“ A lot of people, wrongly, feel
ashamed about having mental
health issues, so there can be
a reluctance to engage with
others or disclose information.”
Jane Gash, UKAR and MIND.
“Washington Mind offer a range of training programmes
including ‘Healthy Money, Healthy You’, which takes a closer
look at how finance affects mental health and offers advice
about how debt advisors could engage with customers and
help them become more resilient. They also run Emotional
Resilience programmes which can help staff learn more about
recognising and handling stress and stressful situations.
“These are just two of a range of initiatives that anyone working
in the debt advice industry may find useful. Going forward
here at UKAR we hope to build on this and further develop
our ability to refer customers to sources of support.
“Of course we can’t provide specialist support ourselves but we
can learn to recognise the signs, to pick up on conversations
that could suggest someone would benefit from external help
and point them in the right direction. It’s about looking at
debt in context, rather than isolation and providing the tools
people need when they feel most vulnerable.”
Useful links: http://www.mind.org.uk/
for-business/training-consultancy/