Homeless teens are faced with mental illness

By Lillian Hurley
November 5, 2014

The Covenant House  is an organization that helps to protect the rights and lives of homeless youth. They work with homeless youth to provide them with the basic rights of food, a safe environment and an understanding about their lives. According to covenanthouse.org, around 2 million youth will experience some type of homelessness every year.

Homeless youth often suffer from mental illness. This can be due to the trials and tribulations they have faced in their young lives. The situations that these youth have faced lead to them developing mental illness such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder and. In regards to mental illness Covenant House compares it to the dangers that homeless youth face on the streets by saying “Many more are victims of a hidden and insidious danger that lurks over them 24 hours a day, 365 days a year: severe psychological stress.”

Youth that are faced with the challenges of mental illness is something that needs assistance.

Mental health in homeless youth can add more challenges to their lives since they often do not have the ability to get the help they need.

Active Minds is a club on campus that strives to start the conversation about mental illness. Maddy Coutu, the campus chapter president of Active Minds and junior double major in social work and religious studies minoring in social justice knows the importance of how mental illness can affect someone life.

The negative stigma that surrounds mental illness is one of the leading factors why people are too afraid to admit their mental illness.

“Stigma causes shame and shame causes silence, then no one gets the help they need.”

When people do not accept and learn ways to deal with their mental illness this can cause them to be intensified. When it seems that these homeless youth are acting out in a negative way it could be a result of their untreated mental illness.

When these kids do not know where their next meals are going to come from, how are they supposed to get help with their mental health issues?

It is the responsibility of the emergency shelters like the Covenant House and the school system to help the youth who will not get help from anyone else.

If the conversation about mental illness is more open then it could only help these homeless youth. The Covenant house acknowledges the importance of helping homeless youth especially with mental illness.

According to their website, “One out of every five kids we see at Covenant House comes to our doors with a burden that’s almost unimaginable-the burden of being mentally ill.”

@lillianmhurley

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Lillian Hurley

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