by John Duncan
This was my second brush with homelessness. It started on a city bench. My mental health was at rock bottom. I bought a quarter bottle of vodka to ease my mind. As night came down I rested on the bench. However, a large rat came close by.{I don't like rats},so I had to move on to a city park until morning. Here I rested on a park bench until morning. It was Winter and the cold made my knees ache and I found it difficult to walk.
I decided to leave this city to go to Glasgow. When I arrived there I went to a hospital to seek help for my mental health, but I ended up in a waiting area for the Homeless unit. There were some poor souls waiting too, including some young mothers with babies. From this setting I was taken to a Homeless Unit. It was late at night plus I was hungry. I never forget this fellow who gave me his last sandwich which he got from the soup kitchen.
God bless him !
It seemed like an eternity in the Homeless unit until I got an appointment with a doctor. However when I went to this appointment the doctor said I needed a Glasgow address before they could take me in.This was hard to take and I didn't have an address to give them.So I caught a bus into the city center.All the time my mental health was plaguing me.Before I knew it I was back in my favorite town. I can't remember much about the journey on the bus as I was exhausted.
Luckily my parents had a house, but it was up for sale. However, a neighbor had a key and I stayed there, without permission.To mask my mental illness I began drinking vodka again.The house was only a shell and had next to nothing.
A few months later I was given a bedsit in the town. It was hell until I eventually broke down completely.I had to go to the psychiatric hospital to stop drinking and get medication for my paranoid schizophrenia.God bless the community psychiatric nurse plus the staff at the psychiatric hospital.
I have had serious problems since, but I have learned to deal with my mental illness better.If anyone reading this has similar problems, I would advise you to ask for help.There are good people out there, who will help you. Be brave, take courage! God loves you and will help you if you only ask.