Financial and Mental Stress Getting to Me.

Hello @qsin and welcome to the forum

thank you for sharing your story , and sending you knowing hugs and letting you know you are not alone

my husband and I are self employed on a very very low income as my husband has had Mental illness all his life , My husband can not cope with centrelink or in work places

it is very hard , and there are other tips that i have found as applying for a low income heath care card which has helped with the cost of Meds

and aslo the Chemist may be able to help as well with a special med card that if you meds reach a certain amount , you get a reducation in your meds -- depends where you live

also have you tried the sickness benefit at all , my husband won`t apply for any of the benefits

we are here for you anytime you like to chat , and we have a chat line here also

I guess I'm frusterated and sad because I've looked into every community help (salvos can only give so much food vouchers), I haven't bought any clothes (even from k-mart/salvos) in a year because I can't afford it.

And right now I'm not suicidal (I have been in the past) and nobody wants to hear it when you're not suicidal, it's all "you'll get better", "don't give up", "there's always hope" always well wishes, which I appriciate but it's not enough. And the only way to be taken seriously is to be suicidal, you go to hospital, get your medication looked at, and your next appointment gets organised for you. I'm not taking CBT, CAT or whatever other neo-liberal therapy they have seriously enough. There's something deeply wrong with my position in the world, I feel my bones ache like they don't belong in this world. And I get it, what's a doctor supposed to do about that, they have to work with what they got, which is Therapy (CBT) and medication, they can't get into my mind and change that. I guess this is why I feel hopeless.

@Shaz51Yeah go the health care card and I'm on youth allowance. But when I'm on this even the $40 a month on meds is too much.

Looked into the sickness benefit and it's really no different from youth allowance rates.

hey @qsin

Is there anybody in your life who could lend you some money?

You may look up "Factory/ Process work", they always need people.

You can work for a week, and quit, and it will take financial pressure off.

Well...lets look at alternatives....

You can either move back in with your family,

or you could keep looking for work...Cash jobs on GumTree is another option...

When diagnosed with Mental Illness, Centrelink still expects one to work atleast Part time or Casual.

fair enough

Hi @qsin, welcome to the forum. I relate to your story. I have lived all my life with mental illness (bipolar), am now 55 and was approved for the disability pension about 7 years ago. That has been an incredible relief in my life.

Before that I went in and out of about 50 jobs, mostly part-time and casual (all I could manage), but still breaking down with my mental and physical health from almost all of them. In between times (sometimes long periods) I tried to survive on Newstart and sickness allowance. Those times on Newstart were dreadful because of what an extremely small income it is. I found it virtually impossible to live independently on it, couldn't afford bus fare on many occasions, lived on baked beans for periods of time, skimped on food at other times. It is a miserable condition for human beings and I am angry that there is not better assistance provided to really needy people in the community.

One way I got through some of the years was by sharing accommodation with others on a low income. I developed a life long habit of clothing myself from op shops (though even these can be expensive when on Newstart). Saying all this just to let you know you are not alone and I get how hard it is for you. It seems frankly wrong to me that someone with your mental health problems is placed in such a terrible position. It is not surprising that you feel your mental health getting worse under the stress. I felt the same extreme edginess when I was on Newstart too.

If you were to pursue the disability pension, the first port of call would be to find a doctor and psychiatrist to support your application. Do you have these in place? Would they help you with such an application? It would be beneficial if you could access this. It is considerably more than Newstart and, although things are not lavish of course and I am still sharing accommodation, I have even been able to save a small amount on it.

@qsin

I'm sorry you are going through so much stress and financial pressure right now. I understand how hard it is to try to find suitable work. It is disheartening to feel that no one wants you or the employer doesn't understand our needs. It sounds like we are the type of people who slip through the cracks - not too sick to do some work, but no one will employ us in a suitable job either. So we don't qualify for DSP, but we can't keep or hold down jobs either. I've walked out of jobs. It's so hard. I agree with you that the rehabilitation job seeking providers are pretty useless. The government really needs to stop privatising this industry as these job providers just don't care and only care about the dollar signs. Sorry I'm rambling on but just wanted to let you know that I understand how hard it is and I am in a similar position. I hope you get things sorted out with Centrelink and you pick up some cash in hand work. Hope things improve for you soon