Pubdate: Wed, 26 Dec 2012
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2012 The Toronto Star
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456
Author: Petti Fong

HOMELESSNESS, CHILDHOOD TRAUMA, PUT YOUTH AT RISK FOR DRUG USE, HIV 
AND HEP C, STUDIES FIND

VANCOUVER-The turkey has just gone into the oven but the smell of
frying onions and sage wafts down into the TV room, a hint of the
smells to come later this Christmas Day.

Lying on the couch, the young woman in red pyjamas is checking
Facebook on her phone. The other woman, in a black knit beanie pulled
low over her forehead, is eating a plate of rice and beans.

A short while ago, they were living on the streets in Vancouver's
Downtown Eastside. Their back stories are murky and questions are
discouraged.

"No one asks anyone what brought them down here," said the young woman
in the beanie. "It's nobody's business. Just the fact that you're here
- - most people understand why already."

In a pair of new studies from the University of British Columbia and
the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, researchers found that
homelessness and a history of childhood sexual abuse put Vancouver
street youth at an increased risk of intravenous injection drug use
and the accompanying increased risk of transmission of HIV and
hepatitis C.

The studies were aimed at identifying why some high-risk youth
initiate injection drug use while others do not. The research, funded
by the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse and the Canadian
Institutes of Health Research, found that homeless youth were almost
twice as likely to inject drugs as youths who were not homeless.

A separate study found those reporting childhood sexual abuse were
more than two-and-a-half times as likely to start injecting drugs as
those who had no history of such abuse.

"Yes, the results are probably not surprising. But these are important
because these studies are examples that show for the first time that
there are forces within an environment that place people at risk of
initiating drug use," said Dr. Evan Wood with the BC Centre for
Excellence in HIV/AIDS at St. Paul's Hospital.

"It speaks to how early childhood trauma through things like PTSD -
and after you adjust for everything else under the sun - there is an
almost three-fold-higher risk, 270 per cent increase, of initiating
injection drug use if there has been this trauma."

The studies show that early intervention is effective, Wood said. He
hopes policy-makers understand that early intervention strategies pay
off, whether it's in providing better housing for street youths or
resources that assist youths who have suffered childhood sexual abuse.

For Gerri Tootoosis, program manager and the Christmas Day cook at
Imouto Housing for Young Women in the Downtown Eastside, her own past
proves what support services can do to change the future.

Tootoosis is a single mom who turned to drugs and alcohol in her 20s
to dull memories of childhood sexual abuse during her early teen
years. Tootoosis said she had family support but ran from the reserve
to the city.

"I was too embarrassed to talk to anybody and thought that I could
just ignore what had happened. But the cycle began and I know exactly
how easy it is to end up on the streets," Tootoosis said. "The
simplest thing to do is help someone, but the hardest thing is knowing
how to accept help. For many of the street youths down here, it's not
just a matter of giving them a meal or a bed, it's making sure you
understand what brought them there in the first place."

Streetohome Foundation ENDCEO Ron Turnbull, who runs an organization
that works with Vancouver and the province in finding permanent
housing for the homeless, said the latest official figures put the
number of the city's youths under 25 who are homeless between 179 to
194.

Advocates say Vancouver has closer to 1,000 homeless
youths.

"We hear the stories on the streets of youths being vulnerable and
being forced to engage in sex in order to maintain their livelihood
and there is no doubt that there needs to be more opportunities to
stabilize youths and give them protection and choices," Turnbull said.

The studies indicate youth homelessness is on the rise and numbers
like the official count of the homeless under-reports the problem, he
said.

"Their vulnerability to drug injection use and their vulnerability to
being subjected to sexual abuse indicates very clearly that more needs
to be done at an earlier stage and now before their issues get worse,"
Turnbull said. 
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D