- Generalizations about homeless people impact the opinion of the entire population, says one client at The Kearney Center.
- One of the many misconceptions is mental illness says Megan Duncan with The Kearney Center.
- Watch the video to hear how this client grapples with these stereotypes and what he thinks it will take to change these opinions.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
"If you're homeless, or you are in need, you're a blister on society," said William Rennie, a client at The Kearney Center.
My conversations about homelessness in the Big Bend have highlighted some of the misconceptions surrounding this population, one of these being mental illness. Residents and experts at the Kearney Center share more about these stereotypes and their impact.
"I fight the stereotype, but after a while, you get tired of fighting," said Rennie.
He said bad luck and bad decisions brought him here. Since being a client, he's realized how society views homeless people.
"If you're from Kearney, and you are out and about, maybe you've got a couple of bucks to spend in your pockets, they don't want you in the store," said Rennie.
Rennie said he wishes society would treat people the way they would want to be treated.
"We're all trying to get back to where we were, at least on our feet again," said Rennie.
He said these stereotypes make it difficult. He's been visiting Megan Duncan, the supportive program supervisor here to talk through his concerns.
Duncan also wants to dispel these generalizations. Working in the mental health space, she said society uses these stereotypes to correlate homeless people with mental illness.
"They take that one person, and say, oh that's the whole population," said Rennie.
She wants to see more community education of how mental health issues can affect all members of society, including our most vulnerable neighbors.
"If people were educated on what type of mental illnesses affect people and how, they might see it differently," said Duncan.
That's what has happened to Rennie during his time with Duncan so he said as the homeless population is increasing rapidly, he's asking you to act with compassion.
"The book isn't always what it looks like, there's more to it that that, you've just got to dig a little deeper," said Rennie.
Megan takes walk-in appointments on Fridays. She said undoing these stereotypes is one of the ways we can support this population. So if this story has incited conversation, I'd love to hear from you. You can contact me at 850-509-3271 or via email at Maya.Sargent@wtxl.tv.
