Has anyone ever talked to a homeless person before? I recommend doing so from time to time. It's easy to judge some of these "bums." You'll find out some of these people have serious psychological/psychiatric problems (with alcoholism/drug addiction being a result, not just a cause).
We talked quite a bit, she was a gifted artist on the one hand and totally out of touch with the world around her on the other.
She said she could talk to trees and was completely fascinated by eyes. Last I heard from her she was living in Spain, doing drugs living on the street again.
I don't think she was homeless out of need as much as that she simply chose not to be a part of this society of ours.
If this was the case, the root affliction is not her fault, and she probably needed anti-psychotic medication on a regular basis, and government financial aid to keep her off the streets. Talk therapy is almost useless for that condition. Though giving her shelter and helping her to keep social connections is vital. So it sounds like you helped her out a lot.
If everybody that talked to trees or other spirits had schizophrenia you'd have to include each and every religious person, to me their beliefs are just as weird as someone talking to trees.
It's not that simple.
Regarding religion. That's complicated. It may very well be the case that some people who make religious claims are in fact mentally ill. There are likely also other people who claim to follow a religion who are not mentally ill: they were either raised by their parents to believe that way, or, they chose it.
In an artistic sense.
A sample of what she could do: