Our Mental Health Peer Support Worker works with local people, putting them and their mental wellbeing at the heart of what they do. There is no 'wrong door' and we are here to help advocate for and enable those people to have a voice. Here's one individual's journey:
*name changed to protect identity
*Paul was referred by his GP in August 2023, aged 59. Paul did not have a National Insurance Number and cannot remember having one. He has survived doing cash-in-hand jobs on farms and begging or being dependent on friends and partners. He was now too ill to work.
Paul suspects that the name he has been calling himself is not his real name, that his mum who was escaping domestic violence changed their names so that his dad couldn’t find them. He spent some of his childhood in care as his mum was too ill to care for him. He cannot remember where he was in care as they moved too often.
He currently lives in a bedsit with bills included. The Council had agreed to give him housing benefit even though he does not have a national insurance number and write off his council tax with a discretionary payment.
We gave him a free Vodafone SIM and a mobile phone so he can contact us. He was also referred to 'Live Well at Home' and had a worker for a year.
Patrick, our Mental Health Peer Support Worker, also invited Paul to attend the Men's Social Café which he has done sporadically. SOAR and Live Well at Home made lots of referrals to the local foodbank as he was struggling to afford food.
We organised a 'Team Around the Person' meeting but this did not resolve his case in regard to his income, and we still could not find the reason that he does not have a National Insurance Number.
By getting the local MP office and Sheffield Citizens Advice involved, the DWP agreed to allocate Paul a new National Insurance Number so that he can apply for Universal Credit, and his first payment was in November 2024!
Citizens Advice are also supporting Paul to apply for PIP. It will be a big change for him and he can hardly believe it has happened after all this time.
We will continue to support Paul at the men's group and help him adjust to life with some money coming in.
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