Gill has worked in the advice and guidance sector for many years including roles in housing, charities and children’s centres. She is a development worker in the Down to Earth team at Quaker Social Action. Down to Earth is a UK-wide service that supports people struggling with funeral costs and campaigns for change so that everyone can afford a dignified funeral.
Before QSA, Gill spent five years working on a national helpline giving welfare benefits and family law guidance to benefit single parents.
Gill has particularly appreciated how accessible the digital sessions are, which are offered by the Money Guiders England Network. When they are online they are easy to access and mean that she doesn’t have to use any time up travelling to and from venues. “The free bite-sized sessions are really useful,” explains Gill.
Being involved in sessions as a participant is not the only way that Gill has gained from the network. In February 2023 she and a colleague, Jim, led a session for the network on money guidance for clients who are arranging a funeral. They covered everything from liaising with funeral directors, benefits available, how to talk to clients and manage their expectations, grants available and more.
Gill has previous experience running training courses on welfare benefits for various groups including being employed as a trainer for a housing association and for a local authority’s welfare rights unit. But being involved in this session for the Money Guiders England Network was also useful says Gill: “I co-presented with a colleague so worked collaboratively on the presentation. It always consolidates our knowledge.” The interactive elements of money guider sessions were also valuable. “It is good to get questions from others not working in directly in the field,” explains Gill.
Gaining new insights is important to Gill. As well as sessions on pensions, she attended a session in 2022 on supporting clients with gambling addictions, where network members from Gamcare presented. Gill shared the insights gained from this session with her colleagues. “We have found it difficult to speak with clients about gambling issues at a time they are dealing with grief but we are also aware that speaking with them might lead them to access help at a crucial time,” explains Gill. “The opening up conversations tips from Gamcare have really helped to make us feel more confident in doing this a way that comes over as non-judgemental and still leaves the client in control and not feeling uncomfortable.”
Gill also came to the Money Guiders England Network in person event in March 2023 in London on deficit budgets. “It was really good to network with people from other organisations in person as we don’t often get to do that,” says Gill. From that event her key takeaways were that there is no ‘silver bullet’ to solve people’s problems and to “get people on the priority register for energy suppliers and look for ‘hidden’ money such as pensions and child trust fund accounts that clients might not be aware that they have.”
Gill is already looking forward to her next money guiders session, whether as a participant or perhaps as a presenter as she can both share and learn in either capacity.