Tales from the food bank (13)

One thing I have learned about while working for our food bank is that no two stories are the same. Not that we ask people about their individual stories, of course, but because sometimes they simply volunteer the information. Maybe it’s that they are pleased to talk to someone who is happy to listen without prejudice? It’s good to talk, as they say, and today’s theme, such as there was a theme, was mental health.

I can only imagine what it’s like to have to go through the rigmarole of going to a foodbank. It could be embarrassing, humiliating even. And very stressful. Most weeks, I am seeing someone who has mental health issues to a degree somewhere between moderate and acute. I have some personal experience in this department so I can usually work out quite quickly that a person is unwell. So it was today.

Once we have gone through a list of requirements, I will always raise the subject of mental health, if they have raised it first. I ask how they are feeling and what they are doing about it. Not in an intrusive way, I hope, but just so they know that help is out there. “Have you spoken to a doctor?” is the usual starting point because there is a limited NHS service of counselling available. I refer to this as a starting point which is true, sort of. If it is determined that someone is in a really bad way – you can probably work out yourself what this might be – then a good counsellor or therapist can refer a person to acute mental health care. If I suspect a person is in a seriously bad way, then I will suggest Samaritans. But they key word here is ‘suspect’. I am not an expert and in the past when I have lost friends to suicide, I never had the first clue something might be wrong. I just know that suggesting something is better than suggesting nothing.

We had a return caller today. I won’t get specific but I will say that they were unwell. I don’t know if it’s poor mental health, the effect of drugs or even a combination of both but even I could tell that medical intervention might have been a good idea. There was literally nothing I could do in this instance other than hope that someone else in the system, with more knowledge and skill than I possess, is able to take action.

Finally, it could be that I am about to offered an opportunity to double my working hours with local food banks. I’d be open to that if it was in the right place at the right time. Obviously, there’s no money in it but I don’t care about that. I’m well aware that I helping to paper over the enormous societal cracks that have opened up in 13 years of Conservative government and no amount of spin and bullshit from Rishi Sunak about levelling up can repair them. But I can’t stand by and do nothing when otherwise people would starve to death in freezing cold homes.

I repeat my view from previous blogs that I am doing nothing special and I am doing a lot less than many people. In many instances, a lot less. It doesn’t need to be like this, but the government has chosen the direction of the country and before we get the chance to vote them out, I’m doing what I can. It’s tiring, especially mentally, but my weariness is nothing compared to those who have nothing. And next week, we go again.