”One way to change your life is to change someone else’s.” This is the advice of Roosevelt Watkins, who provides peer outreach for people experiencing substance use and homelessness. “You see the need, you meet the need. If you see agencies that are doing good work, don’t just support them with cash. Support them with time.”
Watkins spoke as part of New Haven Voices, a panel discussion spotlighting the perspectives of leaders in the local community. Organizers of the event, now in its third year, decided to focus on the structural challenges that accompany homelessness and substance use disorders, and to invite speakers whose lived experiences have inspired them to become advocates for change.
Fabrizio Darby, a second-year medical student who began planning the event in May, said that he had organized several events in the past, but “this panel has been one of the most meaningful experiences I've had at Yale, and it has fueled my passion for community work.” Darby aimed “to give underserved communities the platform to advocate for themselves. And from a professional standpoint, I plan to use this insight to ensure that I provide care in a way that makes people feel listened to.”
Marietta Vázquez, MD, associate dean for medical student diversity at Yale School of Medicine (YSM), introduced the event as an extraordinary learning opportunity for medical trainees, who “are provided enormous opportunities to protect and support the health of the people around us.” She added, “You don’t just come to New Haven to become Yale students, you come to Yale and become citizens of New Haven.”
Vázquez hopes the event’s 100 attendees felt “energized to become active citizens of New Haven, with a better understanding of some of the challenges faced by our neighbors. I hope these challenges are seen as opportunities to make a difference.”
Housing Crisis
Panelists Suki Godek, Bridgett Williamson, and Roosevelt Watkins have experience with homelessness, either currently or in the past, and all three are working as advocates and providers of community services.
Watkins spoke of his work with U-ACT (Unhoused Activists Community Team): “Any outreach work you do is, you meet people where they are. Unfortunately, we meet people at their lowest point: They’re homeless. There’s only one way to end homelessness and that’s to give someone a home, and we just don’t have the capacity to do that.”
Bridgett Williamson has lived in New Haven for 60 years and described how housing has changed over time. “Thirty years ago, I was able to get emergency housing with three kids, and …then get into a complex where I could pay rent. And today, I cannot even get on a list to get housing. Gentrification displaced all the families and people I grew up with. The majority have passed away from the pain and suffering of that displacement.”
Williamson described a positive transformation in how Yale researchers interact with the community, “to come out from behind the walls and start building relationships … gathering data and then bringing it back to the community.” She works for Yale as a research assistant and says, “I’m a voice for people who are not housed, to keep up hope.”
Suki Godek is an active leader for the unhoused, and a resident leader at Rosette Neighborhood Village, a “micro-neighborhood” of six tiny houses located in the back yard of New Haven’s Amistad Catholic Worker House. Godek has been in the public eye for legally challenging the city’s efforts to dismantle the village. She commented, “a lot of laws were created before homelessness became a crisis and a permanent status.”
Godek got involved because “helping other people in situations like my own has jolted me into a new perspective. I have a husband and a dog, and we’ve really made a home there. It’s not just giving you a place to live, but giving you the perspective of being a neighbor.”
The panel included Kelly Fitzgerald, VP of economic mobility at United Way of Greater New Haven (UWGNH), whose role includes coordinating among a range of agencies and services so that individuals can access help more readily. She has observed that in “working with people, time and time again, those basic needs are not being met. When you don’t have a place to live or food on the table, it’s really hard to strive for more.”
UWGNH also works with the city on addressing the economic structures that create housing instability, such as “when a new building pops up, advocating for deeply affordable units.” She added, “How do we lift up this message? We need to listen to the people living it, who are the experts.”
Watkins added, “We live in a capitalist society. They worry about the demand, not the need. Everyone needs a house, but not everyone can afford one. If you cannot, you’re not part of the demand. I think housing should be a human right. In Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, shelter is right at the base, not just for those who can afford it.”
Substance Use
Relating his advocacy work to healthcare, Watkins commented, “Homelessness and substance abuse [are a critical illness], but on an installment plan.”
In further describing the connection, Watkins said that research shows that most become addicted only after they’ve become homeless. “A lot of times, the drug use comes from trauma. Becoming homeless is a traumatic event. People are self-medicating.”
Williamson described the loss of many in her family to drugs, which led her to quit using many years ago. “The impossible is possible when we’re talking about self-medication.” She also praised the development of new treatments like naloxone (Narcan) for saving lives.
Williamson directs a community project in connection with Yale’s Program for Recovery and Community Health (PRCH), where she has served since 2007. Her contribution to the work of citizens-oriented care, community organizing, and peer support has influenced the field nationally and internationally. She reflected on her 14 years as a peer mentor. “I can’t save even one person,” she said. “What I can do is give them the tools to save themselves.”
Steve Werlin is executive director of Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen (DESK), which operates New Haven's only low-barrier drop-in and resource center for people who are unhoused, and people who use drugs and/or are living with a mental health disorder. Werlin says that for students and others who want to lend support, he strives to make them familiar with the community at DESK. He encourages first getting involved by volunteering to assemble kits, listening to a community conversation on topics like the opioid crisis, or attending one of DESK’s other public events.
Empowering Individuals
Vázquez later reflected that key takeaway from the discussion was “the importance of empowering individuals while respecting their self-determination.”
Watkins advised, “I’m not your patient; I’m a person. Treat me as such. My problem with the term is, I think of it as an assembly line. You do it the same way every time and get the same result. And that’s simply not true.” Speaking of his outreach work, he added, “The people I work with aren’t my ‘clients.’ They’re individuals.”
Many of the panelists praised “Dr. Phil” for bringing health care to the vulnerable. Phil Costello, APRN, is the clinical director of homeless care at Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center, a community health clinic. For the past ten years, the dedicated team of APRNs and social workers has visited encampments and shelters. Werlin called them “the heroes of New Haven. The street medicine team is showing us the best of health care. They’re meeting people where they are physically, and where they are emotionally.”
Panelists described the importance of helping people access health care by building trust over time. Godek described how her first positive experience with accessing health services came from a mobile outreach unit. She had just arrived in New Haven, and “being in my late 30s, and unhoused for the first time, was unsettling,” so she sought mental health support. “You feel a sense of shame when reaching out. Once you get past those barriers to getting help, you can form a relationship.” She said of the street outreach team, “They spoke to you like a person, in a way you don’t get very often. I often refer people to them for services.”
Watkins added, “Dealing with authorities, they have authority over your body. They could even have you committed. You have to be vulnerable to say, ‘I’m here, take care of me.’”
Williamson explained, “When we go inside these [health care] spaces, it’s not your space it’s my space, because I’m in there with you. Give me your undivided attention, and let me feel like you’re listening to me.” She added, “I would love to see people who look like me and understand where I’m coming from. I’ve been in the streets since I was 11, and I’m 60. I don’t speak like I’m from academia; I speak like I’m from the trenches. I spend a lot of time breaking down the conversation to be understood, for only a 15-minute visit.”
Godek echoed that. “People are more than a list of checked boxes on a sheet. It’s hard to get to know someone in a few minutes. You never know what kind of day they’re having and what you’re walking into. Treat people with dignity and respect.”
Or, as Watkins said, “Do not make people change to engage with you. Change so you are able to engage with them.”
How to Help
During the Q&A, a student asked how people such as herself can help. The panelists responded:
Steve Werlin of DESK: “You start by asking a person, or an organization, ‘What do you need?’ rather than ‘How can I help?’”
Kelly Fitzgerald of UWGNH: “You’re obligated to get engaged. At United Way, there’s a ton of ways to get involved. Diaper drives. Giving out lunches during school breaks. It doesn’t have to be medically related; you have your own passions. The goal is to get out there and get to know someone you wouldn’t be exposed to otherwise. Keep pushing to figure out how you can understand it, how you can approach people, and ultimately how that can enhance the care you’re giving people. Commit to doing one thing this year.”
Suki Godek: “Come volunteer at Rosette.”
Roosevelt Watkins of DESK: “The drop-in center is a safe place to interact with people and build relationships. And to learn that everything you do for others is an act of service.”
Get Involved
Community organizations that address the topics discussed during the panel:
- Columbus House
- Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen (DESK)
- Liberty Community Services
- New Reach
- Project Access
- United Way of Greater New Haven
- U-ACT
- Youth Continuum
Event Organizers
New Haven Voices was organized by YSM second-year students Fabrizio Darby and Joyce Quon; YSM faculty members Carmen Black and Marietta Vázquez; Abigail Roth from the Office of Medical Education; and Aja Diggs and Linda Jackson from the Office of Diversity, Inclusion, Community Engagement, and Equity (DICE). The event was co-hosted by the Offices of Medical Education, and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (ODEI).
Photos by Robert A. Lisak