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Our New Financial and Wellbeing Support Service Launches on 2 October 2023
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PRESS RELEASE – Are financial worries affecting your wellbeing? Help for Epsom & Ewell residents is available
Surrey, 05/09/2023
A new free money advice and wellbeing support service for Epsom & Ewell residents is available from 2 October 2023. The Financial and Wellbeing Support Service (FWSS) will be delivered by Citizens Advice Epsom & Ewell for expert benefits and money advice (CAEE) and mental health charity Mary Frances Trust (MFT) for specialist wellbeing support.
If managing your finances is causing stress and anxiety or mental health challenges are impacting your ability to manage your finances, the three-year project funded by The National Lottery Community Fund will provide a range of free services and resources to help residents to get help during this difficult time.
The aim of the project is to empower the client, and:
• Increase financial resilience and independence
• Improve overall mental and/or emotional wellbeing
• Reduce stress and anxiety
• Increase engagement with local community and reduce social isolation
• Be more informed about how to manage finances and wellbeing going forward.
Patrick Wolter, CEO, Mary Frances Trust, said: “With CAEE and MFT working so closely together, the client only has one point of contact to help them get the full support they need. We are thrilled to offer this free service to the residents of Epsom and Ewell.”
Lisa Davis, CEO, Citizens Advice Epsom & Ewell said: “So many people are feeling stressed about their financial situation, which leads to poor mental health. Or indeed suffering from poor mental health can lead to difficulty in coping with finances. This new self-referral service is an integrated approach to support both of those situations.
How to access the service:
· If you need support to tackle both financial and emotional/mental wellbeing difficulties; and
· live in or around the Epsom & Ewell Borough and are 18+ years
then please get in touch with either organisation (no need to contact both). No third party referral is required. Case Workers from CAEE and MFT will support you to improve your situation and emotional wellbeing via face-to-face, telephone or online appointments.
Mary Frances Trust
Email: fwss@maryfrancestrust.org.uk
Telephone / SMS: 07380 567708
www.maryfrancestrust.org.uk
Citizens Advice Epsom & Ewell
Email: fwss@caee.org.uk
Tel: 01372 300421
A similar service called “Financial and Wellbeing Support Service – Surrey Heath” also exists for residents of Surrey Heath. It is part of the same project funded by The National Lottery Community Fund and delivered by partner organisations Citizens Advice Surrey Heath (money and benefit advice) and Catalyst Support (wellbeing support).
To find out more or access the Surrey Heath service, please contact either organisation directly:
Citizens Advice Surrey Heath
Email: FWSS@ca-sh.org.uk
Tel/SMS: 07719 362300
Catalyst
Email: fwss@catalystsupport.org.uk
– ENDS –
Media enquiries
Connie Ridout, Communications Lead, Mary Frances Trust, email: connie@maryfrancestrust.org.uk, tel: 01372 375 400.
Louise Curd, Publicity and Fundraising Manager, Citizens Advice Epsom & Ewell, email: publicity@caee.org.uk tel: 01372 300778.
Notes to editors
1. Download our FWSS Epsom & Ewell leaflet and download our FWSS Epsom & Ewell poster.
2. There is strong evidence of a link between financial issues and poor mental health.
3. One in three people in the UK are living with poor mental health. A poll by The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute evidenced that 46% of people in debt also have a mental health problem. 39% of people with mental wellbeing issues stated that financial problems were the primary reason their mental health1 deteriorated.
4. The poll also highlighted those financial difficulties:
a. Were common causes of stress and anxiety
b. Caused social isolation, where people become stigmatized and isolated, struggling to ask for help. This is exacerbated by people’s needs to cut back on essential living expenditure due to debt, which can be made worse when pursued by credit agencies.
c. Can mean people in debt are three times more likely to have considered suicide
5. Less than 50% of people living with poor mental health are in employment, 47% of those in receipt of out of work benefit have a mental health disorder.
6. Mary Frances Trust is a leading mental health and emotional wellbeing charity for Surrey residents (aged 16+). Since 1994, we provide individual goal setting sessions, wellbeing activities, courses and groups, peer support as well as wellbeing advice and information as part of our Community Connections service.
7. We also offer crisis support at our Safe Haven in Epsom every evening of the year, SUN (a service for people with complex emotions often associated with personality disorders) and a variety of more focussed 1-2-1 support schemes in both GP surgeries and local hospitals for clients with more complex mental health needs, often working with other national and community partners to support these clients.
8. For a list of our services, please visit: www.maryfrancestrust.org.uk/how-we-help/
9. MFT currently supports over 2,300 Surrey residents every month through a variety of online and face-to-face services in Banstead, Elmbridge, Epsom & Ewell and Mole Valley. All services are free, with no waiting lists and no time limits. You do not need to have a diagnosis to access MFT services and you can self-refer anytime you like. You can also be referred to MFT by a mental health professional.
10. We help people with all types of mental health and emotional wellbeing issues from depression, anxiety, low mood, isolation, hoarding, bipolar, personality disorders and other serious mental health conditions.
11. Further information about the FWSS project can be found here: www.maryfrancestrust.org.uk/how-we-help/financial-and-wellbeing-support-service/
12. Citizens Advice Epsom & Ewell is made up of the national charity Citizens Advice; the network of independent local Citizens Advice charities across England and Wales; the Citizens Advice consumer service; and the Witness Service.
13. For information and advice, contact Citizens Advice Epsom & Ewell on Freephone 0808 278 7963 or visit https://www.caee.org.uk
14. Citizens Advice Epsom & Ewell (CAEE) is a small, local charity offering free advice and information for all who live, work and study in the borough of Epsom & Ewell. All advice is free, confidential, impartial and independent.
15. Each year CAEE helps around 3,000 clients with issues such as benefits, housing, debt, fuel poverty, family issues and much more. Our outcomes are extremely positive not only for the clients we serve, but also for the wider community. During 2022/23 we secured income in excess of £1,000,000 for our clients.
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