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SEATTLE — Wanted: Christian clinicians and psychiatry professionals for evangelical work saving the lost. Salary: Non-negotiable riches in heaven. Benefits include character-building frustration, eyewitness experience of God's miracles, power through the Holy Spirit, and a "well done good and faithful servant" for your eternal resume.
The problem
"There are people out there wandering the streets, completely out of their minds," said Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission staff member Stacy Cleveland. "A lot of people who are in that state aren't able to see they're unstable. They are too mentally ill to even see it."
Statistics trace the spiral from broken family to broken life to broken mind. According to Northwest Family Life, over half of marriages have at least one incident of battering, and 50 to 70 percent of men who batter their wives or partners also abuse their children. Violence is the stated reason in 22 percent of middle class divorces.
In the past two decades, foster care (America's orphan care system) has nearly doubled, according to Seattle's Casey Family Services.
Information from the University of Washington reveals that 35 percent of youth leave home because a parent or guardian put them out. Nineteen percent were removed by a third party. Thirty-three percent leave home under their own volition.
All of the above are categorized as "runaways." A history of physical abuse, neglect and sexual abuse at home is common in "runaway" cases.
One University of Washington study reads, "Psychologically and socially, their development [is] hindered by multiple traumatic events.”
Last year ReligionLink's "The changing face of homelessness," assessed the situation. "People who work with the homeless are seeing more families, more women and children..."
Working with men
The Seattle’s UGM men's center works with homeless men. Welcome Center Manager Jeff Yerger said they often see men whose families "care about them but can't have them around anymore because of their destructive behavior."
The same destructive cycle happened to Yerger, a former supervisor with Dana Corporation, who said, "I was about 45 years old when I decided I wasn't going to work anymore."
He eventually ended up on the Seattle streets. After four months he joined the UGM recovery program.
"When you join a [recovery] program they give you a locker and bed upstairs, teach you a better way of life, and help you develop a relationship with Jesus," he said.
But the programs can't help everyone.
"Some people come for the [mission's] services, but not to feed their spirit. A person has to really hurt before they think they need help," Yerger said.
They prescreen to determine who will follow program instructions, obey rules, and be accountable for their behavior. Living on the streets is high risk.
"Some are dangerous to other people because they'll do what they need to do to get high," Yerger said. "We see men come in with busted up faces. It's not as dangerous here as in bigger cities, but some are predators who like to prey on the weak."
To receive services from UGM—like food or a mat for the night—certain rules must be obeyed.
"Once someone starts something inside, other people get involved, and a situation can escalate pretty fast. We have to be able and trained to spot the troublemakers,” Yerger said. “We put them on suspension and call the police.”
Working with women
Fewer women are literally living on the streets than men in Seattle. Cleveland, who works at the UGM Women and Children's Shelter, said, "For women, they tend to do a lot more couch surfing. It's pretty dangerous for women to stay on the streets. They tend to be more in-doors, even if it's an abusive or drug environment."
Women with children fleeing from dangerous homes find help at this shelter where they learn useful workforce skills.
"Kids who are homeless usually are falling behind in school," Cleveland said.
Seattle UGM provides tutoring for them. Displaced women can get on 12-step programs at the center as well.
"Outside they're not seeing anything but dysfunctionality. To be around normal Christians living moral lives helps them," Cleveland said.
The women are encouraged to choose and attend one church regularly and make a place for themselves. Cleveland said that support system will be important to them when they leave the mission. She said this shelter is very dependent on local churches, and there are several welcoming churches in the area. New Beginnings Church in Renton sends a van for women from the program several times a week.
UGM's funding comes from private contributors.
“We won't take any government funding because we don't want them to dictate what we can do,” Cleveland said. “The government wouldn't allow us to require Bible study. We don't want to be in any way restricted. We don't feel we can offer [lost people] help if we're not offering them Christ."
The ministry needs more Christians with experience in leading chemical dependency classes and volunteers to teach the ladies computer, writing and clerical skills.
"We would love help from a Christian psychiatrist and Christian clinicians and dentists. Christian women with good life skills are also needed. … It's what Jesus would do," Cleveland said. "Jesus would be downtown working with homeless people, 'the least of the least.' Most ladies here have never been homeless [before] and they are scared to death. The people we serve are ready to receive the Good News. ... Here everyone knows they are not OK.
"Our hope is one day we can start partnering with psychiatrists. We're looking into it. There aren't many psychiatrists who will do pro bono health care, [but] we've got some valuable information due to our observations because we see [the homeless] round the clock," Cleveland said.
The youth
New Horizons Ministry is a nonprofit Christian ministry dedicated to equip homeless youth to leave street life through two downtown "drop-in" centers where they can receive a variety of comfort services.
The center provides food, companionship, entertainment and an opportunity to build relationships with the mission's Christian staff and volunteer mentors. Showers, clothing, laundry, case management, housing, treatment referrals, counseling, and the opportunity to put their trust in Jesus Christ are all available as well.
Many of the girls are involved in prostitution, according to Rita Nusli, long time NHM executive director. NHM compiled a "bad date" list for girls to warn each other of men on the streets who have hurt them.
"[Half] the street kids—male and female—are exchanging sex for drugs and food and a place to stay," Nusli said.
Street life is home to kids who ran away from bad foster care, and to many “aged-out” youth who must suddenly leave their foster home and make it on their own after their 18th birthday. Aged-out youth often have no skills, no money, no family and low probability to assimilate anywhere but the streets. Nusli said prison and a high mortality rate probably claims the majority of these youth over time.
"Kids stop maturing emotionally at the level they were when they came to the streets, because street survival takes every inch of their ability. All their energy goes to survival," Nusli said. "Most have been abused in some way. They may have mental health issues. ... For most who stay on the streets, it's better than home.”
Of the 8,000 kids who leave home every year, Nusli said 50 percent go home in two weeks, 25 percent go into foster care, get locked up, or move into a group home, and 25 percent—the "throw-aways"—are left on the street.
"Of the 1,700 youth NHM served last year, I only got five calls from parents who were looking for their child. Five!” Nusli said. “Our state system isn't working."
When Nusli started at the ministry 21 years ago, NHM served 200 kids with 5 paid staff and a handful of volunteers. Now they have 24 paid staff, many more volunteers, and serve 1,700 kids per year.
However, Nusli said, "The streets haven't changed. They are still filled with ‘throw-away’ kids who need someone to love them."
Even if they get kicked out of the drop-in center, they know they can be forgiven and come back again, Nusli said. They keep the policy posted: "Our forgiveness policy: Grace is abundant here."
In this fertile field of the lost, a growing herd of society's “throw-aways” struggle and despair in plain view in our cities. Will Scheck, Intake Chaplain of Bread of Life Mission in Seattle, observed, "My experience tells me people tend to fear what they do not understand. Pride and a certain emotional disconnect enable the mentality that [the problem] is those people. And a failure to see that those people are us, we are them."
To learn more about the Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission, visit www.ugm.org. To learn more about New Horizons Mission, visit www.nhmin.org. To learn more about Bread of Life Mission, visit www.breadoflifemission.org.
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