Mentally ill brother now homeless - any advice?

annandale

Hes been sectioned twice for attacking his parents. Not a good idea

Proxima_Centauri

helcat26 wrote: »

Could you not just take him in to your home or your parents home until you find somewhere?

He's abusive and violent. His elderly parents wouldn't be able to cope with him. Even the professionals have washed their hands of him due to his behaviour.

It's unclear what the diagnosis is (seems to be some sort of personality disorder or psychosis) but if he's not ill enough to be sectioned nobody can compel him to take medication.

It must be an awful worry for the family, but they can't be expected to house him and put themselves at risk.

theoretica

helcat26 wrote: »

Could you not just take him in to your home or your parents home until you find somewhere?

Social services would love this - if he is in a family home the fight to get assistance for him would become even harder.

richdeniro

helcat26 wrote: »

Could you not just take him in to your home or your parents home until you find somewhere?

I know it seems obvious but I have no doubt he would eventually attack my parents. Not sure if you remember a case a few years back where a guy with mental heath problems killed his parents - this is my biggest fear and having seen first hand how aggressive he can be I have no doubt it would be a possibility.

As someone else has mentioned though, the moment you do this social services will completely wash their hands of him. If they see relatives take him in then they will say he's no longer our problem. We've been told that if we paid for a B&B or something for a night and they found out there is a risk of that happening too.

richdeniro

elsien wrote: »

I have had a similar situation trying to help someone who could not live in hostel accommodation due to PTSD and antisocial behaviour.
I followed up with Shelter and was told the council were within their rights to refuse to rehouse. Sheltered / supported accommodation refused to take him saying because if his drug and alcohol use and antisocial behaviour they could not meet his needs and had a duty to protect other residents. Unfortunately this person did end up homeless.

it's a huge gap in the system because all the shared accommodation set ups or private landlords aren't going to want to deal with that level of behaviour. Having said that though, at some point, even with MH problems, people do have to take some level of responsibility for any support to be able to be effective.

If you have concerns about the risk, then contact his CPN. Has he ever been on a S3, as there should be some level of duty there for accommodation and aftercare if it is directly related to his mental health. However if his behaviour is deemed to be due to other factors other than his mental health (which is possible) that's when he's more likely to fall through the gaps. Try Shelter anyway, as there may be a way to challenge the council's decision.

Are there organisations such as the Cyrenians in your area who may be able to help?

We've been onto Shelter, Crisis, Mind and lots of other charities but they seem so stretched and despite giving us a fair bit of information, none of it is particularly helpful for self destructive people. All the emergency shelter type places seem to not really exist either, the people at the charities tell you about them enthusiastically but when you arrive they are full or don't even exist.

I think we are going to have to wait for his medication to wear off and he'll attack someone or do something to himself where he will need to be sectioned. It's an absolutely horrendous state to be in. This will be his third night out on the street and it's horrible not knowing where he is or what he is doing. It's the coldest night since he was made homeless too and he has lost his sleeping bag and half his clothing so just has a small duvet, my parents think he might die before we even get anything sorted which is so sad.

He has been on a S3 before, his last sectioning was around 5 years ago. They administer his medication through a bi-weekly depot injection which releases the antipsychotic medication slowly over the two weeks.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

richdeniro wrote: »

We've been onto Shelter, Crisis, Mind and lots of other charities but they seem so stretched and despite giving us a fair bit of information, none of it is particularly helpful for self destructive people. All the emergency shelter type places seem to not really exist either, the people at the charities tell you about them enthusiastically but when you arrive they are full or don't even exist.

I think we are going to have to wait for his medication to wear off and he'll attack someone or do something to himself where he will need to be sectioned. It's an absolutely horrendous state to be in. This will be his third night out on the street and it's horrible not knowing where he is or what he is doing. It's the coldest night since he was made homeless too and he has lost his sleeping bag and half his clothing so just has a small duvet, my parents think he might die before we even get anything sorted which is so sad.

He has been on a S3 before, his last sectioning was around 5 years ago. They administer his medication through a bi-weekly depot injection which releases the antipsychotic medication slowly over the two weeks.

If he's still around the Croydon area, the local plod are pretty good at picking up rough sleepers when the weather is cold, just so they are warm and fed for the night. Even if there isn't room in the station, they'll still check on anybody they see out, especially if he is known to them.


Unfortunately, you can't fix this or make it all OK for him. All you have to do is make sure that you and your parents are safe and keep reporting him if he's showing signs of deterioration.

Ames

Perhaps, hard though it is, you just have to let him self destruct.

What will happen if he misses his depot appointment? Would that be a trigger for them having to become more proactive?

richdeniro

Ames wrote: »

Perhaps, hard though it is, you just have to let him self destruct.

What will happen if he misses his depot appointment? Would that be a trigger for them having to become more proactive?

He has missed them in the past and usually within a day or two of him not showing they are quickly on the phone to find out where he is and make sure he shows up the next day to have the injection. They know how dangerous mentally ill people become when the medication wears off. My worry is that someone completely innocent is on the other end of his meltdown.

We're actually wondering what will happen when he misses the next appointment which he will as we know they'll phone us and we won't have any idea where he is and will have to tell them that they made him homeless.

prosaver

if it was my son I would make it my mission to get him of the drugs first.
there must be be help out there?
I would go in the office of the people who are supposed to help him and not move till they helped him.
Its worked for people I know.

Proxima_Centauri

richdeniro wrote: »

My worry is that someone completely innocent is on the other end of his meltdown.

That would be my worry too. The authorities just never seem to learn

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/08/mentally-ill-man-sentenced-to-life-after-stabbing-retired-solici/