Confirming Kindness
“We should be headed to rehab on Thursday.” (Couple currently surviving in a shed in the woods)
“They stole my bike. Now I can’t get anywhere. I had that bike for almost a year.” (Person currently surviving in a tent in the woods)
“This fentanyl stuff is killing so many people out here.” (Person currently surviving in a tent in the woods)
“I will admit that I still drink too much from time to time, but I have quit everything else.” (Person currently surviving in a tent in the woods)
“The police came out in force and arrested this new person that was out here. So now I am stuck taking care of their two dogs and cat that got left behind.” (Person currently surviving in a tent in the woods)
“Hey y’all. Just wanted to share that (client) is in treatment and doing very well! We also have them set up with a place to stay after treatment.” (R.O.C. partner informing us that a client of ours is now in substance abuse treatment)
“My tent is leaking!” (Person currently surviving in a tent in the woods)
“No, we don’t have a camp anywhere right now. I have learned the lesson the hard way that if you stay in one spot, everyone will come rob you. So we are just floating right now.” (Person currently surviving on the streets)
“Is today already Friday? Here I was thinking it was Wednesday.” (Person currently surviving in a tent in the woods)
“I only make $570 a month. I can’t even begin to afford a place with that much money.” (Person currently surviving behind a gas station)
“I’ve been out here 8 years. 8 way too long years!” (Person currently surviving in a tent in the woods)
“Yeah, I will take some Narcan. It’s been a year this month since I lost my 16-year-old daughter to an accidental overdose.” (Person currently surviving in a tent in the woods)
“Oh, I thought you were coming to run me off. Looks like the opposite. I have already been run off three times today.”
“It’s moving-in day for (client)! We are out here helping them haul their stuff to their new apartment! It’s been 15 years since they have had their own place!” (R.O.C. partner informing us that a client of ours will no longer be surviving on the streets, but will now be living in their own apartment.)
During outreach this week, R.O.C. members had staff from the Chattanooga Regional Homeless Coalition (CRHC) join them on outreach for two days.
While conducting outreach in the Hixson area on Thursday, an R.O.C. member was asked by one of the CRHC staff:
“Given how many people are out here and how few outreach workers there are, how do you ever get to the place of establishing relationships with people in these camps?”
The answer is all about establishing trust. Trust requires a foundation to stand on. The trust that R.O.C. members have established with those experiencing homelessness stands on the foundation of the R.O.C.’s three core values in the practice of kindness. The three core values of consistency, compassion, and connection create the firm foundations that help prevent people from floating, drifting, or wavering in their ability to trust R.O.C. members.
At R.O.C. we remain consistent with where we do outreach in the community every day. Thursdays are the days we are supposed to be doing outreach in Hixson. Then we do our very best to be in Hixson every Thursday. We remain consistent in what we say we will or will not do for our clients. We said last week that we would fill out a housing assessment next week. Then we do our very best to make sure we get that housing assessment completed with that client, even if it means in the pouring down rain the next week. We said we are going to be at the client’s camp Tuesday morning at 9am to transport them to Homeless Healthcare. Then we do everything in our ability to make sure we are there on Tuesday morning at 9am to offer that ride, even if the client changes their mind or forgets. We remain consistent with the outreach supply items we offer in our supply bags that each person receives. We strive for uniformity through collaboration with community partners to make sure we have an ample supply of socks, water, hygiene kits, toilet paper, bug spray, sunscreen, hand sanitizer, flashlights, batteries, snacks, ready-to-eat canned goods, protein drinks, condoms, Narcan, tents, sleeping bags, blankets, tarps, rope, sharps containers, and plenty of cups of hot coffee.
Consistency:
•Builds trust and a reputation in the community
•Nourishes a relationship with a client
•Helps provide stability to the client’s life
•Brings accountability
•Shows the client they are not forgotten
• Makes the client realize they have worth
At R.O.C. we remain compassionate despite the outreach workers’ inability to fully understand what clients are going through, have gone through, or will go through. They can still show compassion. We remain compassionate no matter how many times opportunities we offer are rejected. We remain compassionate in the midst of clients showing symptoms created by past or present traumas in their lives. We remain compassionate despite how drunk, dirty, disorderly, delusional, or desensitized someone may be.
Compassion:
•Shows empathy
•Provides support and teamwork on finding solutions
•Gives respect to the client and their right to make decisions.
•Allows clients to become more open
•Empowers clients to try again
At R.O.C. we remain committed to finding connections for our clients. When an outreach worker hears a client’s needs expressed, they have the knowledge on getting the client connected to resources in the community to help fill that need. They not only have the knowledge of how but also the resolve to get them connected. This is why we are constantly seeking out more community partnerships with any agency, entity, church, group, or individual that is seeking to help those experiencing homelessness in Hamilton County.
Connection:
•Is accomplished through underpromising and overdelivering
•Involves going above and beyond the expected
•Educates clients on what resources are available
•Helps clients overcome the barriers to accessing the services and material goods that they need.
Much of the day-to-day work of doing homeless outreach can become mundane and repetitive. Organize supplies. Pack more supply bags. Drive for miles and miles. Fill up the gas tank for it to end up empty again. Walking for miles and miles. Up the hills. Down the hills. Walk down one side of the tracks, bridge, road, parking lot, or woods. Now walk to the other side. Check the same spots where no one has been staying for a long time. Mosquito bites on top of mosquito bites. Spiderwebsto the face on every trail. Continue to hear from others how those individuals that you have known but have not seen for a while have tragically died. Handing the same person their now 400th lifetime homeless outreach supply bag. Having the same conversations week after week. Getting told that no, there isn’t anything else that they could think of to ask for, or that they need the outreach workers to help with over and over and over and over again!
All of this is the foundation-building work. So that we can be there on the particular day when the person that has received over 400 supply bags and has told us several times that they don’t need anything else looks at us and tells us how their partner died the previous week from a fentanyl overdose. They tell us they don’t want to continue to keep being the one that has to administer Narcan and save the other people in their camp. When they couldn’t be there to save the one they loved the most, and now they don’t know who they can share the second half of their sandwiches with like they used to with that person. They tell us they are ready to get into substance abuse treatment the next day. And when the outreach worker makes the connection to the substance abuse program, the client lets you transport them there. After arriving there, they also persist that it is ok for the outreach worker to remain with them in the intake office as they answer in excruciating detail questions about the traumas they have experienced in their lifetime. Two more months go by after the initial intake appointment due to the client self-determining to wait that long to take the final step to get into treatment. Then today R.O.C. members get the text, which is quoted above, in their group chat about that same client:
“Hey y’all. Just wanted to share that (client) is in treatment and doing very well! We also have them set up with a place to stay after treatment.”
That is what foundational relationship building through the practice of kindness looks like. It requires an investment. An investment that is worth every single penny and every single second that the collective agencies, groups, and churches of the ROC spend!
NEVER STOP PRACTICING KINDNESS! BECAUSE THE PRACTICE PAYS OFF!
(The picture is of a sign leaning against someone’s tent in an encampment that R.O.C. visits.)
#ROCAndRoll
#ConfirmingKindness
#PracticeKindness
#PracticePaysOff
#ReachEmDontMistreatEm
