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: even a longing for dignity. Today, I want to pull
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: back the curtain to look deeper into the emotional, psychological,
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: and spiritual factors that contribute to homelessness, but more importantly,
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: the pathways that can lead towards healing, restoration, and lasting hope.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: I want to uncover and dispel some of the myths
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: that surround this topic and bring light so that we
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: all have a greater understanding and how we can be
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: part of the solution. Our guest today serves on the
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: front lines, offering trauma informed care, emotional support, and compassionate
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: advocacy to individuals fighting their way out of a desperate situation.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: You'll hear what truly makes it a difference, how healing begins,
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: and how we can each play a role in restoring
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: hope to those who may feel forgotten or hopeless. Whether
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: you've experienced instability yourself, or you just want to better
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: understand how to support those who do. This conversation will
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: open your heart and strengthen your faith in the God
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: who sees, knows, and redeems each story. Welcome to your
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: hope filled perspective, where it's always our goal to restore hope,
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: renew minds, and empower listeners to live in your God
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: given identity. I'm your host, doctor Michelle bankson Board, certified
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: clinical neuropsychologists, author, speaker, and companion on this journey to
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: emotional and spiritual wellness. I'm so thankful you've decided to
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: spend a few minutes of your week with us Today.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: We are going to be talking about restoring dignity, how
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: trauma informs support brings hope to the homeless, and we'll
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: dive into this important conversation right after this brief word
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: from our sponsor. Too often homelessness is reduced to statistics, stereotypes,
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: or oversimplified assumptions about personal choices. But for many individuals,
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: homelessness is the culmination of trauma, mental health challenges, broken systems,
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: and overwhelming life circumstances. Today's episode invites you into a deeper,
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: more compassionate understanding of the complex realities people experiencing homelessness
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: may face and the emotional spiritual tools that can help
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: guide them back towards stability and purpose. My guest, Baron King,
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: brings the unique blend of clinical expertise, lived experience, and
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: heart centered compassion needed to walk individuals through some of
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: their darkest moments. You'll hear about the role of counseling,
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: the power of community support, and the importance of restoring
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: dignity as part of the healing journey. Wherever you are today,
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: I believe this conversation will remind you that no one
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: is beyond hope and God is still in the business
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: of restoring lives, one intentional act of love at a time.
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: In this episode, we are going to talk about out
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: restoring dignity, how trauma informs support brings hope to the homeless.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: I want to remind you of Isaiah fifty eight, verse ten.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: If you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungary, and
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  Speaker 2: satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: rise in the darkness, and your night will become like
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: the noonday. Baron King is the current President and chief
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: executive officer of the Chat Foundation, formerly the Chattanooga Community Kitchen.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: It's a nonprofit organization serving the homeless in the Greater
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: Chattanooga region. Prior to that, Baron served as the CEO
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: of Liberty Ministries, Inc. Which was a large nonprofit serving
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: men and women inside state and county prisons of Pennsylvania
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: and those upon release in residential transition programs. Prior to that,
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: Baron served as Director of Health and Counseling Services, clinical
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: director and adjunct Professor of Psychology at Kieran University in
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: southeastern Pennsylvania. He holds a BS degree in theology and
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: MS in clinical counseling and has extensive background in organizational
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: leadership and development. He's passionate about providing services and support
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  Speaker 2: to underserved people groups and providing pathways to self sustainability.
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  Speaker 2: Welcome to the program, Baron.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you, Michelle, Thanks for having me.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: Many people assume that homelessness is primarily a housing issue.
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: What deeper, emotional, psychological, or systemic factors do you see
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: contributing to chronic homelessness?
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: To every complex problem, there's a simple answer, and it's
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: always wrong. Housing, by and large, is the single biggest
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: systemic contributor to our housing crisis. We could talk more
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: about that. But it's rare that somebody presents themselves to
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: our agency and the only reason that they are unsheltered
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: or homeless is because of lack of housing. There's usually
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: some other component, such as there are income levels just
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: don't match what the market and provide. Perhaps they have
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: physical or psychological disabilities or challenges to a whole host.
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: Perhaps they're a caregiver of somebody that's dependent and they
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: lack some of these social safety nets that other people
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  Speaker 3: have and they don't have. So it's usually very multi factorial.
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  Speaker 3: When I started Chad Foundation, very much like what I've
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: done in my last couple roles, I said, hey, we're
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  Speaker 3: going to use an individual assessment approach because my organization
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  Speaker 3: provides over thirty services designed to support the daily needs
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  Speaker 3: of those experiencing homelessness as well as putting people on
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: pathway to self sufficiency. But most individuals we come in
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: contact don't need all thirty services, and so it's important
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  Speaker 3: for us to make an accurate assessment of their strengths,
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  Speaker 3: their obstacles, their needs and then try and customize a
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: number of interventions that can get them secure, safe, housed,
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  Speaker 3: and then the opportunity to thrive.
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: From your clinical perspective, what are some of the most
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: misunderstood mental health challenges that people facing homelessness frequently encounter.
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  Speaker 3: I get this a lot, and I think before I
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: entered this specific arena, I probably held some of these misconceptions.
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: But a lot of people think that either substance use
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: or mental illness is a significant driver of homelessness. Statistically,
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: it's not so. The State of Tennessee estimates that about
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: twenty to twenty five percent of the homeless population in
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: the state of Tennessee, where we're located, is struggling with
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: mental illness. But if you look at mental illness rates
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  Speaker 3: in our general population or housed population, we're talking fifteen
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: to seventeen percent. And so while there is a slightly
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: higher prevalence, it's not statistically significant enough to be a
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  Speaker 3: driver of that. We do come in contact with people
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  Speaker 3: with mental illness, but I think there's also a chicken
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  Speaker 3: in the egg to it. And here's what I would say.
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  Speaker 3: Do we see people that have lost their job, lost
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: their income, and eventually lost their housing due to chronic
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: mental illness? Absolutely, But I would propose that if any
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: of us were unsheltered for six eight twelve months that
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: we would be demonstrating signs and symptoms of depression, anxiety,
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  Speaker 3: and despondency. And so I think that it's reasonable to
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: assume that, yes, mental illness is something that has to
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: be taken into consideration when providing services. But correlation doesn't
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: prove causation, right, Seventy percent of the people that drove
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: to work this morning and got in a car accident
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: had breakfast before they left home. Seventy percent is a
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: pretty big number. But does that mean breakfast is causing
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: these car accidents. No, that's what's important. And the other
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  Speaker 3: part of the drug or the mental illness component is
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: especially in certain states like Tennessee, where individuals with limited
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: or no income have virtually no services for a psychological
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: or psychiatric treatment, and so they're not going to be
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: able to get it to see a doctor. If they
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: need psychotropic medicines, they're probably going to be way more
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  Speaker 3: than they can afford because they're uninsured. So that forces
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: them into other choices of how to handle their symptoms,
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: and oftentimes that become self medication.
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  Speaker 2: I would love for you to touch on the idea
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  Speaker 2: of Maslow's hierarchy of needs with respect to this population.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, so I get to speak a lot in Chamber
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: of commerce meetings, business clubs, things like this on the
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: topic of homelessness, and usually before or after my presentation,
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: somebody comes up and asks a question, and it usually
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: starts with why don't these people just And you know,
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: it's fine, I don't mind the questions. I think you know,
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: they're trying to understand the problem better. So I appreciate
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: the questions. But is this idea that if they just
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: did one thing differently, everything would work out. So Master's
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: hierarchy of needs has been around for near it cops
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: nearly one hundred years now, and it's this premise that
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: we have layers of needs basically usually shown in a pyramid,
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  Speaker 3: where the bottom layer, the most basic layer, is physical
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  Speaker 3: and psychological safety, that if we don't have that, we
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: can't reach our higher needs, which lead up to well
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: being and self actualization. And so a good example of
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  Speaker 3: this is if I get it in my head that
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: I want to go to medical school and become a doctor,
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  Speaker 3: I'm going to be pushing myself. I'm going to be
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  Speaker 3: digging deep trying to earn this goal, this really big
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  Speaker 3: important thing in my life. But if I don't have
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: some of my basic needs met, such as physical safety,
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  Speaker 3: psychological safety, my nutrition, in my health, I'm not sure
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  Speaker 3: that I'm going to be able to climb that mountain effectively.
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  Speaker 3: Understanding what it's like to be homeless but also unsheltered,
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  Speaker 3: and that's a big jump. Most of the people that
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: we work with that are unsheltered have tremendous difficulty getting
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: a RESTful night's sleep. They're outside under a tarp in
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  Speaker 3: a tent, people trying to steal their things, They've been assaulted.
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  Speaker 3: They are just naturally anxious and scared. And so when
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  Speaker 3: I first started working at my facility, I was surprised
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: how many people would come into our community center and
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  Speaker 3: come into the beginning of the day, lay down on
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  Speaker 3: the floor and just sleep on the floor for maybe
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  Speaker 3: four six eight hours. And I was like, Wow, they
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: are they hungover? Are they nodding off on opiates? Are
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: they just lazy? What I've realized is they can't sleep
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  Speaker 3: at night, and they come into our facility because they
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: won't get assaulted and they can get sleep. Now, I
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  Speaker 3: don't know about you, but when I last night, I
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: went to bed at my normal time, at ten thirty.
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  Speaker 3: I got up, I had a good RESTful sleep, I
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  Speaker 3: had my cup of coffee, shower, got dressed, hit the
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  Speaker 3: garage door button, closed up my garage, and left, knowing
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: that my belongings were safe. That's what I do every day,
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: and it helps put me in a good space to
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: focus on what I have to do professionally, what I
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: have to do as a father, as a husband. But
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: if I'm just trying to survive, if I'm just trying
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  Speaker 3: to stay alive all night, all of a sudden, my
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: ability to do that simple thing of going to work
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: is exponentially harder than it is for most people. The
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: other thing, too, is people that are living on the streets,
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  Speaker 3: they'll have some clothes, they'll have some effects. They probably
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: push around in a card or a piece of luggage.
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: But going to work means leaving what little things you
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: have unprotected. And when you have nothing, what you do
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: have is everything, And so that's another challenge.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: Talk a little bit more about some of the everyday
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: challenges that people who are unsheltered face that the general
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: population may not realize. Just you framing it in terms
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: of what your normal mourning routine looks like. After good
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: night's a sleep puts it in perspective, but I think
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: it's difficult for us to have more empathy and compassion
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: when we don't understand some of the other everyday challenges experience.
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: Definitely, cleanliness and food insecurity is top of the list.
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: If you're unsheltered, likely that you have no income stream
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: or very little, you're maybe dumpster diving for food and
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: exposing yourself to food born illnesses. But in cleanliness and
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: hygiene is a big problem. We operate pretty large community center.
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: We have sixteen showers, and throughout the day people are
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: just coming in lining up to get a towel, getting
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: a small piece of soap, just to keep clean. I
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: think one of the things that people really struggle with,
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: and I think that most people probably wouldn't realize this
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: is a loss of identity. When people are homeless and
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: they start to look a certain way, it's pretty typical
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: that everybody else walking down the sidewalk gives them a
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: wide birth, won't look them in their eyes. We're not
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: interested in knowing their name, and they lose bit of
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: their humanity in the process. Our community center is where
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: people come for services, come to get their mail, come
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: to make phone calls things like that, and a lot
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: of the people that are in that facility are chronically unsheltered,
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: and so there's been a lot of sadness. It's a
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: pretty somber part of our facility. But we've partnered with
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: chat States Chattanooga States Barber's School and they come in
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: on Wednesday mornings and get free haircuts, and on Wednesday mornings,
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: the place is a place of joy. And why because
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: they're getting groomed by another human being that's looking in
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: their eyes, that's getting to know their name, that wants
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: to hear their story, and they're smiling for maybe twenty minutes.
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: They feel human again, they feel worthy again. And I
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: think probably people understand the physical difficulties of homelessness, especially
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: when the weather turns cold or when it's brutally hot
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: or storms, things of that nature, but I think the
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: psychological pain that individuals go through is pretty damaging. I
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: on one of my more recent podcasts on this topic,
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: I talk about there's a word out there that I
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: think is to those experience and homelessness, and that word
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: is no that the more often people apply for a
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: housing voucher, assistance, disability a handout a job, and the
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: answers always know. We are wired. God made us in
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: such a way that we have longings, we have desires.
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: It's the way we're created. Scripture says, hope defer makes
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: the heart sick. And so the longer we go without
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: things we want, or more importantly, the things that we need,
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: it creates a psychic pain. And what I've learned in
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: my clinical years is human beings are really really creative
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: in finding ways to kill pain, and so individuals will
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: start engaging in a process that essentially is trying to
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: kill desire. Isn't that Let that sink in that if
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: we want shelter so bad and we've tried for a
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: couple of years to get sheltered, it doesn't happen. I'm
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: going to try and con myself that I don't want
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: it anymore because the longing is too painful. And so
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: one of the questions people ask is don't people just
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: choose homelessness? And I think it's more nuanced than that.
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: No one chooses to be unsheltered, No one chooses to
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: be homeless, but maybe we choose to stop trying. And
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: that's not the same thing. That's not the same thing
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: we choose to stop trying because it hurts so darn bad.
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: Friends. We're going to take a short break for a
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: brief word from our sponsor, but I want you to
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: stick with us because when we return, we'll have Baron
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: share more about what we may not know or understand
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: about the homelessness epidemic. We'll be right back, Barn. Can
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: you share a story of perhaps transformation that illustrates how
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: hope and support and therapeutic care can help someone break
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: the cycle of homelessness?
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah? Absolutely, So this is a person I've learned a
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: lot from. I don't have former lived experience of homelessness,
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: so that automatically puts me at a big disadvantage of
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: somebody that's trying to be an expert on a problem,
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: on trying to solve. So I've learned a lot from
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: people that have experienced this. About forty percent of our
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: staff has a former lived experience of homelessness, and I'm
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: very proud of that. We see ourselves as a vehicle
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: to serve others, but also to help work with our
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: staff and heal them in the ways that to work
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: to do. But I came in contact with a young
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: lady we're going to call her Mary. She was a
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: behavioral health specialist working for a local community health center.
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: She wasn't a master's level therapist, but she had she
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: has bachelor's training to provide mental health services to people.
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: She had a good job. She never really touched drugs
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: or alcohol, didn't have a substance She's problem. A good
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: friend of hers was having some of her own problems
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: and had to go into a psychiatric hospital, and so
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: Mary agreed to take over supervision of this young child.
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: And this young child lived with Mary for about five
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: or six years. The woman successfully got out of her
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: treatment and was able and ready to take the child back.
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: And when she did, Mary fell into a significant oppression.
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: A big part of who she was and the life
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: she had built was drastically changed, and she did not
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: handle it well. She started missing work, eventually had to
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: resign her position, and shortly after that became homeless. Mary
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: lived on the streets for seven years. I was the
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: victim of numerous assaults, sexual and physical in nature, and
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: began to fear sleep. She began to fear sleep, and
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: so she made it a goal that I'm just not
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: going to fall asleep. I'm not going to fall asleep
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: at night, and she started turning to substances to help
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: her in that goal and ended up becoming a frequent
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: user and addict of methamphetamy. Now this is somebody without
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: a drug history. This is not recreational drug use. This
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: is and so to illustrate my point, a lot of
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: times people think that less this is caused by people
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: making bad choices. I would suggest that sometimes people don't
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: have good choices to make. They only have four choices,
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: and all of them come with pretty negative side effects.
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: And she made the choice that to protect myself physically,
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: I'm going to use the substance that I know isn't
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: any good, but it's going to keep me awake. She
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: had several hospitalizations, she experienced psychosis. Well, she finally got
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: herself clean and then she finally got a housing voucher.
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: And she's been nine years clean and eight years housed,
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: and now she's going back to working with us as
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: a pure support specialist for those that are experiencing the
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: same thing. So how'd she do it? Her faith was
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: a critical component that she never gave up. She never
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: allowed her heart and her mind to turn bitter towards
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: better opportunity, a better situation. But she also she had
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: people that helped her. She had people that stayed alongside her,
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: that never gave up. And I think it's a pretty
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: interesting tale because I don't I think it's changed the
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: way I understand drug use in the homeless community. It's
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: not that I condone it, but let's face it, Mary
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: did not have access to legal things at the pharmacy
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: that might have helped her. Every time I see her
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: in the building, it makes me so happy to say,
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: here's somebody that has experienced the full experience, the full
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: emotions of reaching rock bottom and then climbing out of
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: it and wanting nothing but the best for people that
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: are struggling with the same thing.
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: And my audience knows that I frequently talk about sacred scars,
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: those really painful circumstances in life that God turns and
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: uses for good. And Mary is doing that now by
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: being a pure support counselor the worst thing she could
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: go through in the hands of a redemptive God is
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: now helping other people. But you mentioned Mary faith, so
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: in your experience, what spiritual or faith based components are
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: effective in helping individuals who go through such devastation.
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: I think when we are at our worst, when the
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: challenges seem insurmountable, I know for myself and other people,
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: I tend to pull inward. I tend to have a
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: downward gaze, starts affecting my ability to have hope. And
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: I think we constantly need to challenge ourselves to look
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: upward and outward, to hold on to the truths that
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: we know, to know that today is at the end
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: of the story, and that we serve a God that
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: is in control of the universe and currently has me
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: in this place. I think that is a key thing.
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: And I think community is really big. God made us
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: for a community for numerous reasons, and I know that
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: isolation in the midst of suffering is one of the
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: worst things that we can do. What Job needed wasn't
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: people coming alongside him and telling him what to do.
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: It was somebody to come along and sit and just
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: say I'm here. And I think that's a big part
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: of it in a sense, in whatever ways we can
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: surrounding those that are suffering and being the hands and
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: feet of Jesus and being that listening year, being that shoulder.
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: You mentioned the organization having over thirty services that you provide.
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: Are there practical strategies that you teach to clients to
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: help manage anything from anxiety to overwhelming life transitions.
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: I'm always been a big pontent of partnerships. We're a
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: nonprofit and we have limited funding, and so there's lots
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: of things that we want to do that well, we
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: just don't have the ability, the right to check to
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: make that happen. But there's other organizations that are providing
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: services at a high level have the additional capacity to
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: take on some of our clients. And so we have
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: an organization that is in town called First Things First,
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: and they basically are a human education organization providing everything
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: from training on nutrition to mental wellness, to spiritual formation,
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: financial literacy, parenting, all those types of things. And so
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: we have programs running at our facility to address all
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: of those. But we try and look at the physical,
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: we try and look at the mental and psychological, we
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: look at the vocational component of this. We're currently watching
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: as nearly a dozen social service safety nets are being
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: pulled back at the federal and state levels, and some
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: of these programs made it easier to get people into housing.
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: Now telling most people that it's going to be very
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: hard to get a housing voucher, and housing is really
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: going to have to come through income generation. So we developed,
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: with a grant from a great organization in town a
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: workforce development program to help people assess where they are
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: with job skills, what kind of income do they need,
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: building relationships with employers that are willing to give homeless
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: individuals maybe what is their second, third, or fourth chance
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: opportunity at employment, because we recognize that, hey, we're not
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: here just to band aid the problem. We want people
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: to thrive and if they're under employed, or if there's
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: a way that we can get scholarships to attend the
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: construction trade school in town Boy. I know electricians and
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: plumbers that are making really very good salaries, and I
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: think sometimes our folks think that those doors are closed
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: to them, but they don't have those opportunities, and so
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: we try and make as many of those happen. We
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: partner with two local bike companies that repair damage, discarded
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: and donated bikes, and each year we give away about
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: one hundred bicycles to people in the community and they
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: primarily use those for two things. To get to a
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: grocery store or to get to work. So I love
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: the network that we exist within because it makes us
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: feel like, hey, we have created a one stop shop
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: for homeless services, which is what the research says is
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: really necessary, and do it in partnership with others in
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: the community that can maybe do certain aspects of it
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: better than we could.
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: But what I appreciate about each of those different pieces
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: that you mentioned is it reminds me of the body
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: of Christ, like we need all parts and what you
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: mentioned there are so many creative ways that are people
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: are being part of the solution. I want to talk
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: more about how we can be part of the solution
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: to the homelessness crisis right after this break from our
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: word from our sponsor Baron. For individuals who want to
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: help but they feel overwhelmed, what are some meaningful, sustainable
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: ways the community can support those experiencing homelessness.
• 24:45
  Speaker 3: I think probably a lot of people feel that the
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: problem has gotten so big it's a little overwhelming. Can
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: anything make a difference? And I would say every drop
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: of water in the sea makes makes some bit of difference.
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: And so I would google what are your local homeless
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: service support centers? Is there a shelter if there's a shelter,
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: I guarantee they need volunteers. I guarantee they need donations
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: of clothing and food and financial donations. There are so
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: many ways to get involved. If you're interested in how
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: your state's legislature is either creating progressive legislation that helps
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: solve the problem, or if they're criminalizing homelessness, you can
• 25:28
  Speaker 3: pick up the phone and call your representative and say, look,
• 25:31
  Speaker 3: I hear that we're charging people for public camping. But
• 25:35
  Speaker 3: doesn't that give them a criminal record and make it
• 25:37
  Speaker 3: harder to get them housed. So there's lots of things
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: to do. I think what I've learned is we tend
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: to keep our homeless neighbors beyond arms reach. We keep
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: them at a distance. And I came across this quote
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: by Mother Teresa that I like to share because I
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: think it's necessary if we're going to if we're going
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: to approach this problem as a community of believers. We
• 26:03
  Speaker 3: can't help them because we don't love them. We can't
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: love them because we don't know them. And we have
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: an army of volunteers that they come in on a
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: regular basis, either to serve meals, to work in the
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: Community Center to work in our clothing department, And what
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: I see is they come in on their first time
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: and they're scared. They're out of their element. It feels
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: a little threatening the environment. But they come with a
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: couple people and they find out it's not so bad.
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: And then they start seeing the look of appreciation and
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: thankfulness on people's faces that are just trying to make
• 26:36
  Speaker 3: it one more day. And then they learn their name,
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: and then they realize, Okay, I can make an impact.
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: At the very least, I can look them in the eyes,
• 26:44
  Speaker 3: smile at them, tell them I love them, and provide
• 26:47
  Speaker 3: some level of dignity. Dignity is the first thing people
• 26:50
  Speaker 3: lose when they become homeless. It's hard for me to
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: imagine that there's anybody in the United States that can't
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: do something, whether it's a financial donation, donating food, donating clothes,
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: getting involved as a volunteer, advocating for progressive homeless legislation.
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: Or listeners who may be experiencing instability or emotional exhaustion
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: or crisis themselves. What words of encouragement or hope filled
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: perspective would you want to offer them?
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: Homelessness is or the threat of homelessness is impacting people
• 27:22
  Speaker 3: at a very high, an alarming rate. With last year's
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: point in time count, we reached seven hundred and seventy
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: one thousand people homeless on any given in the United States.
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: It's the highest number ever recorded. It still only equates
• 27:36
  Speaker 3: to one half of one percent, and so it seems
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: like a big number. At the same time, it seems
• 27:41
  Speaker 3: like a small number. But we also have about sixty
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: percent of the people who live in the United States
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: are living paycheck to paycheck, and I think there's a
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: high percentage of people that are either living very close
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: to homelessness or have that risk of falling in if
• 27:56
  Speaker 3: they have the car breaks down, if they get laid off.
• 27:59
  Speaker 3: They don't have the social supports, they don't have the
• 28:02
  Speaker 3: capital supports that are going to keep them afloat. So
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: you are close to that place or have become homeless,
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: the first thing I would say is you're not alone,
• 28:12
  Speaker 3: and there are organizations that are out there to help.
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: I would start asking everybody and ask for help soon,
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: because the longer you're homeless, it tends to life tends
• 28:21
  Speaker 3: to fall apart. Usually the people that we meet that
• 28:24
  Speaker 3: got evicted yesterday, they still have a working automobile, they
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: still have a job, their health is still intact, they
• 28:30
  Speaker 3: haven't become depressed. But then one month, two months, three
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: months later, hits just keep on coming, and so early
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: quick intervention is always the best response to anybody struggling
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: with homelessness.
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: Aaron, thank you for coming on the program and sharing
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: out of your expertise and experience to help dispel some
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: of the myths and increase our understanding of this epidemic
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: and what we can do to be part of the
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: solution in that vein. Friends, i want to remind you
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: of Proverbs nineteen, verse seventeen that says whoever is kind
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: reward them for what they have done. I'm hoping that
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: this episode has increased your understanding but also encouraged you
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: that you can actually be part of the solution. Think
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: about what you would want someone to do if you
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: found yourself in that situation. There's something we can all do. Friends,
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: thank you for joining me on this episode of your
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: Hope Field perspective. If today's episode encouraged you in some way,
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: would you consider sharing it with someone else who needs
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: a biblically based hope filled perspective. I'll look forward to
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: being with you again next week, and until then, you
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: know it's my prayer for you that you have a
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: hope filled week.
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: Everyone experiences pain at times. It can manifest physically, emotionally, relationally,
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: or spiritually. It can follow tragic accidents, great loss, sudden betrayal,
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: or unexpected and unwanted change. Often pain is temporary, but
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: what do you do when it isn't When pain won't
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: go away, healing does not come, and grief and hurt
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: settle in to stay. Drawing on her experience of chronic
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: pain in her years as a board certified clinical neuropsychologist,
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: doctor Michelle Benkson provides a countercultural perspective on pain, offering
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: hope without any false promises or empty platitudes. Doctor Benkson
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: unwraps the complex emotional aspects of dealing with pain. She
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: gives you permission to question God, helps you identify the
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: lies you've believed about your pain, and reorients your perspective
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: based on the truth of God's word. Each chapter ends
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: with a recommended playlist, reflection questions, and a prayer. Your
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: pain may not change, but your experience with it can.
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: Doctor Sandra Dalton Smith, physician, best selling author and a
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: host of the I Choose My Best Life podcast, had
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: this to say about the Hem of His Garment. Doctor
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: Michelle Bankson is honest and transparent, and she gives the
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: reader permission to ask hard questions and practical guidance on
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: how to seek God during times when you feel the
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: most wounded. A beautiful gift for every person living with pain.
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: Holy Girth. Best selling author of What Your Mind Needs
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: for Anxious Moments says pain is inevitable, but enduring it
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: alone is optional. Doctor Michelle Bankson is a voice of
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: hope who will speak into your struggles, a helping hand
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: who will point you to Jesus, and a wise guide
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: who will lead you through what you're facing so you
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: can embrace more of what our good God has for you.
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: Pick up a copy of The Hem of His Garments
• 32:00
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• 32:07
  Speaker 4: Thank you for joining doctor Bankson to your hope build perspective.
• 32:12
  Speaker 4: We hope you are encouraged by her authenticity, vulnerability, and
• 32:16
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• 33:02
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