How do we sustain the support and creativity seen in response to Covid? – Rachel Cackett and Alison Watson

A couple of weeks ago we got in touch to check out something we were each, independently, starting to notice. Though Shelter Scotland and Samaritans are set up to provide quite different sorts of support, we were each seeing some patterns emerging in the themes of our callers around heightened anxiety in general and particular concerns about money, security, isolation and relationships. So, our organisations talked. This is a little of what we shared.

At Samaritans, we provided emotional support nearly 400,000 times in the first eight weeks of lockdown and our volunteers have told us that conversations about family and relationships, finance, unemployment and benefits have become more frequent, with heightened concerns being expressed by those contacting us.

People often talk about their fears, worries, and uncertainty about the future – like not knowing whether they will have a job after lockdown ends, how they will cope with a loss of income, and how long this will all last. We’ve heard concerns from people about being furloughed, losing their jobs suddenly, or losing their businesses. Unsurprisingly, some callers are anxious about running out of money and not being able to pay for essentials. Some callers are concerned about the difficulty of accessing benefits, due to problems getting through to services and anxiety about possible delays in payments.

At Shelter Scotland many of the people who have contacted our services for help were already at the end of their tether, living in temporary accommodation that was cramped or over-crowded which has made staying at home an endurance challenge. We’ve been hearing about the practical challenges of lockdown when you’re stuck in inappropriate, over-crowded or unsafe housing particularly for families with children. We are hearing concerns about bills and personal finances. And we’re seeing the impact of policies which are leaving people whose immigration status is insecure unsure of what – if any – benefits and support they can access.

We were struck by the similarities. People may choose to call Samaritans or Shelter Scotland for different reasons, but many of the issues they are facing are common. And these calls show that while we are “all in this together”, it’s not on an equal footing. The inequalities there before Covid risk becoming far, far greater because of it.

What matters is what we do to address all of this. Both of our organisations can see the steps which governments have taken to try to reduce the impact of Covid. At Shelter Scotland, for example, in the first few weeks we saw a huge proportion of calls related to coronavirus and, while our helpline remains busy, the proportion related to COVID has settled at around a third to a half which we attribute to the success of some of the emergency measures like temporary restriction on evictions in social and private rented sector, payment holidays for mortgages and an increase in the value of Universal Credit.

We have also both seen the innovation and creativity that is possible when a crisis hits. Within a few short weeks we’ve seen the extension of mental health crisis services at pace, the launch of a national campaign to support mental wellbeing in “Clear Your Head” and the setting up of emergency hotels for those sleeping rough or sofa-surfing – things which would normally have taken months and months to happen, if they happened at all. When there is a will, a focus and an emphasis on working together, there is a lot we can do.

But as we move away from our emergency footing and the war-chest dries up – as uncertainty for people increases and inequalities in income and resilience deepen – then what? How can we sustain the support and creativity we’ve seen in the early response to Covid?

We are certainly not all in this together in the same way, but we can’t answer these questions without each other. Shelter Scotland and Samaritans’ work may overlap but we normally work in different spheres, with different government departments and different political spokespeople. For too long we’ve all tried to sort mental health crisis in one place, the housing crisis in another and other inequalities elsewhere. But when you look at the calls coming our way, what we already knew is clear; people’s lives just aren’t like that.

We don’t claim to have the answers to what comes next. We, like everyone else, are in unchartered waters. But we make the commitment to keeping working across old boundaries to find a way out of this that does better – far, far better – at creating a more equal society in Scotland. Our challenge to government and political parties is simple. Will you?

Rachel Cackett, Executive Director, Samaritans Scotland, Contact Samaritans 116 123 / Email [email protected], www.samaritans.org

Alison Watson, Director, Shelter Scotland, Contact Shelter Scotland: 0808 800 444, www.shelterscotland.org/coronavirusadvice