Basic Income and Our Mental Health

Start: 2023-01-17 18:00:00 UTC Greenwich Mean Time : Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London (GMT+00:00)

End: 2023-01-17 19:30:00 UTC Greenwich Mean Time : Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London (GMT+00:00)

This is a virtual event

We hear lots of celebrities and organisations giving us advice on how to look after our mental health.

Nature walks. Yoga retreats. Scented candles. Meditation apps.

Yet there is far too little discussion about the links between mental health and the thing we’ve all worried about at some point in our lives: money.

Anyone that has ever struggled financially knows this has a profound, negative impact on your mental health.

Mental illness is complex and doesn’t have a single solution. There are many factors that affect our mental health. To manage our mental health as individuals we need access to services, community, good work and basic resources. We need dependable, systemic solutions that are available to us all.

We can’t solve mental illness. But we can solve the financial insecurity that exacerbates ill mental health. And we can do this with a basic income. The idea of giving everyone in society a regular cash payment and in the process ensuring everyone has a floor which they cannot fall beneath.

Basic Income Conversation has long been investigating the link between basic income and mental health. In 2021 we ran the Peace of Mind project, and delivered an open letter to ministers with over 2,500 thousand signatures from people who want to see basic income explored as a preventative mental health measure.

Now we're using our seminar series to shine a light on the topic. Money might not buy happiness, but is it a necessary cornerstone of happiness?

Joining us to discuss this are:

  • Dr. Sophie Wickham a Wellcome Trust Research Fellow in the Department of Public Health, Policy and Systems, University of Liverpool. The focus of Sophie’s work has explored health inequalities in pain, obesity, smoking, unintended injuries, bullying, children’s rights, and mental health, with specific expertise in public mental health. Sophie’s Wellcome Trust Fellowship investigates the impact of policies that aim to reduce child poverty on child and maternal mental health. Sophie’s most recent work has investigated the mental health effect of the introduction of Universal Credit.
  • Dr Jen Daffin is a community clinical psychologist, Co-chair Psychologists for Social Change Wales and Co-Director of UK Association of Clinical Psychologists - Wales.

As ever, we will be taking questions from the audience so please join us on Tuesday 17th January at 6pm to hear from our speakers and say your piece.

We look forward to seeing you all there.