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 Joseph
Joseph
lived outside
for a long time, sleeping in Freeway Park and spending
his days at Westlake Plaza. Out on the streets, he was
approached
by a DESC outreach worker who told him about the emergency shelter at
The Morrison. Although he would occasionally come in to take
a
shower, Joseph very rarely spent the night. He suffers from
schizophrenia and the voices in his head told him to sleep outside.
After a
while DESC
staff were able to convince Joseph to move into an apartment at
Kerner-Scott House. At first, Joseph would disappear for long
periods at a time, but his case managers would seek him out and
encourage him to return to his apartment. Eventually, Joseph was
staying in his apartment every night.
Shy and
reclusive,
Joseph spent most of his time in his apartment. However, he
came
down to the community room for meals regularly and went on almost all
of the group outings that the staff organized. One day, during a trip
to Alki beach, Joseph uncharacteristically opened up to a Kerner-Scott
residential counselor. He told her about coming to the beach
with
his mother after church on Sundays and much more about his life than he
had ever shared before.
Joseph
now lives in
a newly renovated apartment in The Morrison and works with a case
manager through DESC's SAGE mental health program. He has
maintained his housing for over four years now and with help from DESC
staff, takes medication regularly. Joseph loves learning and
fixing computers, and nowadays spends hours working on computer
projects in his home. He has even acquired a business license
and
occasionally fixes computers for others. He enjoys taking walks and is
known as a quiet and friendly neighbor.
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