7:00 a.m. I woke up in my tent. I mostly just scrolled around on social media and laid there until about 8:30 a.m. and drove to work.
I arrived at work at 9:00 a.m. I immediately began getting Jesus into treatment through my connections with Mitchell and the local drug treatment center he works for. We were able to place Jesus in the CSS (clinical stabilization service). I drove Jesus to the treatment center with Brianna who does Outreach for another medically assisted treatment provider in the city I work.
At 11:30 a.m. Brianna from a local addiction medicine provider, John from the methadone clinic, and I met up with The homeless police officer. We talked to people in the encampment behind Riverwalk Church and provided hats, socks, drinks, food, Backpacks, blankets, cosmetics, and backpacks for them. The people were quite happy to see us and we had a few really good interactions. I engaged with Al, Ellen, Gilbert, Carmen, Gio, Jess, Shirley, Nelly, and Omar.
Next I dropped off Brianna and John and took Bob from the shelter to drop off a homeless client Lisa for drug treatment. While we were waiting for Lisa to get into the truck I engaged with Lee-Anne who was walking down the street with no shoes on. I asked her to come to the shelter and get shoes later and gave her some socks, drinks, food, and a hat. Besides taking supplies from us, Leanne will never accept other services. I asked her why she stays out here in the street. She told me that it’s the closest thing to death. She had lost her six children to DCF. And had just given up. I asked Leanne to think about her goals in life, and I let her know that it was possible for her to spend time with her children. I told her that we could work on things and help her get in a better place. Leanne said she would think about it. By the time we dropped Lisa off and drove back to the shelter it was 4:30 p.m. and this is when I began to do paperwork.
I stayed at the shelter for dinner at 6:00 p.m. We had rice, beans, and chicken. After dinner I drove to my tent. I nestled into my sleeping bag and under my blankets. I lay awake looking through social media for a while and then went to bed around 9:00 p.m.
HINDSIGHT: 12/26/2025
Because of the liability and the danger of being alone in the streets and an encampments amongst homeless folks I was expected to have someone accompany me when I did outreach. My solution for this was to coordinate with other community providers to go with me. Which worked pretty well. It was alright for me to go alone as long as I was in public areas, so I would do that as well. With my prior colleague gone I had to be creative.