Three Intelligences and Mindfulness of Homeless Populations

Howard Gardner, in the book, Changing Minds: The Art and Science of Changing Our Own and Other People's Minds, explains that there are nine different types of intelligences that people gain throughout their lives.

Finding out which type of intelligence one can associate with the most can be quite the trek. Sometimes it may be easier for someone you know to help you find out how well you understand aspects of your own intelligence more than other aspects, and they can be your parents or mentors. When I think of going through a state of survival mode and its methods, it requires types of intelligence that might be more resonating than others to develop in situations that may arise. These survival methods are mostly present in homeless populations, whereas they will need more bodily kinesthetic, intrapersonal, and interpersonal intelligences. These intelligences are ones that may help expand the emotional intelligence and its benefits. 

Homeless populations have reasons for staying. For struggling. All of these reasonings, stories, journeys, will be a reality that others can try and comprehend. For there are fashions for revitalizing the state of mind, just like any other person in a place that may be new or old, comfortable or uncomfortable. The mind is universal. Asides from the other six intelligences that are on the list, the spectrum is the same for everyone’s mind. We all have a brain to use it differently. If we try to learn about how we like to connect our own ideas, we can discover these expansions of the mind and apply them towards helping individuals, ourselves and how we can discover self-help.

The ways we can discover how we think, literally, are to apply mental health topics to service our learning, and also if we are to feed the mind with energy, then the mental energy is manifested into productivity and function. Mental health is, also, an issue amongst homeless populations, as wide studies have shown. We can aid this wide pandemic of mental illness, by trying to open up the possibilities of self-discoveries. 

Homelessness affects 17 out of 10,000 Americans, since 2020. (National Alliance to End Homelessness)

These three intelligences mentioned above, may create goals for groups of people to try and make accomplishments for themselves. The reason why I have chosen them is because, when one is in survival mode, sharpening a bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, with proper nutrition,  becomes simpler to start anything. It becomes well attuned, and eventually it re-energizes for a more active future.

Interpersonal intelligence would be beneficial to practice . This type of intelligence involves interactions with other individuals. We all develop social skills and utilize the knowledge to be able to interact with others, it is something that everyone tends to come across throughout life. Becoming smarter with people and smarter with the interpersonal intelligence is being social smart. One of the best ways to socialize and to share thoughts and times together, share things in common, to commune, is with food. There are aspects of it that bring about a different type of intelligence that is innate. 

Intrapersonal intelligence is possibly the hardest of the three. For truly knowing oneself and being mentally well, can be tricky. But it is achievable to be in a place all alone and in mental solitude, requiring of self-thoughts. And it would be strenuous when one does not have the commodities to stay sane. It would require assembly. That when in a situation which arises like being in a mode of survival, the aid for assembly may be most beneficial through nurture. 

https://endhomelessness.org/homelessness-in-america/homelessness-statistics/state-of-homelessness-2020/

Food Insecurity Poses One More Obstacle Facing 45% of U.S. College Students

photo by Creative Exchange on Upsplash

College students across the country face the realities of housing and food insecurity as they navigate the path to graduation. Temple University Hope Center for College, Community and Justice's annual assessment of college students' needs revealed that in 2019, 17% of students surveyed from 123 universities had experienced housing disparity in the previous year; 45% had experienced food insecurity within the previous month.

Individual states like California and Tennessee have recently taken steps to address this issue, passing legislation to make housing and nutrition programs more accessible for students; however, the College Student Hunger Act of 2019 cosponsored by Elizabeth Warren - which aimed to broaden student eligibility nationwide for the supplemental nutrition assistance program - was shot down by Congress. 

Food insecurity - a problem that encompasses a lack of proper nutrition, as specified by guidelines set forth by the USDA - often goes hand-in-hand with housing disparity. The NCBI recognizes the need for continued research in this area, and the International Journal of  Adolescence and Youth links homelessness experienced by youth to increases in obesity and nutrient deficiencies.

The infographic below, created by the Institute for Children, Poverty, and Homelessness, demonstrates how this trend affects students of all ages, highlighting the continued importance of the National School Lunch Program. More national legislation and nutritional programs are dire necessities for the future and health of our nation's youth.

Mental Illness and Nutrition

    

  

    Mental illness and nutrition are all closely related. They are also all issues in many people who are experiencing homelessness. Whether or not you experience mental illness or addiction, nutrition is still important. Our brains are constantly on, even when we are sleeping. Our brains monitor our heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen content, and more. Whatever we eat matters for our health, but especially for our mental health. Around 25% of American's who experience homelessness have some type of serious mental illness and 45% have some type of mental illness. Although nutrition is not going to necessarily cure mental illness, nutrition can provide a degree of clarity and reduce symptoms. 

    Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that helps mediate moods and inhibit pain. 95% of this serotonin is produced by your gastrointestinal tract. Since the majority of serotonin of produced by your gastrointestinal tract, your gastrointestinal tract has a major influence on your emotions. Not only does the serotonin affect this but also the billions of bacteria in your gastrointestinal tract. These bacteria provide a strong barrier against toxins and bad bacteria, improve how well you absorb nutrients from your food, and they limit inflammation. Inflammation affects your mood and energy level, so it must be avoided when possible.

   Another aspect of mental illness is being deficient in many nutrients. Not only is fuel being put in the body not efficient, but it is lacking. Many people who experience mental illness are deficient in essential vitamins, minerals, and omega-3 fatty acids. Eating foods rich in these vitamins, minerals, and omega-3 fatty acids is shown to reduce the severity of mental illness. 

    In order to properly feed the homeless population, we must give food to fuel their body instead of deteriorating it. As the statistics above state, slightly less than the majority of people experiencing homelessness have some type of mental illness. With the proper nutrition, their serotonin levels could increase, they could get the necessary minerals and nutrients they need therefore helping the severity of their mental illness. For more information on the effects of nutrition on mental health, check out the link below.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/nutritional-psychiatry-your-brain-on-food-201511168626

Access to Nutrition

 In New York there are over 91,000 people who are homeless on any given night. That is jus over 16 % of the population. As you can see homelessness is a major issue not only in New York but all over the Nation. Many people who are homeless are occupied with trying to find a place to sleep, get some money, and food to eat. It is more important that they find food rather than if the food is nutritional. According to the World Health Organization people should be eating at least 400g of fruit and vegetables. I bet a handful of people who aren't homelessness don't meet the nutritional guidelines. If it is hard for someone who has resources such as a job, house, and work to eat nutritional food. Now imagine how hard it would be for someone who doesn't have those resources or they are limited. For more information check out Hearts for the homeless 

Articles: https://heartsforthehomeless.org/challenges-of-proper-nutrition/ 

The Struggle To Access Food

 Take a quick second and think about your daily routine and what it consists of? My guess is that most of you would answer similarly to waking up, brushing your teeth, and then eating breakfast. After this, I would assume that the average American would then head to work and clock in, take a lunch break at some point, and then later that evening, clock out, eat dinner, and go to bed. There’s nothing special about this day as it is just an average day for most American citizens. Now think about what your day would look like if you weren’t sure how or if you would be able to acquire food, water, or shelter. For a person struggling with homelessness, being able to have access to these basic necessities on a regular basis would be a dream. 

    In the Portland metropolitan area, a little over 4,000 people are currently experiencing homelessness. These people struggle to find places to sleep, food to eat, and water to drink. There are meal programs out there that offer food for these people who are struggling however, these programs are struggling themselves. Their food supply has been limited due to the Covid19 pandemic. Blanchet House, a meal program located on 3^rd Ave. explains that they are “…really concerned about running out of food.” Grocery stores are unable to donate as much food due to Covid19 thus, less donations are coming in which leads to less food available for serving. In addition, it has been explained that the results of Covid19 has increased the demand for food which is making it even more difficult to get all the mouths fed. Blanchet House is not the only one experiencing this struggle. Rescue Mission and Stone Soup have had the same problems and reportedly said that they all “…have similar concerns- our lines are getting longer.”

    So, how can you make an impact? How can you help those dealing with homelessness and provide them with good nutrition? What can you do to make someone’s daily struggle a little better? It’s simple. You can donate food to these organizations as they aren’t able to access the same amounts of food as they were able to before the pandemic. You can also donate containers and brown paper bags. Being that we are all in the midst of Covid19 and Governor Brown has called for social distancing, these meal programs have to serve food to-go. The more bags and containers that these organizations can get, the easier it is for the homeless to receive their to-go meals. Do what you can to make someone’s difficult daily routine a little less difficult.

Donate now by calling: 503-241-4340 or donating online: https://blanchethouse.org

 

Sources:

https://www.streetroots.org/news/2020/03/25/portland-meal-program-homeless-running-short-supplies

https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/homeless/homeless-portland-multnomah-county-seek-delay-point-in-time-count/283-ed67008b-ccc5-4770-b942-0649cea4d949

 

 

 

Shelter Feeding Facilities: Do They Provide The Necessary Nutrition For The Homeless?

If you were asked where a homeless individual could go for a warm nutritional meal you might respond by suggesting a Soup Kitchen. They are in fact quite common across the United States with a rich history stretching as far back as 1929 during the Great Depression. They are best described as shelter feeding facilities where food is usually offered for free to the homeless by volunteers or organizations. They are important, according to the Our Father’s House Soup Kitchen Association, not only because of the free meals they offer to the hungry and homeless but because they provide a place for the homeless to belong. However, though Soup Kitchens might provide meals to the homeless, this does not mean it meets the adequate nutrition needed by homeless individuals as many might assume.

According to public health reports, Soup Kitchens usually provide foods that are appropriate for emergencies or supplement to usual dietary intakes which does not meet all the nutritional needs required by the body. Although Soup Kitchens do provide free meals, they still do not meet the standard for good nutrition recommend by the World Health Organization (WHO). For example, in one New York study, it was discovered that the menus at Soup Kitchen can often fall short of nutritional recommendation. The lack of proper nutrition is further exasperated by the amount of food provided by Soup Kitchen’s which can typically only serve 1.4 meals per day per homeless person. Not to mention Soup Kitchen’s do not typically serve food all day long. Thus, 1.4 meals per day is far below the Harvard Health Publishing suggestion of 3 meals per day.

To tackle the issue of homelessness and nutrition than we must acknowledge where we can better focus our efforts. Thus, one way we can all start is to better educate ourselves on all facets of the matter. This includes exploring how the current systems which offer nutritional aid to the homeless, like Soup Kitchens, meet or do not meet nutritional requirements. But this also includes looking for ways in which we can help solve the issue. So I encourage our reader to look into the sources which I have gathered below and to explore the research for yourself. Let us know what you think in the comments section below!

Sources:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1580272/pdf/pubhealthrep00189-0014.pdf

https://www.nationalhomeless.org/publications/foodsharing/intro.html#:~:text=According%20to%20a%20national%20survey,month%20previous%20to%20the%20survey.

Image sourced from:

https://heartsforthehomeless.org/challenges-of-proper-nutrition/

Homelessness Correlation to Nutrition

    The city of Portland has a chronic issue of homelessness on its streets. "Multnomah County’s 2019 PIT showed an estimated 4,015 people were experiencing homelessness, a number that was slightly down from previous years"(KGW8). The homeless population does not have the comfortability physically and mentally to be at their best for both aspects of self care. As a homeless person you are subject to sleeping outside, going through depression and anxiety, and having underlying health problems which is harder to take care of when you do not have the funds or resources to take care of yourself. Homeless people do not have the quality of what food on the front of their minds. The main focus is to eat anything that will fill their stomachs and what is cheaper for the money they have. 

    All over the country it is more expensive to eat healthier for most meals, which is hard for ones without a home to access due to their situation. When shopping for healthier food you must most times go to the grocery store and shop for what is needed. For the homeless it takes up a lot of energy and time. After buying food they must then carry it around with them everywhere they go which leaves them open to get robbed by others just as hungry or even hungrier. Processed food is the inexpensive and safest way to go. Eating healthier also may take more to get you full which is not a luxury that they have. Also, they must have the tools to then cook the food that they purchase. Not many homeless have pots and pans with them to cook healthier food. It is smarter, in the short term, to eat more substance rather than healthier. 

    Even when the homeless find a shelter for the night it is not the most nutrition efficient either. "Food available to homeless individuals through shelter feeding facilities are high in fat, low in fiber, and lack the required daily nutrients, according to the National Health Care for the Homeless Council"(House for the Homeless). Places where they feel comfortable physically does not have the good nutrition needed for healthier living. Some homeless have health issues where eating a certain way is imperative to their survival, such as diabetes. The way of eating as a homeless person does not line up with certain dietary needs. This makes their health problems even more dangerous. Overall it is important for all people to have access to their dietary needs. It will be combated through work from CDC's and city planning to reach the goal of homeless people to get what is needed both physically and mentally. Being homeless can cause depression and anxiety. There are many places for homeless to sleep, through shelters but not food choices. There should be just as much food sources for them as much is it is to sleep! Hands on Greater Portland 

Sources:

https://www.handsonportland.org/opportunity/a0C1200000mfT5IEAUHealth needs 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK218236/Physical Vulnerability 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6475440/Proper Nutrition 

https://heartsforthehomeless.org/challenges-of-proper-nutrition/Multnomah County 

https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/homeless/homeless-portland-multnomah-county-seek-delay-

point-in-time-count/283-ed67008b-ccc5-4770-b942-0649cea4d949

Nutrition and Homelessness

An often overlooked aspect of homelessness is nutrition, or the lack thereof. While everyone has seen a homeless person begging for money or a meal, we rarely think about how a lack of nutrition is contributing to the homelessness problem. People without homes are not eating often, but when they are they are eating foods low in fiber and of poor nutritional value. Whether it is fast food found in the trash or food provided at a shelter, homeless people are consuming high fat, nutrient low foods. While there is no quick fix to the homelessness problem, there are solutions to keep every person in this country feed. Many homeless people that are eligible for food stamps are not recieving them. We need to create a system in which everyone entitled to food stamps are aware, especially homeless people.

The Continuous Problem of Displacing the Homeless

According to the City of Portland's Homelessness statistics, there are over 3,000 homeless people in the city at any given time. Some of them are lucky enough to stay in their cars, or in shelters, (though, according to the same statistics, shelters often can become overrun and require people to stay in unhealthy or otherwise hazardous conditions,) however many of the homeless folk in Portland are forced to stay in tents on either the sides of the roads, or in parks.

    Laurelhurst Park is one of the common places for the homeless to set up camp, and the city wants them out. Over the past few months, they have been sending the Hazardous Waste Removal teams that are contracted by the city to forcibly remove these people from their homes. On March 30th, they were sent to clean up the camps at Laurelhurst and further displace the homeless who are living there. They were thwarted by a group of vigilant protestors who kept the HWR crew from stepping in. This highlights a huge problem that Portland (however, this problem is certainly not unique to Portland) has: the city does nothing to help lift these homeless people out of poverty and homelessness, and rather just displaces them to the outskirts of town as often as possible. The problem is that displacing them further makes it even more difficult for them to lift themselves out of homelessness. 

    The further away from town they are, the harder it is for them to access things like healthy and clean food and water, medical care, and even things like public restrooms. The City of Portland doesn't seem to care about these issues, as their reasoning for kicking the homeless out of Laurelhurst Park in the first place was because of the concern that money being put into 'beautifying' our parks was being wasted due to the homeless encroaching in the area. Nearly every argument made towards getting rid of the homeless camps in Laurelhurst has to do with either this waste of money, or because it is 'unsightly.' Both of these arguments neglect to understand that these are real people's lives that they are talking about, and losing a small amount of money or having to deal with an 'ugly-looking' park is a small price to pay to allow human beings to be able to live in peace.

    There are many who claim that they are 'scared' to be in the park now, which only furthers this false prejudice that homeless people are inherently violent criminals or that they wish to do harm in any capacity. In an interview with Fox 12, a former homeless man, Randy Rainwater said “Until they place them in housing somewhere, it’s not doing them no good moving them around from spot to spot because it’s going to be the same problems everywhere that you hear from everyone else,” and it highlights the conundrum perfectly: If the City of Portland just clears Laurelurst's camps without providing even a modicum of support for these individuals, they will either come back to Laurelhurst, or just move elsewhere and still be homeless. Pushing these problems aside, and displacing these people time and time again neglects the actual issues causing homelessness.

How you can help:

https://www.pearmentor.org/programs/ 

https://outsidein.org/ 

https://secure.qgiv.com/for/strroo

Sources: 

https://www.kptv.com/news/the-struggle-over-laurelhurst-park-amid-a-growing-homeless-camp/article_ec414566-2564-11eb-8b00-03d541965aa8.html https://www.wweek.com/news/2021/03/31/readers-respond-to-debate-over-where-temporary-shelters-can-go/ 

https://pamplinmedia.com/pt/266-politics/502798-402881-some-portlanders-oppose-homeless-shelter-expansion-pwoff

https://www.portlandoregon.gov/toolkit/article/562207