Hello.
I am an ordinary person, married with 2 children and a step son. We have always managed the general ups and downs of life, but the last two years, like many others, have been tough. Towards the end of 2020 my husband became caught up in a dispute through his role as a retained firefighter, resulting in his dismissal. He was not in the original dispute but became collateral damage through the actions of others. We have been fighting this until recently when we made the decision to give up and admit defeat. The impact of this has been substantial, my husband suffered greatly with his mental health which came to a head last year where fortunately the worst outcome was narrowly avoided. He is now receiving support and is taking anti-depressants.
I work full time for the NHS in mental health and found myself, quite rightly, the main support for my husband as well as our family around us. As my husband began to recover I struggled with my own mental health experiencing anxiety and depression, this I tried to keep away from everyone and manage this alone. Part of this was pretending everything was OK meant that my management of finances was poor, and what started off as a credit card, I now find myself in £15,000 of debt trapped in loan and credit card cycle.
My husband is unaware of this and I am terrified that if he did know his mental health would spiral. We are in a private rented property in an area where there is a housing crisis and I am acutely aware of how precarious our situation is.
This seems like a crazy thing to be doing, but I do feel somewhat desperate to receive some help and ask for some alleviation of the debt that I have put myself and my family in. It would be such an incredible thing if someone reading this and maybe empathised with this brief story to find it in their hearts to help a hard working ordinary family who has struggled recently and would like to have some hope for a brighter future.
Always greatfully P