In this episode we travel to the Midlas offices in Midland to speak with Amanda Ghouse, a financial counsellor, about the work Midlas does in assisting people who find themselves in financial distress. Amanda explains the range of services that Midlas provides to their clients, in addition to financial counselling they offer legal and tenancy advocacy and support, and have recently starting assisting people with food and other essential items. During our conversation Amanda provides numerous examples of the types of situations that people find themselves in, what role poor physical and mental health can play in people's financial circumstances, and how the team at Midlas has been able to help people get themselves back on track financially. We also discuss the fact that many people seeking assistance from Midlas are not people who have been experiencing long-term or entrenched disadvantage, and that falling on hard times happens to a range of people in the community. We also discuss the impact COVID19 on Midlas and the way it provides its services, as well as the government responses have had for people receiving Job Seeker and Job Keeper payments, and how things might look for them in future as we navigate our way out of the pandemic. This was a truly enlightening conversation, we hope you enjoy it.
You can read more about Midlas and the services they provide here: http://www.midlas.org.au
As always, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can contact us at: meaningofhealth@outlook.com or via twitter @healthmeanswhat
