Acquired brain injury and homelessness
An acquired brain injury can exacerbate and magnify the risk factors associated with homelessness including family breakdown, loss of social support networks, lack of affordable housing, family violence, unemployment, illness, drug and alcohol use, violence and/or criminal behaviour.
Research shows that –
- People who experience a traumatic brain injury are at risk of homelessness where one or all of the following factors exist – alcohol and drug misuse, a psychiatric disability, social isolation and family breakdown.
- Families of individuals with acquired brain injury experience “an increasing intolerance to their family member’s limitations as time progresses”2. This is particularly so where the injury has experienced behavioural (eg violence, verbal aggression, inappropriate social behaviours, dependency etc), cognitive and personality changes.
- Of those people who experience traumatic brain injuries, up to 68% have a history of substance misuse; 50% of people return to pre-injury consumption levels; 14% develop an alcohol and drug problem after a head injury; and 60- 80% of clients in alcohol treatment will show some form of cognitive impairment.
- Many families of young adults who have experienced traumatic brain injuries will, within five years of the post-school period, reach ‘breaking’ point particularly where “repeated incidents involving police intervention have occurred. The young person at this point typically finds themselves homeless or potentially homeless with minimal survival skills”.
- There is an association between homelessness and involvement with the criminal justice system8. A number of studies in the criminality field have established a connection between brain damage and the increased risk of involvement with the criminal justice system. Reasons may include a lower level of cognitive skills that can reduce, an individual’s appreciation of what behaviours are legal or illegal; a loss of control of their emotions and their aggressive impulses; and, deficits in cognitive processing may frustrate individuals with acquired brain injury sometimes increasing emotionality and aggression.
Download the fact sheet: The connection between acquired brain injury and homelessness [Adobe Acrobat PDF - 417.52 KB]
