National Media Opportunity - Cost of living crisis and mental health

The cost of living crisis has affected people in such a variety of ways. Those who can attend therapy have been reporting that even just being at home and being colder than they were last year is making the winter feel longer and harder than usual. Others have asked to reduce the frequency of sessions to help them manage their finances more effectively. For things such as trauma and grief processing this sometimes means that their treatment is less effective and therefore their mental health less robust than it might have been without the cost of living crisis. For all of us, it seems that concerns about the expense of our energy and fuel bills weigh heavy on our minds. Comparing our energy expenses over the last 12 months can cause us to feel hard done when it seems we are paying more whilst being colder and wearing more layers.

Financial pressure is the leading cause of stress outside work now, and we are seeing a rise in financial worries, anxiety around being able to afford to pay household bills and loss of sleep due to money worries much more commonly in therapy sessions. The impact of the cost of living crisis has perhaps hit people with pre-existing mental health problems the hardest, leading to worsening anxiety, depression and hopelessness. People who are already facing tough decisions about what they pay for are now more likely to cancel therapy sessions, not attend regularly or give them up completely. This is likely to undermine their progress, add to their fears and worries and ultimately undermine their mental health and well-being over the longer term.

From Kit Norman, CEO of Augmentive: We've introduced split payments for higher cost consultations as 1 in 10 new enquiries have explicitly raised affordability concerns. That being said, people seem to be increasingly willing to invest in private mental healthcare. Our number of new clients has increased by 179% year to date and their average spending has increased by 157% over the same period. We regularly hear that our clients are making large sacrifices elsewhere with some using their universal credit and many others borrowing from family members to subsidise the cost.