Great Places has given more than £4,500 to a mental health charity to help Blackburn customers to manage their money better before any issues escalate.
Lancashire Mind will work with 50 people, on a one-to-one basis, in community settings with a Health Care Coordinator and 30 people will access four, one-hour group sessions to understand how money worries impact their mental health.
Research shows that people with poor mental health are not getting help for financial difficulties early enough, causing both to escalate, which is why they designed Money & Me, a unique service which gives people with poor mental health the tools and support to be financially resilient during the cost-of-living crisis, improving their wellbeing in the process.
Money & Me is a flexible program for individuals or groups. Beneficiaries explore their relationship with money, identify goals, look at budgeting and debt management, examine therapeutic spending and access data and training. They will build a toolkit of strategies to manage their money and mental health
Blackburn with Darwen has worrying levels of economic hardship. It is in the most deprived 10 per cent of local authorities in England on average rank (14/317) and weekly earnings (£465.60) are well below the England average (£536.60). The percentage of people (16-64) classified as economically inactivity is 29.2%, much higher than across the north-west and the UK (21.6%).
Aateeka Bashir, Community Partnership Manager, said: “We are delighted to be able to support Lancashire Mind, who do such valuable work across the county.
“This award will allow them to help people manage their money better, which will help them improve their mental health and wellbeing of themselves and their family.
“Mental health is every bit as important as physical health and we hope this has a real impact on the people who receive support.”
Sarah Seed, Project Co-ordinator at Lancashire Mind, added: “Financial troubles can affect on your mental health and vice versa so the Money & Me programme can help in so many ways.
“It digs down into the issues and provides practical help and tips too help people regain control of their finances and repairs their mental health.
“And it’s not just for people on low incomes as given the cost-of-living crisis, it has affected people in so many ways, so we hope to be able to make real changes to people’s lives and wellbeing.”
