I met John at an informal conference. John has intermittent explosive disorder, meaning he would have sudden outbursts of anger. This made living situations difficult for him, as he would be kicked out of places he was staying due to his outbursts and with the facilities not knowing or understanding his condition.
An outburst John had at the informal conference prompted a swift conclusion of the meeting. He had expressed that he wanted to punch a hole in the wall. I inquired further into why he was angry. John stated that he was homeless and not much was going his way. John was once a Behavioral Health Therapist like many other individuals helping those with SMI or General Mental Health (GMH) and now is on the other side looking for help.
I worked with John for an extensive amount of time due to missed appointments, because he would lose whatever housing he had at that time. I found out that John is HIV positive, which vastly reduces the locations he is able to stay in.
John eventually met with me in person to go over what was available to him. Fortunately, we were able to find housing services made exclusively for individuals diagnosed with HIV+/AIDS. There was a location where he could begin GMH services to start obtaining medication and assistance with HIV+, as well as offering anger management groups at that site, so we called them and scheduled the intake right away.
After creating a plan and having appointments set, I saw John smile for the first time as he was leaving. He told me, “Thank you” and left.