Mental illness does not discriminate, but the data is clear: among those who are homeless, people with a mental illness are overrepresented.
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Bethlehem House chief executive Patrick Carlisle said 87 per cent of men accessing the Hobart shelter identified as having a mental illness.
“It tells us that homeless people have a lot of issues and that’s why they’re homeless,” he said.
“They could have a mental health problem and that causes them to be different from the rest of society, and others it’s from the stresses and strain of being homeless.”
Mental Health Council of Tasmania chief executive Connie Digolis said there were many factors that contributed to the development of a serious mental illness.
“These include hereditary influences and experiences of past trauma,” she said.
“Lifestyle pressures, including finding suitable employment or having the capacity to work when you are experiencing mental illness may mean a reliance on support payments that make every day expenses challenging.
“Poverty, in that sense, may be a result of having a mental illness rather than poverty being a leading influence or cause of poor mental health and well-being.”
Mr Carlisle said people who were homeless or financially constrained often struggled to access mental health services. The cost of seeing a GP, the ongoing costs of medication and a lack of community-based services were problematic, he said.
“Do you want to pay to see a doctor or do you want an evening meal tonight – that’s sometimes the debate that goes through a person’s head,” he said.
St Vincent de Paul Society Northern regional president Hetty Binns said 40 per cent of people accessing the service’s emergency food relief identified as having a mental illness. The charity has seen an increase in requests for assistance.
“If you’ve been employed and you’ve got commitments and your financially set up for certain things then all of a sudden you’re going onto Newstart, that’s a massive, massive cut in money and leads to homelessness even,” she said.
Mr Carlisle and Ms Digolis agreed that people who were homeless and living with mental illness suffered twice the stigma. “Mental health issues and homelessness, it’s a double whammy for them,” Mr Carlisle said.
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