Trumpet Music by Austin James Oliver
My Story: From PhD & Sr. Mgr to Homeless... and Back Again!
“The longest mile of unemployment for me was during a grueling 3 year stretch of time in San Diego California from November 1992 until January 1995. My consulting position as a Director of Marketing & Sales had just ended because of faulty management decisions that threw the company into bankruptcy. Businesses were going bankrupt across America, unemployment was at an all time high, home prices were crashing, foreclosures were drastically on the rise and almost no one wanted to hire. The year was 1992.
I had just finished my PhD as a triple major with specialties in human behavior, marketing/sales and theology/world religion. Amazingly, I had tons of business experience, solid values, a tremendous work ethic, a clean record, multiple letters of recommendation, and very usable skills; but no one seemed to want my services, 1099, W-2 or otherwise. In fact, I couldn’t even give them away pro-Bono …I know because I tried many times! Our cash had run out and there were no unemployment payments available. We were forced for the first time ever onto state sponsored public assistance, there was nothing reasonable left to liquidate, our home lease was not sustainable and it looked like the demons of circumstance, discouragement, poverty and doom were about to move in for the kill …blood was in the water! O-God, help us, we prayed.
God gave me an idea which I didn’t like at first, but which later on turned out to be brilliant. “”Why not do your post-doctoral research on homelessness and its root causes? Why not live with the homeless, carefully study their situations, behavior, hopes and dreams, and then write a book about it?” Then God gave us 3 scriptures to confirm that we were hearing from Him. One was: “”He that has pity on the poor lends to the Lord and the Lord will repay. A second was: My sheep know My voice and flee from another. A third was: If we have pity on the poor, stretching forth our hand to help them, then our own healing will break forth like the morning dawn and when we call upon God, He will be quick to answer saying Here am I.”” (From that time at St. Vincent de Paul Homeless Shelter forward we heard the voice of God louder and clearer than ever before.)
Moving to a homeless shelter was not what my wife and I wanted to hear as a suggestion about how to experience the American Dream! Thankfully, our 9 yr old son was up for the next adventure and was more flexible and positive than his parents.
No substantial homeless studies had been done in our region, although there were 12,000 homeless in our city. Why? It was just too horrible to be homeless and destitute for any longer than 2 weeks. Most researchers just couldn’t take it. The facility management told me personally that they were able to help the homeless get motivated and provide them with some form of work, but were not able to make the necessary internal change in them to keep people stabilized on their new jobs beyond 2-3 months... then came relapse.
The homeless shelter housed, fed and kept a running tally of homeless men, women and children numbering between 500 – 800 people per day. They represented every walk of life imaginable and were definitely not all your typical stereotype drunken bums and drug addicts. One Mother with her two children was from Uganda where her Air Force Colonel husband was shot by the new government. As the Mother of 9 children, (gun shot wounded in the neck herself) she hid 7 older children with relatives and fled to America with the 2 youngest. Another very wonderful man was a former Pastor from Kenya who became unpopular with the new President and was given 24 hours to escape to America or be imprisoned for his sermons. Last but not least, another man who had owned two large clothing manufacturing plants went bankrupt when the boutiques that sold his clothes couldn’t pay him. Once bankrupt the man got cancer. If that was not enough, his formerly wealthy wife divorced him as a loser.
When the dust finally cleared on our taking the most unusual plunge to accept this “unique offer” living with the homeless, cockroaches and all, I had written two books and made a final decision to actively engage my consulting practice right there from the homeless shelter room where we were housed just over 2 years. My wife, after getting over the initial pain and shock of our situation, had taken a series of courses that expanded her art talents enormously. Our son had attended a magnet school and started a career as a trumpet player, which later he parlayed into a 4 yr scholarship at the prestigious San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
So what did we get out of 3 yrs of unemployment and subsequent obedience to a Divine prompting? Much! Was it difficult? You bet… harsh, trying, grueling and at times very depressing with many tears. But we really came out the other end much stronger in every way. We learned that we could survive situations that were almost unthinkable. We also learned a massive lesson about what poor people go through… including standing in long lines at free medical clinics. And o-yes, by the way, within 48 hrs of leaving the homeless shelter without a new place to live and not so much of a peep of a job in sight, God provided a suitable apartment and the best job that I ever had up to that time (as International Marketing Manager and Associate Director of Development at the prestigious and world famous Institute of the Americas, UCSD La Jolla, CA) with experiences, opportunities and accolades that I still use to this day.’ Dr. Martin W. Oliver Jr., PhD, BCPC
HERE IS WHAT ST VINCENT'S PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT HAD TO SAY ABOUT DR. OLIVER:
“We can’t thank Dr. Martin Oliver enough for all the work that he has done to benefit the homeless that we serve. We are especially grateful for his research and the curriculum Dr. Oliver developed for us.”
Father Joe Carroll, President & Mary Case, Vice President Homeless Services
St. Vincent de Paul Village, San Diego, California, 01/05/1995
About Dr. Oliver:
Dr. Martin Oliver, CEO of Dr. Oliver’s Consultations successfully meets with companies, non-profits, and individuals to assist them in understanding, inspiring and predicting human behavior. Other specialties include: change management, marketing & sales, public relations, instructional development, talent management, strategy and planning. Dr. Oliver is the author of 27 published e-books, through Oliver’s House of Publishing, two of which were written while at St. Vincent de Paul Homeless Shelter in San Diego, California:
“When You Feel Like A Blob: Changing Your Self-Image God’s Way”
“How to Discover and Activate Your God Given Potential”
From 2008-2012 Martin with his wife Diane lived in the rural city of Meridian, Mississippi (home of infamous racial conflict during the Civil rights Conflict of the 1960's), where Martin finished a 3-½ study on why students in Mississippi have the highest dropout rate in the nation. Dr. Oliver did this while simultaneously teaching general chemistry, brain chemistry, biology, general science and Old and New Testament at a small private school. Based on Martin's research in Mississippi, he wrote his landmark book: What Makes A Child Tick: The Inner workings of a Child. Dr. Oliver's wife Diane L Oliver is an award-winning artist (see Diane's art and photography shown below). Martin & Diane Oliver can be reached at docoliver@docoliver.biz
“The longest mile of unemployment for me was during a grueling 3 year stretch of time in San Diego California from November 1992 until January 1995. My consulting position as a Director of Marketing & Sales had just ended because of faulty management decisions that threw the company into bankruptcy. Businesses were going bankrupt across America, unemployment was at an all time high, home prices were crashing, foreclosures were drastically on the rise and almost no one wanted to hire. The year was 1992.
I had just finished my PhD as a triple major with specialties in human behavior, marketing/sales and theology/world religion. Amazingly, I had tons of business experience, solid values, a tremendous work ethic, a clean record, multiple letters of recommendation, and very usable skills; but no one seemed to want my services, 1099, W-2 or otherwise. In fact, I couldn’t even give them away pro-Bono …I know because I tried many times! Our cash had run out and there were no unemployment payments available. We were forced for the first time ever onto state sponsored public assistance, there was nothing reasonable left to liquidate, our home lease was not sustainable and it looked like the demons of circumstance, discouragement, poverty and doom were about to move in for the kill …blood was in the water! O-God, help us, we prayed.
God gave me an idea which I didn’t like at first, but which later on turned out to be brilliant. “”Why not do your post-doctoral research on homelessness and its root causes? Why not live with the homeless, carefully study their situations, behavior, hopes and dreams, and then write a book about it?” Then God gave us 3 scriptures to confirm that we were hearing from Him. One was: “”He that has pity on the poor lends to the Lord and the Lord will repay. A second was: My sheep know My voice and flee from another. A third was: If we have pity on the poor, stretching forth our hand to help them, then our own healing will break forth like the morning dawn and when we call upon God, He will be quick to answer saying Here am I.”” (From that time at St. Vincent de Paul Homeless Shelter forward we heard the voice of God louder and clearer than ever before.)
Moving to a homeless shelter was not what my wife and I wanted to hear as a suggestion about how to experience the American Dream! Thankfully, our 9 yr old son was up for the next adventure and was more flexible and positive than his parents.
No substantial homeless studies had been done in our region, although there were 12,000 homeless in our city. Why? It was just too horrible to be homeless and destitute for any longer than 2 weeks. Most researchers just couldn’t take it. The facility management told me personally that they were able to help the homeless get motivated and provide them with some form of work, but were not able to make the necessary internal change in them to keep people stabilized on their new jobs beyond 2-3 months... then came relapse.
The homeless shelter housed, fed and kept a running tally of homeless men, women and children numbering between 500 – 800 people per day. They represented every walk of life imaginable and were definitely not all your typical stereotype drunken bums and drug addicts. One Mother with her two children was from Uganda where her Air Force Colonel husband was shot by the new government. As the Mother of 9 children, (gun shot wounded in the neck herself) she hid 7 older children with relatives and fled to America with the 2 youngest. Another very wonderful man was a former Pastor from Kenya who became unpopular with the new President and was given 24 hours to escape to America or be imprisoned for his sermons. Last but not least, another man who had owned two large clothing manufacturing plants went bankrupt when the boutiques that sold his clothes couldn’t pay him. Once bankrupt the man got cancer. If that was not enough, his formerly wealthy wife divorced him as a loser.
When the dust finally cleared on our taking the most unusual plunge to accept this “unique offer” living with the homeless, cockroaches and all, I had written two books and made a final decision to actively engage my consulting practice right there from the homeless shelter room where we were housed just over 2 years. My wife, after getting over the initial pain and shock of our situation, had taken a series of courses that expanded her art talents enormously. Our son had attended a magnet school and started a career as a trumpet player, which later he parlayed into a 4 yr scholarship at the prestigious San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
So what did we get out of 3 yrs of unemployment and subsequent obedience to a Divine prompting? Much! Was it difficult? You bet… harsh, trying, grueling and at times very depressing with many tears. But we really came out the other end much stronger in every way. We learned that we could survive situations that were almost unthinkable. We also learned a massive lesson about what poor people go through… including standing in long lines at free medical clinics. And o-yes, by the way, within 48 hrs of leaving the homeless shelter without a new place to live and not so much of a peep of a job in sight, God provided a suitable apartment and the best job that I ever had up to that time (as International Marketing Manager and Associate Director of Development at the prestigious and world famous Institute of the Americas, UCSD La Jolla, CA) with experiences, opportunities and accolades that I still use to this day.’ Dr. Martin W. Oliver Jr., PhD, BCPC
HERE IS WHAT ST VINCENT'S PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT HAD TO SAY ABOUT DR. OLIVER:
“We can’t thank Dr. Martin Oliver enough for all the work that he has done to benefit the homeless that we serve. We are especially grateful for his research and the curriculum Dr. Oliver developed for us.”
Father Joe Carroll, President & Mary Case, Vice President Homeless Services
St. Vincent de Paul Village, San Diego, California, 01/05/1995
About Dr. Oliver:
Dr. Martin Oliver, CEO of Dr. Oliver’s Consultations successfully meets with companies, non-profits, and individuals to assist them in understanding, inspiring and predicting human behavior. Other specialties include: change management, marketing & sales, public relations, instructional development, talent management, strategy and planning. Dr. Oliver is the author of 27 published e-books, through Oliver’s House of Publishing, two of which were written while at St. Vincent de Paul Homeless Shelter in San Diego, California:
“When You Feel Like A Blob: Changing Your Self-Image God’s Way”
“How to Discover and Activate Your God Given Potential”
From 2008-2012 Martin with his wife Diane lived in the rural city of Meridian, Mississippi (home of infamous racial conflict during the Civil rights Conflict of the 1960's), where Martin finished a 3-½ study on why students in Mississippi have the highest dropout rate in the nation. Dr. Oliver did this while simultaneously teaching general chemistry, brain chemistry, biology, general science and Old and New Testament at a small private school. Based on Martin's research in Mississippi, he wrote his landmark book: What Makes A Child Tick: The Inner workings of a Child. Dr. Oliver's wife Diane L Oliver is an award-winning artist (see Diane's art and photography shown below). Martin & Diane Oliver can be reached at docoliver@docoliver.biz
Austin, Diane, and Martin Oliver: Homeless and living at St. Vincents circa 1994
Austin Oliver age 11 after launching his trumpet career from St. Vincent de Paul Homeless Shelter. Photographer: Diane Oliver
Mixed media painting by Diane Oliver "In the warmth of the Son" created while living in St. Vincent de Paul Homeless Shelter and later used as a book cover by Martin Oliver