“A Safe Place"

By Rebecca Riopelle, Student

In September of 2020, I met Ms. Jill Allen, Executive Director of Dorothy’s Place, which daily serves between 150-200 people who are homeless in Salinas, California. We discussed a new framework for analysis that considers those that are homeless as consumers. What does this consumer want? Surveys informed that the overwhelming response to what this consumer wants, is simply put, a safe place. Those that are homeless are not alone in this desire for safety. Safety is paramount in any organization, in the counseling room, for trauma victims, the mentally ill, but also in the military, in hospitals, in government departments, in our beaches, parks, and every facet of society. Safety is one of the most essential and foundational human needs- cited by many sources beyond Abraham Maslow. How do we achieve safety? How do we get people back in homes and off the streets? We do this by creating a safe place- by building trust, establishing an environment for belonging, and instilling purpose. Building safe places begins with an adequate understanding of each of these areas.

Safety requires trust. Can I trust you with the experience of trauma in my life? How will you respond? Will you reject my experiences, as others, who should have cared the most, have? How will I know you actually care, actually want to help, or might actually take any action to help? And how long will you be present for? These questions are all related to building trust. Trust can’t happen without communication and relationship. How well do you listen? Will you be able to hear what’s underneath how I smell, how I look, my rage, the voices in my head, the alcohol on my breath, or the scars on my body? To establish trust, key conditions must be met when it comes to relationships.

Sometimes we can’t really tell who is trustworthy, and can only know by experiment. We can’t tell from race, religion, economic status, style of clothing, tone of voice, body language, or how a person acts if they can be trusted. Sometimes, trust is a gamble. This is why the first interaction is so important – someone must prove at the most basic level that he or she cares and is trustworthy. What better way to prove one can potentially meet the second basic human need of safety, than by meeting the first basic human needs of food, shelter, and clothing? Start with these to build trust in relationships. 

Next, achieving a safe place requires an environment of belonging. What makes you feel like you belong? How you are treated surely makes a difference. Is there judgement or criticism involved? Is there the potential someone might steal from you, abandon you, hurt you, abuse your trust, assault you, or even terrorize you? If a person feels as though these potentials are likely, they will not consider a place as safe. An environment of belonging is one that is marked by structure – one which includes rules and consequences. Boundaries shape the environment of belonging. Boundaries might include the time for breakfast, the criteria to stay in a shelter, the structure to keep the environment safe to stay in. It might need allowance for drugs and needles at a transitional home. Organizations seeking to meet the needs of this consumer must further establish concrete criteria for engagement in varying scenarios. These might be considered contingency plans to ensure an environment remains safe. Sure, all people make mistakes and break rules. Nonetheless, trusted professionals can engage in a relationship with someone experiencing homelessness in order to teach, show, and establish what the rules and boundaries of a safe place looks like.

Last, but not least, instilling purpose creates a safe place, allowing members to succeed and even thrive. Purpose in the form of personal responsibility drives us forward each day. Each of us possesses inherent personal power that is realized when one understands his or her unique gifting, personhood, and value in the world. In some ways, having purpose corresponds with having hope. Maybe it’s the hope of learning more.

Maybe it’s the hope of resolving something from the past. Maybe it’s the hope that tomorrow can be better than yesterday. The absence of purpose, personal responsibility, and hope often devolves into forms of despair, depression, and sometimes even suicide or rejection of the survival instinct. Knowing one’s value and potential encourages purpose and personal responsibility – the understanding about who you are, what you’ve been given, and what you are to do about this. This is also something that is taught in the bounds of a safe environment and taught through interaction.

What gives purpose? Sometimes it’s faith. Sometimes it’s family. Sometimes it’s looking beyond oneself to see someone else, to see another’s pain, and how we can alleviate it, or help them through it. Purpose can also be instilled by giving responsibility – whether these are small tasks or long-term working projects. Leaders can employ their team in countless ways by assigning roles and responsibilities. Jobs give us someone to be accountable to and help us stay in the confines of what makes a safe place.

So, the key to creating a safe place is trust, belonging, and purpose. No human can achieve this on his or her own- but only in cooperation with others. Humans experiencing homelessness need safety, just like humans in the workforce, humans overseas, humans in politics, or any other kind of human. Humans are relational beings, not meant to thrive apart from other humans. Overcoming or managing psychological ailments; sexual, physical, or emotional trauma; hunger, thirst, sanitation or security needs, requires a safe place. While safe places are not immune to outside threats, they are places that are reliable, dependable and trustworthy. A safe place is one where you can belong, and one that prizes you as a member by instilling purpose and responsibility. A safe place offers the safe kind of love the human heart is bent on finding, so that the necessary work can be done to make it back home.

With love, respect and compassion, Dorothy’s Place provides essential services, transitional support and housing assistance to people experiencing the injustice of homelessness and extreme poverty.

Without your financial support, our work doesn’t happen. Join us! Stand with us as we assist people from street life to home life. Your solidarity is humbly and gratefully received.