Rosie Normanton, Head of Strategic Partnerships, Money and Mental Health Policy Institute

Introducing: Rosie Normanton

3 November 2022

Most of us have had a frustrating experience with a service provider, and struggled to keep on top of every aspect of our personal finances. For many of those living with mental health problems, these issues can be all the more challenging. 

But there is action that banks, energy companies and other essential service providers can take to make their load a little lighter.  I’m excited to have joined the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute to lead Mental Health Accessible, our consultancy programme which has already helped a number of essential service providers make important changes to improve support for customers with mental health problems while adhering to regulatory requirements.

Background

My career so far has been spent in banking and lending, where I’ve worked in roles acquiring lending businesses, deciding which lenders to provide funding to, overhauling customer debt communications and developing new products. I’m also a volunteer debt counsellor, which has given me insight into just how crucial it is for financial service organisations to support customers who are struggling and how closely linked money and mental health is. 

As banking and other essential services become increasingly digital, I’m particularly interested in how service providers can support customers with mental health problems with a technology-driven approach that allows excellent service levels to be maintained as a business scales. If your business is on a digitalisation journey, please do get in touch to find out how we are helping our partners get this right – my email is [email protected].

What role do service providers play?

We have not long emerged from the pandemic, which turned lives upside down for most of us. Now we are seeing unprecedented increases in energy bills, rising mortgage rates and food prices on the up. We know from our research that the typical annual income of a person with mental health problems is thousands of pounds lower than the rest of the population. But what can service providers actually do to soften the blow of the cost of living crisis? No one firm can tackle these economic problems alone. However, we believe that firms having a deep understanding of how customers with mental problems interact with their service providers is key to supporting them in the best way possible. Insights from our Research Community, a group of around 5,000 people with lived experience of mental health problems, can inform best practice when it comes to communications, product design and accessibility. 

I joined Money and Mental Health because the organisation takes a pragmatic approach to breaking the cycle of financial difficulty and mental health problems, which has allowed its work to have tangible impact in a fairly short space of time. This is a philosophy that extends to the Mental Health Accessible programme, where recommendations for change are backed by the findings of our rigorous research. Most importantly, the voice of those with lived experience of mental health problems is always at the heart of the programme, and our priority will always be getting the best outcomes for this community.

 

If you would like to find out more about our Mental Health Accessible consultancy programme, please contact Rosie at [email protected]

 

Follow Rosie on Twitter: @rosienormanton