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Interviews were conducted with three different groups of people, those who had self-harmed due to employment, financial or benefit concerns, those struggling financially and frontline staff from voluntary and statutory sector organisations.

Dr. Barnes and her team discovered that most people found service provision confusing and difficult to access. In addition, benefit sanctions and preexisting mental health problems played a large role and many had the expectation that they should be self-reliant.

This study concludes that interventions are required to identify those in need so that they have guidance and access to practical and reliable advice. Listen to more in this podcast: