Struggle in Paradise is the gripping story of the skyrocketing number of homeless people living and dying on the streets of Los Angeles. I have been shocked at the amount of trauma that people have sustained that contributed to their homelessness and, once on the streets, are repetitively traumatized.
Struggle in Paradise is the gripping story of the skyrocketing number of homeless people living and dying on the streets of Los Angeles. I have been shocked at the amount of trauma that people have sustained that contributed to their homelessness and, once on the streets, are repetitively traumatized.
Dr. George Atwood, a professor emeritus at Rutgers University, eloquently describes this movie: 'Magnificent ... anyone who views it with an open mind and an open heart will find it to be transforming - the homeless men and women interviewed and painted are revealed as human beings like us all, and seeing them and listening to their stories not only helps us to understand them, but also returns us to ourselves and to our own stories. The lives and experiences of the homeless show great tragedy; but they also show heroism, and beauty.'
I believe I get the deeper story because I am a psychoanalyst/psychologist with forty years of experience and many publications. I have spent thousands of hours over eight years painting oil on canvas portraits and getting to know over 200 homeless people. I have worked with the county and city of Los Angeles to raise money. I give out food, clothing and medical supplies.
This work has been chronicled in the Guardian (London), Taipei Times (Taiwan), Vanity Fair Italia, Los Angeles Times (June 10, 2012, Column One) and the Jewish Journal (Cover Story). As the author of The Therapist's Emotional Survival: Dealing with the Pain of Exploring Trauma and numerous articles in psychoanalytic journals, I speak nationally about the Faces of Homelessness project. I was the 2016 Los Angeles County Psychological Association Social Justice Award winner and was honored by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.
