Am mounting a high horse...

Alrighty, I don’t tend to bang out about work much, but there are a number of issues that I feel quite strongly about, and feel that a wider audience should be aware of as well. I work in a hostel which houses homeless men and women referred into us by probation, mental health teams, rough sleepers services etc., and the majority of whom are substance misusers (heroin, crack, solvents or alcohol).

To dispel a few myths, and point out a general failing by H.M. forces, an incredibly large number of the residents I’ve worked with over the last few years are ex-services, in large suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder which due to a general lack of support upon leaving the military have ended up as substance abusers to escape. Pretty disgusting eh?

I can think of one guy who served primarily in Ireland and watched his best friend blown apart by a mine, and the rest of his regiment blown up by a bomb. He was a decorated sniper who had served a number of terms in a number of conflicts, and is now an entrenched heroin addict. Another served in the Falklands, had to deal often with corpse collection and disposal, suffers constant nightmares, is a solvent abuser now, who shouts military commands at himself when high, or derogatory comments as if being told off by a superior, and is too dangerous to approach when in this volatile state. I could recount at least 8 more cases without having to think back or rack my brains. I am not a particularly patriotic person, but it strikes me as disgusting that these men are in the positions they are due to receiving no form of after-care or counselling upon leaving the military. Where do we as the workers here start? Do we address the substance problem without finding an appropriate ptsd counsellor?

A fair few others I have worked with have been incredibly successful business-men who lost their businesses, their wives and family and fell to drugs or alcohol for comfort. Another watched his mother get raped and shot in front of him when he was 11 years old, abused heroin for 22 years following and has now been clean for over a year…

Okay so perhaps I’m unsure as to what my precise point is, maybe just that I wish people would employ a little more thought and understanding before making mass judgements and generalisations about this “group” of our society. And now I’ll dismount my high horse;)