Lavita
Meet LaVita, a former resident of His Will Homes who talks about life with a mental illness. She explains her feelings and those of others who struggle with this illness about having no future and no hope. His Will Homes wants to change that. We want to address their hopelessness and create an alternative reality - a reality where LaVita and others can have a home, a hope, and a future. Please watch our video below to see firsthand the problem seen through the eyes of LaVita and those of our founder, John Hitchens, who helps to explain the current housing crisis for these individuals.
“The content of this video may be or become out of date. Certain individuals within this video may not be the same title and position as they were at the time of this recording.”
Sam
John met Sam at a group home in Dayton, Ohio. He had no family in the state. He was blind in both eyes as the result of two separate accidents and has a severe mental illness. He had no cane, no training for his blindness, and no way to get around. He groped around the home, feeling with his hands. There was no supportive care or advocate given to Sam to help him. John has become family for Sam, and through that relationship Sam has been able to receive cane training, job training, and access to audio books from the Cleveland Library for the Blind. He is enrolled in Hadley School for the Blind and continues to work on courses to increase his ability to read and write braille. Through donations and John’s help, Sam also was provided a program called Jaws that helps him gain full access to the internet and its wealth of information and programs.
There are many people out there like Sam who have no advocate or family to help them live full lives. They are all individuals with unique desires and needs. We don’t just want to house them. We want to look at the whole person and match them to their individualized services. We really need your help and support to bring real meaningful life to these hurting neighbors.
Penny and Hidden Talents
God has designed us all with special talents and gifts, unique to each of us. Those gifts and talents are often buried and hidden as we experience the traumas and illnesses of life. Meet Penny … Sitting in her room completely alone with no one around her. She was unable or even unwilling to speak. She had stacks of yellow pads in front of her. She was writing and drawing passionately. When spoken to, she did not look up or acknowledge anyone was there.
With no family or friends, Penny joined us at HWH. It was believed she was unable to have a conversation, yet after months of talking, hugging, asking about her art she slowly began to be able to have conversation. By simply showing her someone cared, the love she was given helped her move from total isolation to participation in the community, sharing and talking about her many pictures and drawings. In fact, a residents’ advocate from the state of Ohio who often came to visit the home, remarked that she was able to sit down with Penny and have a conversation for the first time in years.
Frank
Frank was a very intelligent and thoughtful man who had a lot of problems. He constantly cycled between his group home, the jail, and the mental hospital. He would start altercations at the home or in the neighborhood, which would eventually result in the police being called, and him taken to jail. He knew jail would get him out of his horrible group home and off the streets. He really preferred to get to the state mental hospital in Cincinnati called Summit, but in order to be sent there he knew he had to do a lot more. So once he arrived in jail he would start fights there and not take his meds. His behavior would get more and more out of control until they would send him via court order to Summit.
Summit was clean, structured, and a much better environment than the disgusting home where he currently was. They would regulate his medications, get him back in balance, and then release him back to a group home or just onto the streets. John talked to Frank about his choice to get into fights and the harm he was causing himself. He was very honest with John and said that he knew exactly what to do to land him where he wanted to be. He would explain his behavior to John by stating, “ The place where I live is a dump, Cap’n. I can get three squares, a nice bed, it’s warm, no bugs, and the people are really nice at Summit”.
Unfortunately Frank’s choices would cost him dearly to acquire what most of us enjoy everyday. He would endure severe beatings in jail requiring medical attention. Also with each cycling event off his meds, Frank’s brain undergoes irreversible damage and does not return to the same level of function he previously had.
The cost is also incredibly high for the public, both in terms of cost and safety. Taxpayers fund the jails and the mental hospitals at a cost of over two hundred dollars a day. His Will Homes wants to provide a nurturing, safe, and comfortable environment for people like Frank and can do so at a cost of around seventy dollars a day. Preventing this cycling will help our neighborhoods to be a safer place for all of us and save us money at the same time. We want to give them a “place called home” where they no longer have to act out to get there.
