Opinion: Many homeless, addicted people in Denver crave sobriety

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It has been a while since I produced an edition of “Ask the formerly homeless guy anything,” but the questions still are coming. I have answers. If you have a question, leave it in the comments of this article and I will try to answer.

“Divine Entity” asks, “There's always the argument that (people experiencing homelessness) are just lazy or drug addicts. They made this choice. Eh, maybe some did, but I bet the majority did not. I would be interested in knowing the approximate percentage that want help.”

Divine Entity, you are correct in your observation that most people experiencing homelessness did not make this choice. There is a subset drug culture that seems to prefer life on the street, but they do not comprise most homeless people, despite being the most visible.

Mentally ill do not always know they need help

Many people on the street suffer from profound mental illness. When I experienced homelessness, of course I wanted help becoming housed again. But what I needed was mental health treatment, and until a judge ordered it, I went in and out of mental wards for a couple of days, a week, or 30 days at a time. I did not believe I was mentally ill and never took the medication they gave me upon release. I believed the voices I heard were real, although I never admitted to hearing voices for a long time.

After I became involved in the criminal justice system due to police rousing me from sleep and beating me by the Platte River, I ended up in the state mental hospital in Pueblo. I did not know it at the time, but Pueblo was a major blessing. I got the help I needed. And they found me housing upon my release a year later. I still live at Fusion Studios more than four years later.

Nobody wants to be a prisoner of their own mind, or hear voices, or be addicted to drugs. But sometimes people fail to acknowledge what their real problems are, and often for people experiencing homeless it is mental illness or addiction. The best homeless service providers can do is give the person the option of living in a different reality. With medication the voices go away, and so does the aggravation and psychosis. In a best-case scenario, patients learn quickly they are getting the help they need. Indeed, they want help, even if they do not know exactly what help they need. That is where case managers and outreach workers use motivational interviewing and other techniques designed to show people other options exist.

Addicted absolutely want help

As for the addicted living on the streets, I interact with them as a resident of Fusion Studios. Many people still unhoused have friends who live here. I hung out with addicts and alcoholics when I was homeless myself. I can tell you that to a person, there is nobody who is happy about being addicted to drugs. Most say they wish they never had started using fentanyl, or whatever their poison. You can see the pain in their faces when they talk about their drug use. They are not being lazy, or irresponsible. They are physically addicted and could risk death by quitting cold turkey. Quitting is not as simple as some people make it out to be. And yes, some people do go into rehab and become housed. Success stories do exist.

From my experience, nobody wants to live on the street, not even the people who do it for years. Those who think otherwise are fooling themselves.