Poverty and

Homelessness
Poverty

Photo by Thomas Schoch / CC BY-SA 3.0

Contents

 Definition
 Measuring Poverty
 Characteristics
 Historical & Current Experiences
 Professional/Mental Health Issues
 Interventions
 Community Resources
 Discussion
Definition

Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money.

Poverty is a multifaceted concept, which may include social, economic,
political, education, and identity elements.
Homelessness is a complete lack of the means necessary to meet basic
personal needs such as food, clothing, safe drinking water, and shelter.
 Measuring Poverty
etymology
and Homelessness
• What thoughts or reactions do you
have to this activity?
• What surprised you?
• Did your perspective about your own
or others’ privilege change as a
result of the activity?
• Which “step backwards” statements
impacted you the most? Why?
• How might some of the “step
backwards” experiences connect to
poverty?
• If you stepped forward (backward) ,
how did you feel while moving
ahead (behind) of everyone?
• Does this activity help you identify
some of the causes of poverty?
Which ones?
Characteristics

• Group norms
• Values
• Behaviors
• Worldviews
• Potential impact on education
• Potential impact on counseling process

a
Look in the slide notes below for topics to consider talking about
Critical Historical & Current
Experiences

• Social
or topics to consider talking about
• Economic
• Political status/power in the United States
• Identity
• Values
• Behaviors
• Worldview
• Overall experiences
• Impact on education
• Impact on counseling process

Photo by Peter Heinlein / Public domain

Professional/Mental
Poverty
Health Issues
reduction

• Communication Style
• Career Issues
• Substance use patterns
• Sexuality Values
• Family Configuration
• Attitudes towards
professional help
Interventions
 Resources to
solutions
poverty
• CATCH
(208) 246-8830
• The Salvation Army Family Shelter
(208) 461-3733
• Lighthouse Rescue Mission
(208) 461-5030
• Valley Women & Children’s Shelter
(208) 475-0725

Photo by RezviMasood / CC BY-SA 4.0