Meet Michael, 24 years old from the Philippines living under the gardiner expressway. ❤️🩹 LIKE, COMMENT & SHARE TO HELP SPREAD AWARENESS 🙏 SUBSCRIBE @reedinthestreet
Many people struggle with their place within society. Use your interests and your gifts as your compass, it's never too late to make a change. Every day can be a step. Some days will be micro steps, some won't be any steps. Others will be leaps. You are a bright individual that deserves care, compassion and a chance. Don't deny yourself the gift of life. I wish you nothing but love and the best.
Michael, I want to encourage you to stay strong. My cousin passed away in 2020 after struggling with addiction and mental illness. Despite our efforts to help him, the pandemic made things even more difficult. I hope that you can find the strength to turn your life around and make positive changes. I miss my cousin every day, especially since we had a falling out during his final days. 🪽
I went to highschool with him, this is sad to see. It’s like he’s given up on trying. Won’t even take a job to save himself. He needs mental support but he’s also gotta try for himself he’s obviously got AdHd. He can’t keep up naturally with the day to day.
I don't think you understand mental illness. The type of mental illness he has doesn't allow him to be functional to the point he can consistently hold down a job, get an apartment, buy his own food, cook for himself etc. You keep on asking him don't you want better for yourself? Don't you want an apartment? Don't you want clean clothes? Like dude he has a mental illness and he's an addict. Your questioning is odd. He can't function like you or I can. You kept saying to him "You seem fine to me" but mental illness works in different ways. He may seem fine to you but as he said he's dysfunctional. Often times you can't see that someone has a mental illness by looking at them. That's not how it works for everyone. In order for him to get back on his feet he is going to have to want that change. Then he needs professional help from a therapist to work out his issues and trauma, and the therapist will create a plan for him to follow to get back on his feet. And he also may need medication. It all depends though.
I’m Filipino, and work at a place where we have a shelter next door. The people at the shelter came in to where I work (front desk) because there was a older woman who came in there and they’d “never seen a homeless filipino” and wanted to see if I could talk to her. It’s a crisis in our communities that the older generation doesn’t want to talk about.
I used hard drugs (sober over a year now) and when I spoke to my doctor once I was sober about how I thought I have ADHD and explained, I didn't notice it till I was sober, she said to me "well yeah, you were self medicating. Using meth would have done the same thing ADHD meds would have, since it's essentially the same thing". I didn't know I had ADHD till I was sober, so I had never put two and two together. She later explained to me that without medication, I could be more likely to relapse. It all made so much more sense after that. I wish I had known sooner. ADHD caused me to have a horrible time in my younger years, whether it be with socializing, school work, or holding down a job in my teens.
seen this guy 2 days ago at yonge/dundas with a meth pipe in his hands and appeared to be suffering from psychosis. has lost a lot of weight as well. was sad watching him then, but after this video its even harder as he seems like a decent person.
U should come over here to the underpass do an interview with this homeless kid living under the bridge. Eastern and lower eastern he has a little home there
This guy has some sorta undiagnosed condition that with a bit of therapy and some meds he’d escape this life he’s stuck in. Something is serious wrong with anyone who is ok with being Homeless. I was homeless for a decade and it’s Hell 24/7. He’s probably ADHD
Im homeless for over a year straight half its mental if you dont have physical problems. It aint that hard a steady income source and some proper survival gear.
Well shot Reed, this kid definitely needs some mental health support, wonder if he’s got ohip there’s a lot of stuff covered under that that could help him. Really happy to see you go in this direction with your filming, you absolutely have what it takes to go far with this, keep it going! 🙏🏻❤
It takes courage to reveal the truth of our brothers and sisters on the streets. If this were a surreal Hollywood set with an actor, the viewership would be high, no doubt. To watch the realness of this is deeply touching and concerning and can be difficult to face. You're doing important work. You go to places others are afraid to go and you uncover the vulnerable lives underneath the bridges and on the streets. These lives are important and their stories deserve to be heard. Keep up the great work!
Raw uncut, good stuff man. You show respect all the way man good to get these kind of interviews for people to see that side of things that have no idea what’s really going on in the city.
Michael, this is a touching story, I personally feel you when you say there is nothing worth committing to, you really seem like a great person overall, full of kindness and I can imagine that your family wants to be around you brother, they require your love and presence to be full as humans, commit to being there for them as they want to see you, commit to being the person your family needs and have that be the thing that is worth it, be in that state while you make plans and dreams to take the next step in life, rather then what you are doing, have the same goals but please brother go home to them. I don't know you, I care about you now that I have heard a part of your story, reach out, lets make it happen.
i have a disorder that makes me go into fight or flight when i consciously or unconsciously feel like my autonomy is being taken away way, no matter how big or small the thing may be. this affects me in a multitude of ways, but the biggest is when it comes to everyday and larger life demands. even the things i want to do like hygiene, school, housing, and things for my future can cause that overwhelming feeling. by the time i was 12 i tried killing myself and continued to be terribly suicidal up until i received a diagnosis, intervention, and support at 20, but this was after years of abusive relationships, sketchy situations, lots of drugs, missing so much school, being told that i was just depressed/anxious and truly believing deep inside that i would end up homeless because just trying to live, in situations that made me feel happy, also made me feel such overwhelming negative and scary feelings. it always felt like there was the part of me who was conscious, who got to dictate her life and the other part that i have no control over, it’s just the way im programmed to feel and not matter what i did i couldn’t change it or make myself feel better in living. it felt like i was in an abusive relationship with life, but that life had so much joy with literally everyone else. i felt defective. i feel for this kid so so so much. i always thought i would end up homeless for the exact reasons he describes. my brain feels functional on drugs, but i learned that was only because living life everyday, while seemingly really nice, made me so feel overwhelmingly horrible inside since as far back as i can remember. each year it gets worse and worse. it’s another year of feeling the same overwhelming mental and physical feelings inside every single day. it’s another year of not being able to do as much as everyone around you, or not being able to enjoy it as much, or being drained from literally everything because everything feels incompatible with you. there’s also the fact that as you age you get new demands placed on you that can feel like they’re taking away autonomy because they’re expected of everyone by a certain age. even if you want to do those things, they’re seemingly huge demands (paying rent, holding down a job, going to school, and then there’s extras like keeping friends, taking care of your physical health) especially after the last 18 years of barely scraping by. i burned out at 12. i don’t know how i survived until 20 except for my desire to have a future, to feel normal, to feel even the slightest bit compatible in the world i was born into. i only got the help i did because at 20 i felt like i couldn’t live like that anymore. i was either going to die or try to get help and that there was, in fact, something to help, this wasn’t all i was. now im turning 22 a week from friday. life still makes me feel that overwhelming feeling of fight or flight, but im learning how to work with myself and the world, and its getting less overwhelming little by little. i’ve come really far compared to what the fight or flight made me feel 2 and 10 years ago. sometimes i do still feel backed into that corner and sometimes the future still seems scary, but i can get out of there quickly and soon the future starts looking hopeful again. i even, for once in my life (but hopefully now forever) look forward to it. im sorry for everyone with my condition and that it isn’t more recognized especially in north america. im sorry that there are so many conditions like mine that don’t have enough recognition or support. i’m so sorry to this 24 year old man that the world hasn’t given him an environment that has the proper resources that have can help him learn how to work with his brain and the world. i really wish he and everyone else struggling get the peace and content they so obviously deserve p.s. there’s nothing wrong with chilling, but i truly believe that deep down, passed all the troubles that our genetics and life gives up, we all do desire something more (even if it’s just a little hut in the forrest) p.p.s. i love your work reed, you’re doing great.
i relate to him a lot. nothing is worth it to me and i’d rather just sit around and do nothing and be calm. i don’t want any stress of having responsibilities. work and school and a house is just too much and i’m not interested in it
I was 21 years old when i come to this country and always i was working with the Agencies of job and working full time every day in factories,this salary help me to pay rent and expences.🤗
ODSP isnt enough to have your own apartment. Im on ODSP and im STILL struggling to let ends meet. The MAX they give you for housing is $500 for an ADULT. Thats only enough for a room (BARELY) and LATELY theres been ALOT of stigma around people who are on Disability.... Some Landlords wont even let me VIEW their apartments/rooms if im on Disability. Its INSANE
There once was a homeless guy who looked like obama and had an amazing voice which landed him a job yes im talking about ted Williams he found success so if that dude can get lucky probably one day this kid can too, stay positive is one thing he has hopefully he can turn his life around too
This angered me. As a mother who just brought my kids to Canada for a better life, this broke my heart. I have sacrificed so much with the hope that my kids would take full advantage of these opportunities. I’m sure his parents did too. And he’s just doesn’t care about his own life.
Take your kids and go back to where you came from they don't stand a chance. Someone lied to you when they told you to come here for a better life. If you don't have money in your pocket right now and you're only working towards this so called better life you're going to fail. Your kids have a better chance in their home country. 😅😢
When you consider all stuffs that he's been through and other possible factors including how different a person he is from you, it isn't so easy to think people can always properly think for themselves, additionally he did mention he has a mental illness of some sort so, there's that to consider. If anything, I believe he needs somebody to guide him or at the very least sit down and have motivational support. However, I'm sure some time in the future he will get to a point in his life where he will sort his life out or realize and make things right. All this to say, WE don't know the lives of anybody besides our own but most importantly what goes on in the mind of another.
You’re doing such an amazing job man thank you so much! I just wanted to add maybe to be a little more gentle with your questions as they may not have the same beliefs/views as you do. I think we should focus on their mental health and how we can get them there💛
Maybe it started off by choice. That doesn't necessarily mean this is what he wants now though. Sometimes before you know it, you dug yourself into a hole too deep to climb out of on your own.
"I wanted to get into the video game industry, but I found out it was hard, so I just moped around...." Ladies and Gentlemen, I think we have found the problem
he came from a country where he struggled to make a better life and chose to come to another country and waste he s opportunity and do nothing with it now on drugs
@@reedinthestreet as a person who receives ODSP it's not enough for a room, that is unless you want to give up eating. the problem is now that the law permits MAID for those who are given ODSP the gov it hoping for people to struggle enough or to stay a float enough to hate life to the point of applying for legal suicide. that way the ODSP will be cut and the gov has one less mouth to feed. on top of that they make it very complex for regular people to understand that if they start working then their odsp can get cut/decreased and that could be just from making 201$ a month.
@@reedinthestreet Oh, I would love to withhold my taxes, but I heard they're planning to introduce a 'Meth-Pay' option soon. Can't wait to see how that benefits the economy!
dude don't believe in himself i came back from being a druggie but i really wanted it and i believed i could do it, need the right reason though. Guy should just go try and do things his way, go do chef and invent some mad shit go do art invent some mad shit do carpentry and do it to be disciplined, go climb mountains. tap into some primal shit and realize u get one life bro. easy to see everything as meaningless and an evil world but doesnt mean give up focus on on ur health and dont self sabotage, its all bullshit but u dont know whats possible
