Surviving the Siege

The Austerity Policy was introduced in 2010 after the financial crash of 2008. My aim here is to outline the contribution psychology can make toward alleviating the impact of the policy on vulnerable citizens

Dr Mike Bender (the psychologist) wrote:Research has shown that residential stability, civic engagement, trust and social cohesion are important community-level resources for mental health and wellbeing (e.g. Houle, 2014). So, by teaching in groups that could then mutate into support groups, fear, anxiety and felt isolation might well decrease as supportive bonds develop between the participants. Together, people might be able to resist stigmatisation, at least to some degree, thereby regaining some self-esteem and self-worth. They would also have access to skills-sharing, to increase their chances of successful negotiation of the system.

Such groups should emphasise their non-clinical nature, as claimants may well, correctly, reject any association with mental illness. A key aspect would be focussing on, and understanding, the nature of the system that they are caught up in. One facet, for example, should be 'hanging on in'. It is possible to successfully appeal a PIP assessment, as cited earlier (Lavelle, 2017, p.7). But claimants need sustained support to keep on withstanding the attacks on their wellbeing and to keep challenging the decisions. So, groups will need to be open-ended, not time limited, to provide that support, perhaps changing from training to self-help groups. They will continue to need professional input to provide prestige support and professional knowledge of the system.