I always want to repeat and enforce that nobody woke up one morning and decided to live this lifestyle. There is always a chain of events or a significant event that leads somebody to where they sit today, be that an encampment, a jail cell, a sidewalk or without a home. Nobody woke up and decided, “Today, I want to try drugs and ruin my life. Today I want to risk my life and lose my family.” Nobody woke up and chose that. There's always an underlying cause and an underlying circumstance. Sometimes it relates back to very early childhood. Sometimes it's something that happens through our growth spectrum as we become adults.
I really cannot stress that enough. We hear so much that they don't want help or they just want drugs. That's just not the reality. We're dealing with multiple systems designed on outdated policies that still stigmatize and create barriers for the individuals to access help. Then we want to sit here screaming that they don't want it.
Again, I really cannot stress enough that nobody woke up and chose this. Everybody has something that's led them to where they are. Nobody is happy in this lifestyle, despite the misconstrued stereotypes we may see surrounding it.
That's really important to me.