SPS201 Alcohol and Other Drugs Part B Essay 4 Sample

SPS201 Alcohol and Other Drugs Part B Essay 4

Assignment Task

The second part (Part B: 25%) will be the full essay, based substantially on what you had outlined (in Part A), taking into account any feedback you may received as part of assessment of Part A.

The essay topic

The assessment will require you to research and review one client group from one of the following –

1) Young People

2) People experiencing Homelessness

3) Indigenous Australians

You are required to investigate the impacts of stigma on your chosen group, particularly relating to the following issues –

1) Access to treatment

2) Complex problems (eg dual diagnosis, mental health, medical problems etc)

3) Public perceptions of those who use alcohol and other drugs

Research Literature

Your essay must be based on a review of the literature and should include at least eightprimary academic references, ie peer-reviewed (scholarly) journal articles or book chapters.Do not rely upon non-academic and other web-based secondary references as these do not constitute academic references for the purpose of your assignment, which if relied upon for theoretical support, may mean you have NOT met the requirements of the assessment.

Referencing

You must use APA 7 referencing.

Table of references: You must include a Table of references section in your essay andacknowledge any sources that you use, including all web-based sources.

Structure of essay

As the assignment conveniently provides issues parts, there is a lot of sense to follow themas they form the basis of assessment criteria and use them as major headings, in addition toan overall introduction and conclusion.

Solution

1. Introduction

Homelessness is another enormous social problem in Australia which impacts most vulnerable citizens to a higher degree. Stigma exists as another correlate of homelessness through definitive rights to services and support. As Referred in The Age, (2024), the homeless crisis in the face of Australia operates within systematic and social factors. Stigma is a social construct that presents a low image of one or another person or a group of people; it encompasses stigmatization within social relationships and policies and mental health. It provides support to the existing barriers and denies chances, not to mention that it also worsens the mental health issues of those individuals experiencing homelessness. Resorting to the findings of scholarly publications, this essay explores how stigma affects the public, treatment and support gaps that are out of bounds for homeless people, as well as the homeless’s mental health status.

It discusses this in these sections: information sharing, stereotyping, stigma, mechanisms, and mental health. Each section considers problematic aspects with suggestions of how prejudice might reduce the negative consequences of stigmatization. While stigma perpetuates the negative image, discrimination nurtured by stigma excludes the homeless from society. Not only does it maintain societal prejudices-the cycle imprisoning those suffering from it deeper against society’s expectations and physically, off the streets and from an escape.

2. Public Perception and Stigma

This paper proves that stigma plays a great deal in the way people within society attend to homeless individuals, as well as shape policy responses towards them. The stigma around homeless people is based on social stereotypes: by portraying these individuals as lazy, dangerous, or simply all-homeless-by-choice, such stereotypes often hide the real causes and problems causing homelessness, such as poverty, mental illness, or housing shortages. Mitchell, (2020) attacks how capitalism encourages such biases arguing that capitalism tends to worsen homelessness because it works on the profit motive rather than social welfare. This story tells the story of homeless people as failures in a system that keeps them behind. Such societal biases enhance discrimination and indirectly work towards not solving the root causes of homelessness.

Hence, it is the media that would reinforce or challenge such stereotypes. Mainstream media often went for negative portrayals of homeless people as lazy or criminal in appearance. However, some media attempts to humanize homelessness through tales of its causes and personal stories of those living the experience. Eureka Street, (2024), focuses on older women caught in a homelessness crisis. These women are often unseen in society which further adds stigma to their lives because they are both old and female.

Ignorance and denial of homelessness are major aspects of stigma. The negative stereotype gives others a way to feel indifferent or even hostile towards the homeless people resulting in resistance to programs for new shelters or housing. In their article, Vallesi et al., (2019) analyze how reduced tolerance of homelessness in public areas results in policies that increase their isolation. Such laws include legal bans on homelessness, commonly known as “move-on” laws, whose express aim is to drive the homeless out of the community’s sight. Measures like these are usually rationalized on grounds of personal responsibility, for MBA assignment expert which justifies homelessness and makes the homeless isolate themselves further, as pariahs.

Community mobilization and awareness is widely considered to be the most important method of combating stigma. These are to change attitudes that come with personal development, foster empathy and serve to minimise prejudice towards the homeless. For instance, community initiatives that advocate for conversation between both housed people and those living on the streets somehow counter the regular perceptions of homelessness by introducing the humanity of those who are vulnerable. Such initiatives create opportunities for common interaction and getting to know the experience of homelessness as a path to developing a gradual change in society to become more compassionate and accepting. Information shared with the public and society on why people become homeless and the hurdles limiting an effective provision of shelter to those in need can also play a part in demystifying the myths thus reducing stigma. So long as the public comprehensively grasps the fact that homelessness is structural in origin, people tend to embrace policies to do with addressing the root cause more willingly. Therefore, the role of stigma in this respect constitutes the core of the process of formulation of public opinion regarding homelessness.

3. Systemic Barriers and Stigma

Stigma contributes heavily to either the availability or lack of basic needs such as shelter, health care and jobs. Housing and employment Sectors both have discrimination based on stigma where homeless persons are excluded from access. Bishop and Angelo, (2021), describe how moral policing contributes to building exclusionary policies. It is about thinking that homeless people are just somehow bad or immoral which results in prejudice against itself that becomes evident through the denial of housing and employment to homeless individuals. The presented practices also exclude homeless people from wage employment as well as legitimate access to resources and will therefore continue to exclude them.

Labelling the homeless as criminals drives more stigmatization while negating service to the same group of people. Anti-loitering laws and restrictions on the use of public areas are also punitive towards homeless persons. The arrests for loitering or banning the use of public space not only add up to the prison population in local jails but also place them in even more vulnerable or hard-to-reach conditions. As stated by Vallesi et al., (2019), these are ethical and legal concerns that are rationalized by the assertion that the poor are hedonically impaired. The aforementioned policies make simple survival measures criminal and render it even harder for a homeless person to navigate through public spaces or get any services.

It also applies to ‘‘health care’’ where those homeless suffer from compromised care if not complete disregard. As highlighted by Rizzo et al., (2022) women at risk of homelessness, and with a history of addictions present a high degree of barriers to seeking addiction treatment and care. Healthcare providers are not immune to biases, which exclude these people from proper healthcare services. The systemic barriers call for reforms. Trauma-informed care and anti-discrimination legislation can help reduce stigma in services. International and local policies that have been successfully implemented show how inclusive approaches to homelessness and equal access to services can work effectively.

4. Mental Health and Stigma

Mental health issues are both a cause and consequence of homelessness. Homeless individuals frequently suffer from severe mental conditions, including anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. According to Kaleveld et al., (2019), mental health is compromised when one experiences cultural or linguistic diversity, compounded by the additional stressors of discrimination and social isolation. Since these people lack culturally competent mental health services, the mental health problems of homeless persons become a source of a vicious cycle.

It also intensifies mental health problems as it generates shame, isolation, and hopelessness. Such sentiments often deteriorate the conditions associated with it. Stigmatisation creates a sense of devaluation when it is based on homelessness, further leading to social withdrawal and self-doubt among them. This mental health deterioration is related, by Mitchell, (2020), to systemic neglect where the persons who are homeless are neglected often by the social and healthcare systems which contribute to this state of mental health problems. Combining stigma with neglect creates an extremely deep cycle of poor mental health and homelessness.
The challenge of dual diagnosis, where individuals have both mental health disorders and substance abuse issues, is more complex. Individuals with co-occurring disorders have major barriers to accessing appropriate care. According to Rizzo et al., (2022), women facing homelessness meet significant difficulties when seeking addiction treatment: they face systemic stigma and deficiency of resources personalized for their needs. Integrated care models are necessary to address such complex challenges. Stigma-free and recovery-oriented community interventions should be employed in the management of persons with mental illness so that they are made to regain their balance and consequently be readjusted into society with minimal prejudice.

5. Conclusion

The stigma is a huge factor in homeless populations because public perception and societal rejection of such individuals worsen. This is through ‘institutional stigma’ which in turn only serves to prevent further systemic stigmatisation of for instance housing and health care jobs. Mental health is greatly influenced by stigma, especially as far as humiliation and loneliness are concerned. Reduction of prejudice toward homeless people has eventually been one of the main approaches toward solving homelessness problems. They guarantee enhanced perceptions of the public, service utilization and psychological well-being among homeless persons. Making speeches to stress the strong call for reducing stigma reasserts the need for change in society.

Success in managing the homeless necessitates policy commitment and participation of service delivery communities, and policies. Through the use of an awareness-creating process, another barrier can be gotten rid of stereotypes and also another gain that can be achieved is developing empathy among the public. Non-stigmatizing policies play a significant role in altering the more hostile environment in which the homeless have to endure to cease giving the same to others. Stigma manifests itself in most instances in the media and in the discourses that surround homelessness and hence reinforces prejudices about the homeless tendency as being lethargic or undeserving.

References

Bishop, M. and Angelo, H., 2021. The New Vagrancy: The Evolution of Moral Policing in Anti-Homeless Policy. https://dca.ue.ucsc.edu/system/files/dca/1363/1363.pdf
Eureka Street, 2024. Older women caught in homelessness crisis. Available at: https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article/older-women-caught-in-homelessness-crisis. [Accessed on: 22.11.2024].

Kaleveld, L., Atkins, M.T. and Flatau, P., 2019. Homelessness in culturally and linguistically diverse populations in Western Australia. Government of Western Australia. https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/files/71832043/homelessness_cald_report.pdf

Mitchell, D., 2020. Mean streets: Homelessness, public space, and the limits of capital (Vol. 47). University of Georgia Press. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=iujeDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR1&dq=Move+on+to+Where%3F+Legal+and+Moral+Implications+

of+Moving+People+Experiencing+Homelessness+From+the+Public+Realm&ots=Qw27lKq2Ln&sig=VriXQX_

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Rizzo, D., Mu, T., Cotroneo, S. and Arunogiri, S., 2022. Barriers to accessing addiction treatment for women at risk of homelessness. Frontiers in Global Women's
Health, 3, p.795532. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgwh.2022.795532/pdf

The Age, 2024. Homelessness. Available at: https://www.theage.com.au/topic/homelessness-jlq. [Accessed on: 22.11.2024].

Vallesi, S., Wood, L. and Cumming, C., 2019. Move on to where? Legal and moral implications of moving people experiencing homelessness from the public realm. https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/files/70502937/move_on_to_where.pdf