![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Stuff today had an article on some of the down-and-out here in Christchurch. Christchurch sex workers: Life on Manchester St"
An early commenter asked "I wonder though, what would it take to help them off the street?"
Now I have no direct experience helping people up from that low, but I have read a lot of their stories over the past few years and there are some strong common threads, and as the comments overall haven't deteriorated too much but felt confident enough to post a reply to that. Pending moderation but I don;t see any reason it shouldn't make it through.
~~~
What does it take?
- *Security* so they don't have to spend all their energy on accounting for the next meal or substitute high.
- *Time* for their minds and bodies to recover from constantly living in "survival mode" and start to live for a future.
- *Patience* as they learn to trust again; break the habits/reflexes and modes of thinking that living day-to-day instills; and gain the confidence in themselves and their support network to move forward.
- *Opportunity* to catch up on the things they missed as children - not only academically but also in exploring and developing interests and talents - and explore the paths open to them.
- *Acceptance and respect* that they have their own individual life stories; that they will probably carry scars and exhibit behaviours for the rest of thier lives from the traumas they have experienced; that the first path or paths they initially choose to explore not be the ones they ultimately settle on or stick to; and that this does not make them /in any way/ lesser people than anyone else.
- *Confidence* (or faith if you prefer) that they are worth the investment in all of the above.
- As any individual or organisation can only do so much (and they do), and so often have to focus on a few worst cases, it will take *raising our voices* as a caring society to *demand* of our representatives to whom we have delegated responsibility of our social welfare that they /direct the resources/ to not only pick up those who have already fallen through the cracks but to /close those cracks/ (many of which are well known).
~~~
I wish I had more resources to bring to bear.
An early commenter asked "I wonder though, what would it take to help them off the street?"
Now I have no direct experience helping people up from that low, but I have read a lot of their stories over the past few years and there are some strong common threads, and as the comments overall haven't deteriorated too much but felt confident enough to post a reply to that. Pending moderation but I don;t see any reason it shouldn't make it through.
~~~
What does it take?
- *Security* so they don't have to spend all their energy on accounting for the next meal or substitute high.
- *Time* for their minds and bodies to recover from constantly living in "survival mode" and start to live for a future.
- *Patience* as they learn to trust again; break the habits/reflexes and modes of thinking that living day-to-day instills; and gain the confidence in themselves and their support network to move forward.
- *Opportunity* to catch up on the things they missed as children - not only academically but also in exploring and developing interests and talents - and explore the paths open to them.
- *Acceptance and respect* that they have their own individual life stories; that they will probably carry scars and exhibit behaviours for the rest of thier lives from the traumas they have experienced; that the first path or paths they initially choose to explore not be the ones they ultimately settle on or stick to; and that this does not make them /in any way/ lesser people than anyone else.
- *Confidence* (or faith if you prefer) that they are worth the investment in all of the above.
- As any individual or organisation can only do so much (and they do), and so often have to focus on a few worst cases, it will take *raising our voices* as a caring society to *demand* of our representatives to whom we have delegated responsibility of our social welfare that they /direct the resources/ to not only pick up those who have already fallen through the cracks but to /close those cracks/ (many of which are well known).
~~~
I wish I had more resources to bring to bear.
