By Kendall Worth
My last blog post left a few things out, especially of the bulleted list of questions… I wanted to add a question. People who are affected by poverty and have a need to find a way to make social connections mentioned to me that something was missing from the original bullet list of questions in that blog. That is:
People in poverty tend to get asked the following question by professionals – e.g. doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists, Social Workers, and other counsellors:
What about people you have known and been friends with before you became an Income Assistance recipient? No people you have been friends with since, for example, your late 20’s? (Maybe that is when the first friend suggested that you were not respecting boundaries?) Is there anyone you have known from your childhood, or growing up? They suggest contacting friends from long ago and inviting them for coffee.
When the “better off community” and especially professionals, with substantial incomes, need someone to talk to, they can look back and call on old friends from childhood, high school or university. They see it as an easy task but for those on welfare it is often easier said than done.
In the eyes of many welfare recipients, professionals like doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists, Social Workers, and Counsellors have good friends, have wonderful, healthy friendships with people in their lives. These professionals also have no problem accessing social media and other means of communication, and, because those professionals live their lives with good paying and satisfying jobs, they can usually live their lives welfare and mental health stigma free. In addition, when those professionals return home from work at the end of their day it is very likely they are in a couple and/or have families of their own. Those professionals do not have to live their lives worrying about things as described here, and here. These posts cover some of the Dept of Community Services policies that make people on social assistance so much more isolated.
Most welfare recipients do not keep in touch with childhood friends (maybe some lucky welfare recipients do) because of stereotypes and stigma that people believe about them, or the stigma they themselves have come to believe or worry about. Childhood friends and even family often believe in stigma, or misunderstand invisible disabilities (just get over it, don’t be lazy, get a job etc.) that many income assistance recipients live with.
All that said we are still working on a project to help make connections, and help social isolation – help people find friends and a community to be part of… Lets hope we succeed in moving forward!
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