No call for help goes unanswered

How does financial hardship/insecurity affect mental health and suicidality?

Suicide is complex and is rarely caused by one thing. However, there is strong evidence of associations between financial difficulties, mental health and suicide. Struggling to make ends meet can lead to feelings of anxiety and shame. These feelings can themselves impact our motivation and ability to manage our money, and some people may experience a sense of entrapment or loss of control. All these feelings are associated with suicide. These stressors will not be experienced by everyone equally, with those already in lower income households or with pre-existing mental health conditions likely to be among those worst impacted.

Alongside these stressors, the current crisis may lead to more people experiencing other risk factors for suicide and poor mental health, such as unmanageable debt.

Is everyone impacted by the cost-of-living crisis? Are some people impacted more than others?

High levels of inflation impact everyone, as the prices of household necessities like energy and food increase. However, this impact will not be equal – people with the lowest levels of income will be hardest hit, and we know that people in this group are already at higher risk of suicide. People among the poorest 10% of society are more than twice as likely to die from suicide compared to the wealthiest 10% of society. The reasons for this go beyond the current crisis, covering a wide range of issues. However, the cost-of-living crisis will put further pressure on people who are already at greater risk of suicide.

For households in receipt of social security benefits, the value of these benefits has not increased in line with inflation. Households that rely on this money will therefore be substantially worse off in real terms as prices rise.

Another group that may be harder hit are those with pre-existing mental health conditions. These two groups are not mutually exclusive, with mental health conditions more prevalent among people in lower income households. The cost-of-living crisis has arrived in the context of significant rises in the number of people seeking support for their mental health, following the Covid pandemic. Following the pandemic, there has been rising demand for mental health support and unprecedented waiting lists for mental health services across the UK and Republic of Ireland have led to many struggling to get help.

Can debt impact suicide rates?

As prices rise, people may be more likely to find themselves in debt in order to pay for essentials. Unmanageable debt is a risk factor of suicide, with a 2018 study finding that 23% of people who attempted suicide in the year prior were in problem debt. Indebtedness (ranging from mortgage arrears to debts to friends and family) has also been found to be associated with other risk factors for suicide, notably depression and anxiety.

What can Samaritans do if I am struggling with the cost of living?

At Samaritans, we are here to listen. Whatever you’re going through, whether that be worried about the cost of living or anything else, a Samaritan is there to help. We are here 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to provide non-judgmental support – we are here for anyone who needs someone.

Our branch finally re-opened for face-to-face support on June 1st, 2022. Face-to-face emotional support is a crucial part of our service. We offer a safe space for anyone who needs someone to talk to, who may be struggling or has perhaps reached crisis point. We are now open every day of the week from 9am to 9pm. No appointment or referral needed.

Before COVID

We saw callers between 9am and 9pm, every day of the year, as a drop-in service. Some days we saw as many as 20; some days half-a-dozen or so. On average, ten a day.  Some were regular; we were part of how they coped with life.  Some were homeless; we make regular outreach visits to food drop sites and individuals would then come to the branch for support. Some were local workers or students, perhaps brought in by their manager, referred by their college or university, or who heard of us through the talks we do. And many we just don’t know about, of course.

During lockdowns

We closed to callers when the first lockdown came into effect on March 23^rd, 2020. We vowed to keep the branch going 24x7, despite volunteers shielding, moving out of London, unwilling to travel by public transport, and so on. We manged to keep our phone lines open throughout the many lockdowns we had. We also used this time to improve our branch’s ventilation and reorganise our internal layout to space out desks in the phone room. We created three larger rooms for potential visitors and improved ventilation in these, in the hope that we would re-open soon. 

Preparing to reopen

Before re-opening our branch to visitors, we had to ensure that we:

• Prepared volunteers, especially those (now about 130) who’d never experienced a face-to-face contact before;
• Acquired and tested the technology to enable contacts to be observed and heard for callers and volunteers’ safeguarding;
• Redecorated and prepared the three newly-created visitor rooms;
• Set up new guidance and processes, including capturing information for the evaluation of the pilot.

Where we are now

In the first two weeks of re-opening, we had 34 visitors. On the quietest days we had none at all. On the busiest day we had seven. It’s still too early and the numbers are too low to see any pattern emerging. 

We’re still working on …

• Improving our waiting room. It had been neglected for over two years. Most of the plants had died and it looked very shabby.
• Improving our exterior. We are in a courtyard and visitors and volunteers are faced with the bins and debris of the local café and neighbouring flats. Our staff members are working with neighbours to improve the area, get regular cleaning of the courtyard and improve our external signage.

Every visitor is someone who has chosen to seek emotional support in person from another human being and we are proud and humbled to be providing this again. This wouldn’t have been possible without the kindness and hard work of a great many volunteers: the training team and onsite support team who are supporting newer volunteers and those volunteers who re-decorated our visitor rooms. Last but not least, we are grateful to all of you who keep supporting us over the years!