Mental Health Awareness Week 2023
Horizon are proud to support Mental Health Awareness Week 2023, and will be sharing information throughout the week on how you can manage your mental health, and where you can find help and support if you are struggling with your mental health.
The theme this year is anxiety, a natural response to uncertainty around us and in our lives which can become overwhelming. For example, in the current cost of living crisis, a recent poll found that one in ten (10%) of UK adults feel hopeless about financial circumstances, and more than one-third (34%) feel anxious (mentalhealth.org.uk).
Do you feel anxious or worried about money? Our Tenancy Sustainment team can help
Last year, our team helped over 200 tenants apply for benefits, manage their finances and seek support for their mental health. We’ve included some feedback from them below:
“[The team] do a great job, thought I had hit rock bottom, so team turned everything around for me. I can now see my sister and have travelled to England and wouldn’t have been able to do so in past. I'm getting my life back again. If you hadn't stepped in, I don’t know where I would have been. I can't praise you enough.”
“I had been putting off discussions about money and budgeting as I was terrified of what the situation was but discussing it all with Tenancy Sustainment team made me see it’s not as bad as I thought so I will know for future not to avoid it.”
“I was really pleased with the service provided, the team have everything you need. They are so helpful and friendly, and they keep you up to date at all times. They provide a great service to tenants.”
A tenant contacted us to discuss claiming Personal Independence Payment (PIP) benefit. He had tried twice in the past without assistance, and after both of these attempts had been unsuccessful, he was very anxious about claiming again. Our team supported him to complete the PIP form, and visited his home to support with the telephone assessment as he did not feel that she could manage this alone. The tenant was really pleased when their application was successful, as this will give him an additional income of over £300 per month which will really help with the additional costs he has due to his health conditions.
Another tenant was in part time employment when our team started supporting her to apply for Universal Credit. The team also provided extensive support to escalate her case due to the length of time her assessment had taken. The tenant subsequently lost her job, and the team provided help to keep her claim open and minimise the stress she was experiencing. The tenant was awarded an element of Universal Credit, giving her over £350 extra income per month, and a backdate of over £10,000. This helped ease the stress and anxiety caused by losing her job, as well as support sought from Breathing Space and Samaritans following information provided by the team.