‘Money makes the world go round?’
27.09.19: So far in my blogs about the Psychologically Informed Environment (PIE) journey at Centrepoint, you will notice that I have not really reflected on the issue of money or finances. However, this week as part of the development of PIE within the organisation, I have been reviewing my PIE budget and planning ahead for the next six months of the PIE process. This got me thinking about the wider issue of money and finances and how they might impact on the young people that access Centrepoint services. I don’t think I am the only one that is challenged each month to ensure that I live within my means, but I am blessed in not having now to rely upon benefits or insecure employment. However, I do remember being a young person and trying to live in London, learning how to budget and manage on student grants and loans, topped up with part time minimum wage work, which led to high levels of stress and anxiety.
A recent research paper by Frankham, Richardson & Maguire (2019) has again highlighted the link between subjective financial hardship and mental health / wellbeing. This study was particularly interesting as it highlighted the mediating effects of ‘hope’ and ‘shame’ on later mental health, which for me highlighted the importance of providing appropriate support and building resilience through psychological intervention(s) targeted at those who are financial vulnerable. Moreover, ‘Psychologists for Social Change:PSC (formally ‘Psychologists against Austerity’) have argued that there is broad research evidence linking the experience of poverty or financial hardship resulting from austerity as a social policy to mental health outcomes (https://psychagainstausterity.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/paa-briefing-paper.pdf)
Centrepoint have also specifically highlighted the impact of financial issues on homeless young people, particularly in terms of the impact on their housing (https://centrepoint.org.uk/media/3048/ready-to-move-on.pdf). This research has noted that low wages, higher rates of unemployment and insecure employment leave many young people unable to afford housing in the private rented sector and increasingly in the social housing sector as well. In addition, lower benefit rates for young people do not match up with real housing and living costs, meaning that the vast majority of the housing market is out of reach for those on low incomes. This is leading us as an organisation to both use our position, and our information to argue for policy changes to benefit young people (e.g. https://centrepoint.org.uk/about-us/blog/welcome-reforms-to-universal-credit/) as well as consider ways to support Young People in financial hardship both within our services and moving on from our services to independent living.
Centrepoint has also focused on providing young people who use our services with practical and psychological support to address financial issues, through our ‘Money Wise’ programme (https://centrepoint.org.uk/media/2891/moneywise-evaluation-february-2018.pdf) and our staff who work directly with young people to help them develop budgeting skills and access the benefits they are entitled to, as well as the provision of bursaries to support young people to access education and training opportunities that they would otherwise be unable to attend (c.f. https://centrepoint.org.uk/donate/appeals/support-our-bursary/). This is critical, because without this financial support, our young people will not be able to #changethestory and achieve their potential.
Therefore, taking a psychologically informed approach to considering these issues, ‘Psychologists for Social Change’ (PSC) have suggested that to mitigate against the effects of financial hardship and social policies relating to austerity, organisations, and society as a whole, needs to consider the following areas of psychological need;
1. ‘Agency’ — The importance of increasing one’s subjective sense of having control over one’s life, having power to make decisions and shape the future.
2. ‘Safety’ — Feeling ‘safe’ is central to being a happy and healthy person; feeling both physically and psychologically secure in our environments and our relationships with others is central to wellbeing (c.f. last week’s PIE blog; ‘What does it mean to feel safe?’).
3. ‘Connection’ — Our relationships with others are crucial for having a sense of meaningful identity and place in the world (c.f. ‘Attachment Theory; Bowlby, 1967 and previous blogs discussing this), and is associated with better emotional wellbeing.
4. ‘Meaning’ — The ability to live a meaningful life, whether through work, relationships or creative pursuits increases our sense of positive mental health.
5. And finally, ‘Trust’ is a crucial component of wellbeing in individuals, communities and society.
Consequently, when considering Centrepoint’s PIE journey, it will be important to ensure that our day to day practice considers 1–5 above, in terms of how we work psychologically with the young people that access our services, addressing all areas of support that they need including around finances. These areas will be addressed in part within our proposed staff PIE training starting in early 2020, as well as through our PIE Framework and its emphasis on building relationships with young people.
Finally, no discussion of finances can exclude the amazing work of our wider ‘Centrepoint Community’. Specifically, those individual, corporations, and donors that give so generously through regular giving, event sponsorship or other activities to ensure that we can continue to operate as a charity supporting young people towards ‘a home and a job’. Every penny counts and is put towards achieving the best possible outcomes for young people (https://centrepoint.org.uk/donate/). Whilst Centrepoint does receive some statutory funding to undertake our activities, we couldn’t do all of our important work without the additional support that we receive. It has been truly humbling to me to learn since I started on my PIE journey with Centrepoint, just how amazing these individuals or organisations are, giving up their time to run marathons, climb mountains. ‘sleep out’ (#CentrepointSleepOut) or prioritise Centrepoint as part of their charitable giving programmes. It is our aim that by adopting a PIE within Centrepoint, we can work towards being even more effective and efficient with these generous donations and further improve our outcomes for homeless young people across the UK. In today’s society, ‘money does make the world go round’ but at least within Centrepoint, this is in a positive direction towards ending youth homelessness….
