It's getting downright scary!

We have several new residents in the dorm but one of them really stands out. From the day she arrived everyone noticed that she was talking to herself a lot, but around the shelter that's happens quite a bit
Today however she was changing voices and carrying on conversations. The other voice she used was that of a little girl. I had just finished about 35 loads of family laundry by myself, so I was really tired and trying to tune everything out. I did not perk up until I heard a little girls voice and a moment later G. yelling. I immediately looked for a child in jeopardy and asked G. what was going on and if everything was alright. She got angry and started yelling, something about "the stupid brat has to learn" and a in a split-second she changed to  the little girl voice started to cry. Then she totally changed her attitude and now spoke soothingly to the child "Mommy did not mean it, but you have to learn to be a good girl". As spooky as it was I was relieved that there was no actual child in the dorm. When I spoke to staff about the incident and someone mentioned that the other day she was nursing an invisible baby in the day room, with her shirt open and bra undone. Everyone was laughing at her and thought it was funny.
At times I have serous problems dealing with people's mentality at the shelter, the lack of compassion and caring is frightening. That poor women obviously is disturbed and needs help, I hope her caseworker will be able to find a place for her were she can get counseling and treatment.
She can be quite lucid at times and is capable of deductive reasoning. When someone mentioned that there was an outbreak of head lice at the shelter, she went out and had her hair braided and I have seen her oil her scalp every night.  When I asked her about it and she told me she went to the beauty college and had it done so she would not get lice. While she seems quite rational one minute she will turn in a heartbeat and become terribly angry. Her frustration level must be extremely high, wanting to express what is going on inside her and not being able to come up with the right words. She truly is a tortured soul and needs to be in a safe environment with people that can deal with her outbursts and channel her emotions appropriately. Being ridiculed, tormented and made the laughing stock of the shelter is only going to compound her issues and will escalate her feelings of frustration and anger.

Introduction to Shelter Living

First off I would like to dispel a myth that all people in a homeless shelter are lazy and don’t want to work and live in a shelter by choice. While I am not disputing that for some it is a lifestyle and they travel from shelter to shelter, with various shelters buying bus tickets just to get them to move on, these people are in the minority. Most women, especially mature women, end up in a shelter because of a traumatic life changing event and are in the precarious position of having no resources left and no other place to go. It is usually a long term illness and subsequent death of a partner, parent or spouse, an ugly divorce after 20+years of marriage or the last straw in an ongoing abusive relationship. Sometimes just being laid off from work and not able to get other employment soon enough can cause one’s life to collapse. Whatever the case may be a homeless shelter is never a choice only a last resort. The agonizing decision to actually go to a homeless shelter only comes after all options, including suicide have been ruled out (at least for the moment) and it is never ever an easy one.Living in a shelter is not only depressing and demoralizing but it emphasizes the hopelessness of a desperate situation. It will crush your spirit and drag you down faster than anything else. Mature single women in a shelter are being warehoused..........stored, no one really knows what to do with them, there is no where for them to go, there is no support program in place, no one to talk to and no one to help figure out what to do with the rest of your life. Let’s face it in this economy college graduates with PhDs cannot find jobs and for women over the age of 55 it is impossible to get a job that pays a living wage, especially since many have been out of the workforce for several years. Too old to get a job, not old enough for social security (if even eligible), what can one do…….Shelters are designed as transitional housing, for a few days or weeks until other options are made available. For most mature women these options might not become available for months, possibly years. Currently their needs are not addressed by any program or organization. As Babyboomers reach that age group this social crisis will become more apparent than ever before.