EVERETT, Wash. — The problems of mental illness, addiction and homelessness in Washington are forcing cities to look at new approaches to combat them.
In Everett, the city is now deploying people with specialized skills to get people off the streets, but they are not skills one learns in school.
What’s different about Everett’s program is that it sends former addicts onto the streets to tell their stories so others can change theirs.
Christine Halverson knows the homeless camps of Everett all too well.
She was living in them as a hopeless 13-year-old.
“I grew up in that life,”
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