I think homeless people have often lost their dignity. In my experience I prefer the the psychoanalytic-interactional method of HEIGL-EVERS, which is based on transference and countertransference. So you can find interventions that people feel to be understood. It is an aequivalent to be unconditionally accepted (KOHUT 1973). Selfcritical caregivers can learn relatively quickly this method. 

Some helpfull forms of intervention in this direction are to be found in the Motivational Interviewing.

Avoid the combination of help with ideology and religiousness.

Good luck for your work for "lost souls"!

Please tell them who could able to do small thing at first and who would like to do who  have familiar thing, don't do many thing just keep one thing step by step continuity never give up.

good luck

Dear Sarah,

Thanks for your interesting questions. I appreciated the insightful input of Ian, Andreas, and Kiyoshi.

I'd suggest that you consider these resources:

• Harry Aponte's Bread and Spirit: Therapy with the New Poor: Diversity in Race, Culture, and Values.
• Questions in difference, indirect compliment, miracle questions, and exception-finding questions plus relationship questions from Solution-focused Brief Therapy (SFBT). (Please see the following links.).

Best,

Stephen

http://www.amazon.com/Harry-J.-Aponte/e/B001IXU4AY

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/977454.More_Than_Miracles

You might look at a Strength Based Approach as described by D. Saleeby

There are many promising interventions, and some empirically based ones, that work very well, depending on the specific subgroup and needs of the homeless individuals concerned.  "Housing First", in the U.S. has been getting very positive reports, particularly in Utah where a news story the other day claimed it had succeeded in reducing that state's homeless population by over 90%.  Also, consider PACT, the program of assertive community treatment (originated by Stein and Test), for people who are both homeless and seriously mentally ill. 

I believe it's very important to work in a team with social workers and to answer actual needs(for medical theatment, relevant information etc) as much as possible.

But regarding you question I agree with BSFT-ideas and, considering limited communication also'd like to share ideas of Glen Wixson here http://dulwichcentre.com.au/letters-in-the-street/

Yes, Christopher's Housing First and Pact (Programs of Assertive Family Treatment) are very good for consideration because they aim at the person's survival needs (according to Maslow's hierarchy of needs) and look at homelessness from a macrosystemic perspective.

Anna and M. Schut's ideas about strengths-based approaches including narrative therapy and SFBT would be helpful for the person's self-efficacy, psychosocial needs, and meaning in life.

I think you can find some good suggestions in:

Emilie Hermant, "Clinique de l'infortune. La psychothérapie à l'épreuve de la détresse sociale", Les empêcheurs de penser en ronde, Paris, 2004

It's a good example of ethnopsychiatric methodology applied to homelessness, even if in a different social, political and cultural context (France). It describes, besides, how psychotherapist can collaborate with social workers.

Consider music as a positive means for working meaningfully with this population. 

Community Music Therapy is the term you'd want to search. Also have a look at the United Nations publication, Music as a Global Resource: Solutions for Social & Economic Issues, which is available at http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/un-dpadm/unpan048664.pdf

Specific to group singing,  our 2010 paper provides a systematic mapping of the research literature on group singing, well-being & health and is accessible at:

http://education.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/1105927/clift-paper.pdf.

Of note, there is a paper by Bailey & Davidson (2002) who implemented a choir for homeless men.

Good luck and best wishes

I highly recommend that you check out research using the Fountain House or "clubhouse" model that was pioneered at Fountain House New York by John Beard and others.  The model is aimed at helping people with severe and persistent mental illnesses and especially those who are homeless as well.  I worked in a clubhouse in Waukegan, IL for 6 years and loved it.  There is good information and research on clubhouses including some available on ResearchGate from Kenneth Dudek:

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kenneth_Dudek 

Here is the website for Fountain House:

http://www.fountainhouse.org/training/research

I am new to using RG so I apologize for not knowing how to answer individually.

I would like to thank you all for your contribution. This is all so rich! I have discovered new ideas, authors and projects which will definitely influence my work. 

All the best. 

canadian mental heath association and CAMH

To make an exercise and to eat Citrus fruit and then what they would like to do any thing

I agree with Cat.  I am a researcher in the area of strength-based intervention, and have focused primarily on youth homelessness in the past.  Youth Now Canada has developed a training manual for youth intervention from a strength-based perspective.  It includes some simple examples of how the approach has been applied in youth custody facilities.  As Cat has referenced, The Canadian Mental Health Association is currently conducting a five-city evaluation of the strengths-based case management process for adults with serious mental illness who are at risk of losing their housing, many have been homeless.  Rapp & Goscha's (2012) book, The Strengths Model, is an excellent resource, and the University of Kansas has a fidelity assessment scale that is being used in the CMHA study.  Good luck.  The application of the strengths approach is especially important for work with people who experience marginalization and stigma.

https://dhs.iowa.gov/sites/default/files/Strengths-Model-Case-Management-Fidelity-Scale-Draft_1.pdf