Mental Health and Debt Help Booklet Discussion

Alfies

This booklet about dealing with debt issues which is shown on MSE as being for people suffering with Bipolar, Depression & Anxiety which eliminates those who have a more severe mental health diagnosis who are probably in need of debt help but wont download this PDF because their diagnosis is not one of the 3 listed mental health issues such as psychosis and schizophrenia, both of these serious illnesses may already cause the sufferers to have feelings of persecution which could easily escalate if they feel debt help is being kept from them albeit that this would be an unfounded belief, delusional & not deliberately meant to prevent them from receiving debt help. Is this PDF booklet available in paper-form and if so will you add information about where I and other readers can get one please as I am sure it contains some exceptionally helpful information for sufferers of all mental health issues including those not already mentioned. Thank you for providing the PDF booklet here, even though I haven't yet been fortunate enough to read it I can see by the responses of other readers that it has given much needed help to many who otherwise would not have known where to turn.:wall:

jobbingmusician

Hmm, trying to download updated booklet, but clicking the download link seems to do nothing...........

Tixy

jobbingmusician wrote: »

Hmm, trying to download updated booklet, but clicking the download link seems to do nothing...........

Just tried and its working for me today - could you try a different browser? or try downloading a different pdf to check it isn't an adobe issue on your computer?

Hopefuljoy

Good morning all! I have had mental health challenges with depression and complex ptsd since 2000 and 2007 respectively. Whether you have those diagnoses or any other mental health issue this guide is absolutely excellent.

I have read it many times and by using its suggestions have gradually dealt with banks and loans. Every bank now seem to have a special team for vulnerable customers. I have been extremely up front and have rung them up on my good days. In my experience you just tell them straight out you would like to talk to their vulnerable customer team as you suffer from ....... first direct have been especially good but barclays and nationwide have also been good as well. CAPUK were also brilliant with their free money management and debt course. Their system is not complicated and it works for managing money. Please please try them if you have any difficulty managing at all. Now I am officially debt free after years of real struggle, shame and desperation over money. I hated myself and thought I was a failure. You can get out of debt but for some of us we just need gentle and caring support to help us on the journey. This leaflet helps and so do CAPUK.

Be kind to yourself and have a good day. X

LondonGal

I'd like to contact a moderator / admin re this issue privately. Is there any way I can do this?

I am wanting to ask for permission to publicise the materials and advice, but think the site will want to see where it would be recommended before giving permission.

To whom should I address this matter?

Thanks.

uhubird

This is a brilliant guide, thank you so much for putting it together. The only thing I think is missing is a section about domestic abuse impacting both on mental health and debt.

My brother has suffered domestic abuse for the last 10 years, during which time he has stayed because he has been afraid of losing his children. This situation has significantly affected both his mental health and his finances. He is now facing the collapse of his business and is personally very vulnerable. I feel powerless, as because of the double stigma of depression and domestic abuse, he has been very late in seeking help with the debts, although I have been advising him to do so for years.
Is there any other guide from MSE or help available specifically about this mix of problems?

dave_the_hat.

Hi, where can I get a hard copy of the mental health and debt guide 2016?

Former_MSE_Andrea

dave_the_hat. wrote: »

Hi, where can I get a hard copy of the mental health and debt guide 2016?

Hi, you can download the pdf and print it out here: Mental Health & Debt

dipdab12

hi,jaybay, thankyou for giving me a name for not nowing where the comma or decimal point goes in numbers.please could you tell me how to down load this booklet.i am dyslexic,aspergers and now i no i am dyscalculia.and dont understand how to work this sight and there is so many things i need help with.and comments like your help me and make me feel not so alone.if you cant help ,please keep posting.oh i hope ive sent this right.
dipdab12

JayBay wrote: »

Dear Martin,

I have just had a quick read of your Mental Health and Debt Booklet and it is absolutely brilliant and packed full of helpful tips, sound financial advice punctuated with real life stories, which bring hope.
Thank you for having the heart and compassion to put this out totally free of charge.

However, I believe that there is one missing piece that needs to be made known whenever discussing this area: Dyscalculia. Most people don’t know that it exists and so very few people are getting the help they need (and are entitled to) to succeed in life. In this time of economic crisis, this may well have devastating consequences. I would be grateful if you would allow me to explain in more detail as this is a message which needs to be heard and is also very timely as March 3, 2011 is International Dyscalculia Day.

Did you know:

• The word dyscalculia means ‘counting badly’ (dys = badly, Greek. Calculare = counting, Latin)
• Dyscalculics (people with dyscalculia) don’t just have problems with maths but also struggle with areas, which can, and do, substantially affect the quality of their every day lives. These include:
1. Difficulty with the abstract concepts of time and direction. Inability to recall schedules, and sequences of past or future events. Unable to keep track of time. May be chronically late.
2. Poor mental math ability. Poor with money and credit. Cannot do financial planning or budgeting. Checkbooks not balanced. Short term, not long term financial thinking. Fails to see big financial picture. May have fear of money and cash transactions.
3. Common mistakes when using numbers (eg telephone numbers): number additions, substitutions, transpositions, omissions, and reversals).
4. May be able to perform math operations one day, but draw a blank the next! May be able to do book work but fails all tests and quizzes. Dyscalculics are able to learn how to calculate something one day, only to discover that the information has been forgotten the next day. In other words maths programs, where repetition is a major part of the teaching method seem to have no result for dyscalculic students - they simply forget.
5. In addition to special classroom instruction at school, students with learning disorders frequently benefit from individualized tutoring which focuses on their specific learning problem

Did you also know:

• Between 3.6 and 6,5% of the world population are dyscalculic? (That means between 216,000,000 and 390,000,000 are dyscalculic, based on a world population of 6 billion people.) That's a lot of people with the potential to get into debt.

• Having dyslexia does not exclude having dyscalculia automatically - WHO talks about mathematical difficulties that arise because of dyslexia, not dyscalculia, in people that are only dyslexic. Dyslexia can easily cause numbers to "float around". Only a diagnosis can exclude that mathematical problems come from dyslexia - and the other way around. 2.3% of the World's population are dyscalculic and dyslexic at the same time, according to Lewis, Hitch & Walker (1994).

• Dyscalculia has been approved as a maths disability by WHO and DSM for decades. YET NOONE SEEMS TO KNOW.

(For further information on the symptoms of dyscalculia, please see the following articles:
What is dyscalculia? On the BBC skills wise website.
Dyscalculia on the Unlocking Learning website
Maths Mastery on the Davis Dyslexia website.
I am sorry that I can not post actual links, but as a new user the links have been blocked.
I do hope and pray that this message gets to the millions of people who don't understand why they don't get maths. Understanding what your problem is half the battle.

dipdab12

hi dave, thankyou for writting your experience,ive found that having automatic call recorder dosnt just help explain stuff to my support worker.it also covers the fact i dont lie.and ombudsmans do.it says in the goverment guidlines on dyslexia that it is advisable to tape,when you send them back their own voices lying on tape and contacting jeremy corben.who will try fob you off and say your not in there area.then argue it is not an individual complaint it is a nationwide concern.hannah whithead responded.attached her response where i also asked her to provide me in terms i understand the judicial process of taking the ombudsman to court.in 5, years of complaning to lgo ,who ignore any disabilitiy if they can.finally listened to 20% of my complaint and threatend the council with a summons.yes suprising what they do when you say your going to do them.also after 5,years they send an audio c.d.unfortunately for them my aspergers might not be able to write properly.But its high functioning.
i have £300 of barclays for discrimination.and i will be asking for it again from yesterday.they never told me my replacement card was contacless.i didnt no what contactless meant.They also sent me a letter with figures and words i couldnt understand.when i phoned them on tape asked twice ,once to the manager,why have you not put me through to the accesability department that your sight says are there to support people with disabilities.i was ignored twice,when i asked a third time .they said it closed at 5.i said i started the call at3.50. i no because im taping and will be asking for call costs.i said what options of accesability do you offer to people with learing disabilities.i dont understand all of this letter.he said we can put it in large print.by this time i was getting mad .i said if i cant understand all the words .what difference does the size of the letters make.you no im going to my barclays tommorow.i will say loud.you have discriminated agin after compensating me last for the same thing.ask to speak to the manager.while i play the tape recordings stood there.as soon as they here barclays.the manager will usher me in the back and ill get sorted.if i dont i will stand in the bank playing the recordingstill my phone battery dies.
hopes this helps as much as your comments








h

scrimperdave wrote: »

The Mental Health and Debt guide is a worthy piece of work, but my experience with Barclaycard and the Financial Ombudsman was absolutely demoralising, and bears no relation to what is in the guide regarding lender and ombudsman's responsibilities to borrowers in difficulties.

6 months ago Barclaycard bullied me and harrassed me to the point I made a formal complaint to them about their conduct. I'd told them I had mental Health Problems and was living on benefits, at their request my GP wrote to them confirming their behaviour was having a seriously detrimental effect on my well-being (I was becoming suicidal).

Barclaycard wrote one of those phoney apologies (sorry you feel that way, not "Sorry for our conduct") and said "That is our final response." Nothing changed except I told them I would no longer accept telephone calls and they had to put every communication in writing.

When I rang the Financial Ombudsman about how to make a complaint about Barclaycard, I was made to feel like pond-life by a supercilious man who (in addition to lecturing me about bad credit references being important to most people) said they don't consider any complaint unless financial loss has been suffered.

I was so demoralised I just crawled back into my shell, made the payments I could afford (about half what Barclaycard would agree to on a formal basis) and have just been served with a default notice from Mercers Debt Collections Limited.

I have felt sick to my stomach for 6 days now, having nightmares and anxiety-themed dreams. I've been taking such a high dose of antidepressant for the last few months that I struggle to think clearly, and still am depressed.

What really upsets me is that Barclaycard bought my debt from Goldfish, with whom I had an affordable repayment plan. I swore I'd never do business with Barclaycard after they drove me to a suicide attempt in 1985 that I barely survived. They are aware of that.

They don't give a damn, and neither does the Financial Ombudsman.