Money worries

Worrying about money can affect your mental health. A mental health problem can also make money harder to manage.

These are two problems, and each has its own help. Free debt advice deals with the money. Talking support can help with the worry, alongside that advice and never instead of it.

Source: NHS: money worries

How money worries can feel

Money worries rarely stay as numbers on a page. They tend to follow you to bed, to work and into your closest relationships.

• Lying awake going over bills and what you owe
• Leaving post unopened, or not checking your bank app
• Feeling ashamed, or hiding it from the people close to you
• Snapping at people, or arguing at home about money
• Low mood, or a sense that you are stuck

None of this means you have failed. Money trouble can follow a job loss, an illness, a break-up or rising bills.

Almost half of people in problem debt also have a mental health problem. That is the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute's own figure.

Source: MMHPI: money and mental health

Where free debt advice starts

We do not give debt advice, and talking support does not include it. Debt advice is a regulated service, so it belongs with the organisations below.

Local advice in your nation

Citizens Advice runs a free line in England, Wales and Scotland. Advice NI covers Northern Ireland.

Advice NI

Anyone Northern Ireland

Free advice on debt and benefits across every council area.

Check the website for the helpline's opening hours.

Call

When your mental health is part of it

Mental Health and Money Advice is an online service from the charity Mental Health UK. It explains how money and mental health problems affect each other. Its advice line takes referrals only, through services such as National Debtline and StepChange.

Breathing Space is a legal scheme in England and Wales. For 60 days it pauses most interest, charges and action from the people you owe. It does not pause your repayments.

You cannot apply yourself. A debt adviser applies for you, if it is right for you.

There is also a Mental Health Crisis Breathing Space. It lasts as long as your mental health crisis treatment, plus another 30 days. An approved mental health professional has to certify that you are in that treatment.

Scotland has its own scheme, called a moratorium. For 6 months, the people you owe cannot take action to recover the debt. It does not stop interest or charges.

Sources: Mental Health UK: money advice, HM Government: Breathing Space, HM Treasury: Breathing Space guidance, Scottish Government: moratorium

If the cost of support worries you

ViaCara is free for you to use. Each professional sets their own fee, and you agree it with them directly.

NHS Talking Therapies is free. If you live in England, you can refer yourself. Elsewhere in the UK, ask a GP what talking therapy your area offers.

NHS Talking Therapies

Adults England

Free NHS talking therapy for anxiety and depression. You can refer yourself online.

Find your local service

Sources: NHS: talking therapies overview, NHS: talking therapies

What talking support can hold

The debt is one problem. What it does to you is another.

A professional can help with the anxiety, the low mood or the lost sleep that money worries bring. Talking support is for how the money feels, not for your accounts.

If gambling sits behind the debt, our gambling page lists specialist help.

You might find it useful when

• The worry has stayed even after debt advice has started
• You want to talk about what money has cost a relationship
• Old feelings about money, from childhood or an earlier debt, keep coming back
• You want somewhere safe to say what you have not told anyone
• Low mood or anxiety makes it hard to face money

It helps to tell a professional what debt advice you already have. A good one will work alongside it.

If it all feels like too much

Money worries can build until they feel impossible to carry. If you are thinking about ending your life, our crisis page lists who to talk to now, day or night.