Veterans, Homelessness, and Mental Illness

Essay by mariageneUniversity, Master'sA+, November 2010

download word file, 13 pages 0.0

Veterans, Homelessness, and Mental Illness

The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that over 250,000 veterans find themselves homeless throughout the year. 1 out of 3 of the homeless people you see living under America's bridges or sleeping on park benches are veterans. An astounding 1.5 million veterans are on the verge of becoming homeless at this very minute. ("National Coalition for Homeless Veterans", "n.d", p. 2). Interesting!

Purpose Statement

During the course of this paper we will discuss the phenomenon of homelessness veterans of the United States Armed Forces. Emphasis will be directed toward examining prevalence of mental illness in veterans and prevalence of homelessness. In an attempt to better understand the plight of the homeless veteran we will review; the contributing factors for the development of mental disorders, investigate the toll that mental illness exact on the military family, and explore the effectiveness of the current efforts to identify psychological issues using Pre/Post Deployment surveys.

Great!

We will assess the effectiveness of the Department of Veteran Affairs in providing services to this population. Research and data was collected from the Department of Veteran Affairs, the United States armed forces, the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, as well are various studies that address contributing factors attributed to homelessness be them related or unrelated to military services. Clear purpose statement.

Community

The population I am focusing on is homeless adult veterans with mental illnesses. Given the fact that one generally has to be 18 years of age to be eligible for service, the term adult applies to all veterans in every category of age with authority to give consent to serve in the armed forces. For the purpose of this paper, when utilized the term "community" will be used to describe the following: all individuals that have served...