Emerging from psychosis is like a revelation
By Jack Bragen on Jack Bragen writes about the experience of emerging from a period of psychosis, using his own experience as a guide.
First-person
View Articles in Other Categories
Staying dry during the first rains of the season
By Ace Backwords on Ace Backwords reflects on the struggle of trying to stay dry in the rain while sleeping outside.
Their original faces: a soul, not a homeless person
By Jesse Mentken on "I do not think of people as homeless; I think of people as having been betrayed," Mentken writes.
Celebrating Halloween indoors
By Ace Backwords on Ace Backwords celebrates Halloween indoors after years on the street.
There is not enough hope for older people with disabilities who are looking for work
By Jack Bragen on There are many causes of unemployability. Being disabled and older, and not having a college degree are near the top of the list.
The power of speaking up: how to use your voice in situations of injustice as a homeless youth
By Marisa Gonzalez on When a person in power makes you feel like you’re making everything up, it can feel easier to just walk away. But our voices are powerful, and we are our own strongest advocates.
Familiar strangers: One of the many funny things about city life
By Ace Backwords on Recently, my friend, the artist John H. Seabury, was talking on his Facebook page about this guy he’s seen for
The onset of schizophrenia: an inside perspective
By Jack Bragen on The following is a narrative of the onset of schizophrenia, told from the perspective of the individual who is in the process of becoming ill.
Reflections from a recovering meth addict
By Bobby Nobel on I think it’s safe to say meth ruined my life. At least for the time being. It changed my outlook on life and it changed people’s outlook on me.
For people with mental illness, jail should never be normalized
By Jack Bragen on People who violate our overly complex and needlessly punitive web of laws, when they do so due to being disconnected from reality due to a psychiatric illness, are suffering from an illness and they are not criminals.
The ‘secret homeless’
By Ace Backwords on Generally I like to think of myself as the “secret homeless"—you would walk right by me and never guess I was homeless.
My first holiday free, alone, and away from my prison family
By Jonathan Chiu on This year, I’m spending my first Christmas in 16 years as a free man, but because of the pandemic, I am again separated from my family. I feel the same loneliness I felt inside, but it’s by choice.