Poverty

I knew I wanted to write about poverty for this blog and had already started writing it when someone mentioned to me on a training course about being anti racist that one of the chapters in the anti-racist social worker in practice book is about the link between racism and poverty.

I did not want to write about poverty without thinking about the connection or different experiences people can have due to other factors and how the same as other characteristics about people can link via Intersectionality poverty is something that will be experienced differently based on characteristics such as race. Within that chapter it talks about the changes to tax benefits from a survey completed in 2023 by We Are Citizens Advice which shows how different families are impacted money wise. I was extremely surprised that black families are impacted by over triple the amount of white families and Asian families almost double the amount of white families. I understand that we are in a cost of living crisis and everything is becoming more expensive but how is it being justified that black families are so much worse off.

The reason I wanted to write about Poverty this time was that someone mentioned a Ted Talk to me called The Brain on Poverty by Jessica Sharpe. Here is the link in case you want to go and watch it or listen to it https://www.ted.com/talks/jessica_sharpe_the_brain_on_poverty

Although this Ted Talk is from May 2018 so almost 8 years old the information in it is still as relevant today as it was then and got me thinking about the people that we work with and how poverty impacts them but also where some of the actions, thought processes and needs come from.

This talks about the fact that those who are born into poverty have a different brain make up than their higher income peers. They catch up physically but their brain can sometimes not catch up with their peers. They can end up with less grey matter overall and struggle to develop some of the necessary skills needed for day to day life.

When we think about poverty we think about not being able to go on holiday or have luxuries. Sometimes we may think about people struggling to put food on the table or feed their families a healthy diet. We do not think about the extended levels of stress that people are under or how toxic this can be. Living with high levels of cortisol at all times. Think about your most stressful day and now imagine feeling that way every day. I cannot even begin to imagine how that would feel. It impacts people in many different ways including higher weight, diabetes, struggling to fight infections and even early death.

Now imagine you are living your most stressful day whilst trying to be a parent. Although for some their most stressful day may include parenting too already. How is your child learning to regulate their emotions, stress levels or learn coping skills if you are so stressed that you struggle to show them how. Babies are born without the required skills for life and they only learn through being taught especially things like emotional regulation. They can't learn to step back, take a deep breath and tackle a problem if all they have seen is a stressed out parent who doesn't have coping skills to deal with stress. It starts a cycle of people over multiple generations that struggle with coping, handling stress and managing daily life. If you are struggling with these things that could potentially make it more difficult to get or keep a job which then causes the same difficulties as your parents are experiencing in terms of high levels of cortisol and permanent stress.

This is when we usually meet people, when life has got so overwhelming they don't know what to do. They need support but do not know where to turn so they come to social services. Usually expecting us to fix everything for them which is not what we do. We can signpost or direct them to somewhere that may be able to help but us for example providing a food parcel does not fix the problem of someone consistently not having enough money to feed themselves and their families.

More recently we seem to be seeing more people coming through with mental health issues or low mood and I question whether some of that has come from higher cortisol levels and less opportunities impacting how they feel. Whether they have got so used to constantly living in a heightened state of fight or flight that they do not have any energy left to handle day to day life. I can't begin to imagine having adrenaline spikes on a regular basis and not feel absolutely exhausted constantly.

Also the side effects that come from living in poverty have a knock on effect to others areas of people's lives. If they are diabetic for example but struggling to afford healthy foods to manage their sugar levels how much extra stress and worry is that causing but also what impact is that having on their health outside of being diabetic. How much of an impact is it having to have hormone levels constantly up and down, never settled or calm.

I have worked with some people who seem to have always lived in poverty and some can't even read or write. This limits your options majorly when most jobs or even courses want you to have maths and english qualifications to even be able to start. Also it limits the ability to interact with other people on a regular basis because so much communication happens via text now with the rise of mobile phones, messaging, texting and social media. Even down to basic level needs, packages of care are means tested (at least where I work) and although we calculate someone's contribution based on their income if we are saying they can afford for example £200 a month towards their care costs but they have already been carefully budgeting the money that they get to make it through, then what changes? A lot of the time they refuse the care support that they so desperately need due to costings, potentially expecting family members to support but if their health deteriorates then it leaves both of them in need of support which at that stage is completely necessary.

I cannot even begin to imagine having to make choices between putting the heating on or food on the table. I am extremely fortunate that even when on a lower income or one wage I have never lived in poverty. I have never had to worry where the next meal is coming from or how I will pay the bills that month. I am good at budgeting so make my money go further even if there is less of it but a lot of people either do not have those skills or do not have enough money to think about where it could help because it has to go on basic necessities. Something has to wait so that the basic needs can be met which can lead to children at school with clothes or shoes that don't fit because it is a choice between that and paying to keep the lights on or a roof over your head. It all starts the cycle all over again of being “othered” due to not having new clothes or things that fit which leads to lower expectations and lower self esteem. When feeling that way it can be extremely difficult to motivate yourself to work as hard as you could but also going back to what I said earlier actually having all the grey matter needed to gain those qualifications that will support future career goals.

The question is what can we do to help people get out of the cycle of poverty?