When a person is diagnosed with Schizophrenia, often times they are not able to live at home with family or live alone safely or functionally.
When individuals with schizophrenia, are having a psychotic episode, they can become disoriented and are often unable to care for themselves or carry out any sort of responsible activity such as working or paying rent. Many people end up unemployed, or very minimally employed and rely on full or partial government sponsored disability payments for income.
Group Homes for Schizophrenics
Those with mental illness can become involved in substance abuse as they meet others who abuse drugs or alcohol. The result is that some individuals become quite disabled and require assistance with housing or become homeless quickly. The vast numbers of homeless who are mentally ill people in any major city, many of whom are schizophrenic, are a testament to this problem. Different communities address this need for safe humane housing for the chronically mentally ill in different ways with varying levels of success. Social workers and case managers employed through city government and in the community mental health centers help patients to find and maintain housing options. Access to safe housing is a basic need of any schizophrenic patient and without it their illness will be worse.
Schizophrenia Assisted Living
Because housing is scarce and expensive, people with schizophrenia find that shared living situations (or having roommates) is often the only way to make ends meet. It’s difficult for anyone to negotiate living in close quarters with a stranger, let alone someone with schizophrenia. As a result, the privacy of residents living together is often compromised, and tensions arise from living in close quarters with unrelated adults who share few common bonds besides their illness.
Assisted living facilities are an option for people needing assistance with medical issues. A facility like Heritage Lane Behavioral Assisted Living is specific to the needs for those with mental illness. There are very few Behavioral Assisted Living Facilities like Heritage Lane that have trained staff members who are there 24/7 to provide care and assistance with things like medication, daily living skills, meals, and are most importantly trained to care for those with the behavioral issues that arise from mental health diagnoses such as Schizophrenia. Recognizing that a change is usually indicative an issue that needs to be addressed.
Support for Schizophrenics
The availability of the right amount of support and supervision can make all the difference in an individual’s success or failure in a community. People with schizophrenia need varying degrees of support and supervision at various times. Resources (such as transportation and medical care) need to be accessible, and mental-health support services need to be able to respond flexibly based on a person’s needs. Heritage Lane offers in house mental-health support with our Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner and is able to recognize when an individual may need a change.
Interested in getting help for your loved one? Learn more about Schizophrenia Treatment and Assisted Living here. Or, call us today to talk about how Heritage Lane can help, (480) 999-0511.
