Each week we publish blog posts on a whole range of topics, relating in some way to mental health — written by Mind staff, service users and health and policy professionals. Some blog posts may not reflect official Mind policy.
We welcome comments and questions on our posts, but have a few ground rules to keep the site welcoming and interesting to every body. The first rule is the most important: be respectful of other commenters and bloggers.
We recently published our updated guide to housing and mental health. Chris from our Information team blogs about the importance of stable, affordable and secure housing for good mental health.
1 CommentKirsty has always worked, but when she was forced to leave her stressful job owing to mental health problems, she was shocked to find herself slipping below the poverty line.
I had a Saturday job from the age of 13, worked my way through my A-levels in retail, and then through my degree as an auxiliary nurse.
I love working and the opportunities for growth and making new friends that come with it and, despite my diagnosis of bipolar disorder and the difficulties that come with that, I’ve always maintained steady employment.
Unfortunately, in November last year I ended up having a manic episode, triggered by working long shifts and night shifts on a stressful hospital ward. I was told that I needed to leave my current job and find one with regular hours and much less stress if I wanted to stay out of hospital in the long term. I worked as a casual worker so wasn’t entitled to sick-pay and therefore had to claim benefits upon my discharge to the crisis team a month later.
Tears came when I was informed that, since I was under 25, claiming Employment Support Allowance (ESA) entitled me to a paltry £53 a week to live off until I had been assessed (which takes at least three months). I was also having to use a credit card to pay my rent whilst housing benefit ask for everything but blood before paying out.
I was reduced to having to make decisions such as whether to pay my energy bill or have food for two weeks. I’ve become trapped in a catch-22 situation – the stress of having no money is impeding my recovery and return to work, but this stress can only be resolved by returning to work and earning.
Now almost £1,000 overdrawn and having spent £1,000 on my credit card to cover rent (I still haven’t had a decision from housing benefit, and I doubt they’ll refund the interest accrued on my credit card or the bank charges), I’m at the point where even though I’m not really well enough to return to work, I have to.
My point, and my reason for writing this blog, is this: whilst there may be individuals who try to abuse the system, the great majority of us who need to seek the State’s support are genuinely in need. The lack of financial support offered to those with mental health issues has meant that I’ve had to endure existence below the poverty line since leaving hospital, and this has definitely hindered my recovery and return to work – not quite the “living a life of luxury on benefits” nonsense that the media would have you believe.
Indeed, even I never really knew how low benefits were for individuals who cannot work until that paltry amount was staring me in the face. If the Government is so committed to supporting people back into work, then it should start by providing a liveable sum of money to claimants of ESA. Poverty is not conducive to good mental health, and so the stingy sum currently offered serves only to hinder individuals’ recovery and return to work.
Kirsty is a graduate who loves reading and making travel plans. She lives with her boyfriend and two cats.
Help us fight for fairer benefits – email or Tweet your MP with our easy-to-use form before Wednesday 01 February. Ask them to vote for a two-year limit on ESA instead of the 12 months that the Government is pushing for.
We urgently need your help to overturn some very damaging parts of the Government’s Welfare Reform Bill.
If there’s one thing you do today, please tweet the Peers in the House of Lords and ask them to support the changes we’re calling for.
16 CommentsThis is the second in a series of guest blogs by Alison who is working again after 13 years on incapacity benefits.
Following my blog in August, I can now report on my first few weeks in paid work. I feel emotionally overwhelmed. There are so many changes for me to figure out and make these major adjustments to my life.
12 CommentsIn this guest blog, Lee describes his experience of being re-assessed for the new Employment and Support Allowance.
As part of the DWP’s attempt to migrate all those still receiving Incapacity Benefit on to their new system of Employment and Support Allowance, I was recently issued with a 20-page ‘Limited capability for work questionnaire’ – which I can only describe as an interrogation on paper.
How does this make me feel? Well, anyone with a mental health condition can probably guess; stressed, anxious, frustrated and resentful.
17 CommentsThis is the first in a series of guest blogs by Alison who is about to start working after 13 years on incapacity benefits.
I have been on incapacity benefits for nearly 13 years, supported by health professionals sensitive to letting me progress at my own pace. This year I’ve felt ready for change and wanted to control my own journey into work. I asked my social worker to refer me to a supported employment adviser.
23 CommentsThe Work Capability Assessment (WCA) is probably the single issue that Mind has received the most contact about over the last couple of years. In response to this, and other concerns about issues like DLA reform and the new Work Programme, welfare and benefits has become one of Mind's key campaigning priorities.
As part of the benefits system reforms, the Government plans to replace Disability Living Allowance (DLA) with a new benefit: the Personal Independence Payment (PIP). It's not just the name that's changing — the assessment process is too. PIP will be allocated according to an individual's need, and measured by a new face-to-face ‘objective assessment’ (DLA was not assessed for in person).
The Government released a first draft of this assessment last week. Mind is responding to these proposals, and would like your feedback inform our response.
14 CommentsThis was a brief live blog during the Hardest Hit march on parliament. We were also tweeting from the march.
6 CommentsIt's not often I get excited about a Wednesday morning, but I've had 11 May marked in my diary for some time. I’ll be marching with Mind as part of the Hardest Hit campaign to protest against unfair and untenable cuts by the Government to vital benefits and services for disabled people.
At Mind, we know how much mental health issues can interfere with everyday tasks, and from coversations on Mind’s Facebook page, Twitter account and this blog, I know there are people who want to protest but are worried about marching, for mental health reasons.
3 CommentsIn the wake of last week's local and regional elections and electoral reform referendum, the media are feverishly debating the meaning of the contrasting messages from the voting public. Politicians attempt, in public, to put a positive spin on how their parties have fared whilst avoiding awkward questions about less favourable elements of the outcome. In private, they will be trying to divine from the results what the electorate is thinking.
Start the discussionToday, Mind joins with many disability charities, disabled people’s organisations and disabled people to announce the calling of a major march and lobby of Parliament on Wednesday May 11 to give us the chance to express concerns about the impact of the Government's welfare reform changes and of the public spending cuts on disabled people.
18 CommentsToday we posted our new welfare reform anxiety poll, a simple survey designed to capture how people currently on incapacity benefits are feeling about the prospect of changes to the welfare system.
We have already heard anecdotally from many of you about how worried you are about the effects changes to the benefits system will have on your life and your concerns about having to go through the work capability assessment (WCA). What our survey aims to do is to quantify people’s feelings and provide some figures which will demonstrate the impact welfare reform anxiety is having which we can use in our media and campaigns work.
27 CommentsToday, Mind has submitted a joint response to the Government’s consultation on reforming Disability Living Allowance, along with the Centre for Mental Health, Hafal, Rethink, the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Scottish Association for Mental Health. We decided that combining our experience and expertise on this issue was the best way to try to influence the reform process.
16 CommentsThe Work Capability Assessment (WCA) is the gateway to Employment and Support Allowance, the new incapacity benefit. Mind has campaigned strongly to reform this assessment process, as we do not feel it accurately picks up on mental health problems and their impact on the ability of an individual to work. This campaigning has included feeding into the current Independent Review of the system by Professor Harrington.
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