Homeless Housing Options for the Homeless: Does Residence Impact Spiritual Retreat Experience?

Housing women and men, in the U.S. and other countries, who are homeless (i.e., who do not have a permanent residence) seems to be a growing program across counties. More adults and families enter the “ranks” of the homeless every year and little is known on how these individuals differ depending on whether they have a more permanent setting (e.g., a government paid apartment) or temporary setting (e.g., an overnight shelter).In this project, we assessed the impact of a spiritual retreat on homeless adult women and men residing in one of several housing options (apartment, shelter, group home, etc). The Ignatius Spirituality Project (ISP, Inc.) is a non-profit faith based agency located in Chicago, IL, but operates in 26 U.S. urban settings. ISP offers homeless adults a weekend long spiritual retreat, focused on personal healing and reconnecting with others as well as opportunities for worship. The notion is, we feed the homeless with food, but need to feed their spiritual side as well? In this project, we analyzed self-reported retreat feedback information collected in 2015. More specifically, we present the results on survey items on the retreat process and its structure comparing respondents on their present residence setting.https://via.library.depaul.edu/psychologynight/1068/thumbnail.jp