Independent Mental Health Advocacy
MENTAL HEALTH MATTERS WALES
2ND FLOOR, CAMBRIA HOUSE
WYNDHAM STREET
BRIDGEND, CF31 1EB
Tel: 01656 651450
Fax: 01656 768117
Case study:
“DOUG”, Aged 47
The Community Advocacy Service received a call from a woman, “Mrs Jones”*, seeking assistance for her brother, “Doug”*. Mrs Jones explained that Doug had experienced problems with his mental health last year and been admitted to Coity Clinic following a suicide attempt. He had been a self-employed tradesman with a successful business, but had been so embarrassed by the situation he found himself in that he had not claimed any state benefits or sought any other help, despite not working for the past eight months.
Mrs Jones said she had been trying to help Doug claim Incapacity Benefit, as he cannot cope with the necessary phone calls and forms. She was having problems understanding how the whole benefit system works, especially as she does not live in the area and cannot visit a local office with him to sort the situation out.
I explained that Doug’s situation would definitely fall within the remit of the advocacy service and we would be happy to assist him with some of the problems he was facing. Mrs Jones appreciated that Doug would obviously need to consent to our involvement and said she would encourage him to phone us directly himself to arrange a meeting.
A short time later, Doug phoned the office and I arranged for him to come in with his paperwork so we could try to get his benefit claim up and running. When Doug came in he gave me some further background on his current predicament. His marriage had broken down last year after twenty years and he had become deeply depressed. He had not been able to work and had actually been in Coity Clinic three times, each following suicide attempts. Stopping work had resulted in financial problems and this had just further intensified his feelings that life was no longer worth living. He was now at the stage where he literally did not have any money for food.
I made a few phone calls on Doug’s behalf to the Incapacity Benefit processing department in Caerphilly and the local Jobcentre Plus office. It soon became apparent why his sister had felt Doug needed our input. Despite clearly being an intelligent and well-qualified man, he was at such a low ebb that he struggled to give his name and date of birth when he was asked to confirm his identity over the phone. Following these phone calls, I accompanied Doug over to the jobcentre as there had been confusion over his Doctor’s certificate. Once this was cleared up Doug’s claim was active and he was issued with an emergency payment that afternoon.
Although this seemed like a productive outcome to the advocacy service’s involvement with Doug, unfortunately we had only really scratched the surface. The following week Doug phoned us again. He was in tears and quite difficult to understand. He said he hadn’t paid his mortgage for some time and he was being threatened with court action. It was towards the end of the afternoon, so I arranged for Doug to come to the office the following day with all the relevant paperwork so I could give him some help working out what he needed to do.
When Doug came into the office the next day, he had a pile of letters he had been ignoring for several months. He had mortgage arrears of about £3000, as well as associated charges for missed payments and direct debits being recalled. He had a County Court summons as the mortgage company were now seeking possession of his house. The court date was in five weeks.
Amongst his pile of papers there were final notices from the gas and electricity suppliers threatening to cut him off, a letter from a debt collection firm working on behalf of the water company who were chasing up months of unpaid bills, a council tax demand threatening legal action, as well as a further court summons relating to an unpaid fine of £1000. No family or friends had any idea of the extent of Doug’s financial problems.
I explained to Doug that we would need to seek specialist advice on the mortgage situation as to what he should do and what to expect from any court proceedings. I said I would accompany him to the local Citizens Advice Bureau the following morning to discuss this particular issue with an adviser.
We then went through all Doug’s various bills and I phoned each one on his behalf. Some of the figures were not actually as big as Doug had thought, as the readings had only been estimates. The remaining money he did owe would be recovered gradually through Doug being issued with pay-as-you-go cards for his gas and electricity.
Both the debt collection firm acting for the water company and the council tax department were informed of Doug’s current predicament and payment arrangements were agreed. I also phoned the court to see if a payment plan could be agreed, but were told that unless the full amount is paid before the hearing, Doug would have to go to court about the matter.
Going through all of Doug’s paperwork and making the necessary calls took a fair amount of time, but he felt his financial situation would have continued to spiral completely out of control without our intervention. Although he had been in hospital three times because of his problems, when he had gone home the difficulties of the outside world were still waiting for him. He hadn’t been able to motivate himself to even start looking at all these issues, let alone pick up the phone and actually sort things out.
During the following few weeks, the Community Advocacy Service assisted Doug in accessing help in a number of areas. This included getting further information from the Citizens Advice Bureau, housing and legal advice from Shelter Cymru and assistance at court from the duty solicitor.
Over the next couple of months the Advocacy Service continued to assist Doug when dealing with official letters, forms, phone calls and meetings. The court proceedings regarding his house were adjourned at the first hearing as the court took into account the problems Doug had faced and the fact that he was now accessing support. By the time the second court date came around, a possession order was not granted to the mortgage company, as Doug had managed to return to full-time employment and was in a position to start paying his mortgage again and clearing the arrears.
*The real names of those mentioned in this piece have been changed for the purpose of the case study.
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