The current cost of living crisis is causing real concern for many households across our town. Many people are worrying about the rise in fuel and energy prices and wondering how they will make ends meet especially when it is difficult to find employment.
Worrying about money or unemployment can have a big impact on your mental health and wellbeing. The stress can make managing your finances harder and being in debt can cause people to feel isolated, embarrassed and even suicidal. It is so important to realise that there is help available and not to bury your head in the sand, hoping the problems will go away.
The charity, Christians Against Poverty, offer debt help to anyone who is concerned about the amount of money they owe. The Debt Centre in Market Drayton has been running for 8 years and has helped many people in the area to become debt free. All of the services offered are free, confidential and available to everyone of any faith or none.
The charity also run three free courses locally
1: The Money Course – this is a three week course aimed at helping people get organised with their finances and covers subjects such as setting a budget, how to save and ways of dealing with debts. Over 10,000 people a year do this course nationally and many of them are not in debt. You can look at it as a kind of MOT for your money! The course is available to anyone and is free, fun and very practical.
2: Steps to Employment Course – this covers subjects such as discovering your strengths, writing CVs and interview skills and is run in a fun way over a free lunch.
3: Life Skills – another course run over a free lunch which covers things like saving energy, shopping and cooking on a budget, staying healthy and how to keep healthy relationships.
If you are interested in finding out more about the services we offer or if you are interested in getting involved or supporting our work, you can contact Carolyn Lawrence, the Market Drayton Debt Centre manager on carolynlawrence@capuk.org
