How to get involved

• Read Mind's In the red report. You can download it from the Mind website or contact the Campaigns team on 020 8215 2424 for a hard copy.
  
• Email your MP to ask them to support our Early Day Motion (EDM) on the campaign.

Other ways to support the campaign

• Visit your MP or Welsh Assembly Member (AM) to discuss the campaign and draw their attention to the new Mind research. Remember, where possible, to also highlight your own experiences of debt problems and financial difficulty.
• Write to the head of your PCT in England or LHB in Wales to ask them what they will do in response to the In the red campaign demands. Contact details for PCTS are available at the NHS Choices website and for LHBs at the Health of Wales information website.

Making complaints if you've had a bad experience
It’s never pleasant to have a negative experience with your bank or creditor, but unless people complain about what happened to them or suggest ways they could have been treated better, then it is hard for organisations to improve. 

If you've had a bad experience with your bank or any other creditor such as credit card company, gas or electricity company in relation to your debt problems in the past six months and you would like to make a complaint then please use this template letter: Complaint form (Word document)

If more people make complaints about the poor service they have received then the regulators of these industries will know more about the problems faced by people with experience of mental distress!

If you're part of a local group or local Mind association:

• Order more copies of the Mind week report to use locally.
• Write to your MP or Welsh Assembly Member and send them a copy of the report and ask them to support Mind's campaign.
• Contact the local branches of banks in your area and make them aware of the campaign and its recommendations.
• Meet with your local branch managers to discuss the recommendations and good practice.
• Organise a mass shredding event - get people to send you all their unsolicited mail encouraging them to take out loans, etc and then shred them.  The shredded paper can be recycled or composted.
• Write to the head of your PCT in England or LHB in Wales to ask them what they will do in response to the In the red campaign demands. Speak with them about how you can work together to address this issue.

How could you work with your local Citizens Advice Bureau?

Many local Mind associations already work very closely with their local CAB. 

• Have you built up good contacts with your local CAB so you can refer clients to them, and them to you?
• Are they able to offer money advice sessions to your service users in a familiar setting like your centre?
• Would they find mental health awareness training or working with you to look at the best way to deliver services to clients with mental health problems useful?

Do you run a money or debt advice project?

• Invite your MP or Welsh Assembly Member to visit and see the work you do and the impact it has on service users.
• If your MP or Welsh Assembly Member has a column in a local paper ask them to write about the issue of mental health and debt.
• If your MP or Welsh Assembly Member has a website ask them to link to Mind's new financial section on their website which gives people clear information on how to manage their finances: www.mind.org.uk/money.
• If service users you are working with aren't getting the treatment they deserve from banks, financial institutions and utility companies, then encourage them to write to the company and complain.  Companies won't change their practice unless they realise that there is a problem.
• If complaints aren't addressed then contact the relevant ombudsman to take the issue further.
• Have you got good contacts with your local PCT? Can you leave information about your advice project in their waiting rooms? Could you contribute to their nurse's training sessions?