In 1992, the Knox Area Rescue Ministry commissioned a study of recovery from homelessness by the SRI Gallup organization. This survey identified six critical "life themes" that separated those homeless people who recovered from those who did not. "Recovery from Homelessness" means that the individuals are sober, maintain their own residence, and employed.

"Life Themes" Identified As Essential for Recovery

The following are listed according to their degree of importance:

1. Spiritual

Persons with a high evidence of the Spiritual theme believe in God, pray regularly, read the Bible and describe themselves as born again Christians. As they grow in the Spiritual, they become more discriminating in their activities. They know what their religion is, they attend church regularly, and belong to a church. This theme seems to be very important in the beginning of the recovery of homeless persons. This spirituality seems to not only strengthen a person individually, it also seems to be the basis for a commonality in building relationships with other people.

When the Spiritual theme is weak, homeless persons do not seem to have the power to get on their road to recovery.

2. Self-Insight

Persons are high on the Self-Insight theme when they can make rather accurate descriptions of themselves, both in terms of their weaknesses and of their strengths. Self-Insight has to do primarily with the cognitive dimensions of a person's life, of those dimensions about which there can be some fairly objective assessments. For example, they can be fairly objective about their own health. They can know that their behavior may be destroying themselves. As a result of that insight, they can decide that they want to make changes. Because they can own that there are reasons for their present condition, they can accept their current situation and plan for a better future. Many of the people who find themselves in a homeless situation have lacked discipline in their lives. When they can own that they lack that discipline, then they can begin to plan how they can put some order in their lives through the help of other people and thus became more effective.

When the Self-Insight theme is weak, persons live in an unrealistic world. They make excuses for their condition and tend to blame other people for their situation rather than doing something about it themselves.

3. Security

When the Security theme is strong, persons feel safe. Their fears that others might be trying to hurt them subside. They feel all right about their health and they feel that they can manage any dependencies such as alcohol or drugs. They have people that they can access, talk to, live with; they have certain possessions that are important to them, that they attach themselves to. When the Security theme is strong, these persons feel that they can take risks with other people.

4. Self-Awareness

Persons who are high on the Self-Awareness theme are in touch with their own emotions. They can name the feelings that are surging through themselves. The emotional dimensions of their behavior enables them to remember the things, the exciting things, and the difficult things, that happen over a period of time. As they grow, they can discuss their emotions with other people and they will tend to express them to other people rather than keep them inside. Then, they can talk about how they feel about their own life and its hurts, they can say that and then ask for help in making the corrections. They can own the bad things that have happened to them in their life, and they can know the good feelings that they want to achieve.

When the Self-Awareness theme is limited, people tend to be patently unmotivated. They have little that excites them either positively or negatively. If they have feelings, they are confusing rather than something that drive them to action.

5. People Support

Persons who are high on the People Support theme have others who care about them -- people who would care enough about them to write a letter or to pray for them. They have family members who are continuously concerned about them and know where they are. When homeless people are at their lowest level of existence, they don't have anyone amongst their family or from their friendships who knows where they are. In terms of friendships, they are lost persons. When they are high on the People Support theme, they have incoming messages of concern and support. They have people who will intentionally help them because they are friends or family, and they have people who look forward to seeing them. As the People Support theme develops, they have developed friends who give them recognition, praise them, and admire them.

When the People Support theme is in low evidence, persons have no connections to other individuals. No one has growth expectations for them. The People Support theme may be the best single theme explanation of why persons are described as homeless. In a way the real problem is they have no people support.

6. Suppression

The persons who have described themselves as homeless and are making progress in their recovery seem to block out some of the painful and embarrassing experiences that have been part of their lives. They tend to deny depressions and worries and shyness, and they don't seem to dwell on physical discomforts. They do not think of themselves as homeless persons, and they deny poor self concepts which they might have or others might project to them. As they move along in their recovery, they tend to move toward an attitude of being satisfied with themselves.

When the Suppression theme is in low evidence, persons will tend to be overwhelmed with negative thoughts. Those negative thoughts will interfere with any tendencies toward growth or recovery.

(Used by permission of SRI Gallup, Inc., Lincoln, NE and Knox Area Rescue Ministries, Knoxville, TN)

DISCLAIMER: THE GALLUP ORGANIZATION REQUIRES USERS OF ITS DATA WHO WISH TO DISCLOSE THE RRESULTS OF A SURVEY TO DISCLOSE THOSE FINDINGS IN THEIR ENTIRETY. ANY PARTIAL RELEASE OF FINDINGS OR DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION IN A FORM OTHER THAN THE ENTIRE SUMMARY DOCUMENT REQUIRES WRITTEN APPROVAL FROM GALLUP. A COPY OF THE INTENDED SCRIPT (IF OTHER THAN THE FULL REPORT) SHOULD BE FAXED TO ELAINE CHRISTIANSEN, SENIOR RESEARCH DIRECTOR AT 402-486-6219. ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS CAN BE DIRECTED TO MS. CHRISTIANSEN AT 402-486-8700.

SRI Gallup "Life Themes" & the Twelve Steps

The Twelve Steps are reprinted with permission of Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Permission to reprint the Twelve Steps does not mean that AA has reviewed or approved the contents of this publication, nor that AA agrees with the views expressed herein. AA is program of recovery from alcoholism - use of the Twelve Steps in connection with programs and activities which are patterned after AA, but address other problems, does not imply otherwise.