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Financial Advocacy
& Mental Health Support

Who is Small Village and What do we do?

Small Village Therapy (Small Village) is an Australian owned and based provider of mental health support and consumer advocacy.
There is a clear relationship between financial difficulty and mental health issues. Those experiencing financial difficulty are at high risk of developing mental health issues. Likewise, those experiencing mental health issues are at high risk of experiencing financial difficulty – it is a band aid, short term solution to fix one without fixing the other.

What compounds these difficulties is where a person is vulnerable and requires extra care.’

Whilst Small Village Therapy provides support to a broad range of vulnerable people from all types of backgrounds, our focus changes as the times and needs of society change; we are currently focusing on providing assistance to those who suffer from mental health issues, are victims of family violence, coercive control and financial difficulty – we do not distinguish between female, male, trans, non-binary – our focus is providing the appropriate support to anyone who genuinely requires it.’

Our Core Principles

Our core and founding principles are,

  1. ‘Do no harm’.
    We will not provide mental health support or advocacy assistance if we genuinely do not believe we can provide the appropriate support and assistance. Our goal is to get our clients and patients into a healthier position than when they first reached out for support.
  2. ‘Act in the best interests of our clients and patients’
    Our focus is about the best interests of our clients and patients. When working with clients and patients, we work collaboratively, engaging through the process of providing mental health support and, or, advocating on their behalf where they’re unable to do so themselves.
  3. ‘Integrity’
    Small Village Therapy requires a high level of integrity given the sensitive situations we find ourselves in whilst providing mental health support and, or, advocating on behalf of our clients and patients. When decisions need to be made, those decisions are made in collaboration with clients and patients and where a client or patient forms a different view from that which is suggested, we will always follow those views, unless we believe it to not be in the best interest of the client or patient.
  4. ‘Progress and Ethical Responsibility’
    We have an ethical obligation to ensure that if we are not making progress on behalf of a client or patient, and we have exhausted all avenues, we refer our clients and patients on to services that can better support them – we will do this, in consultation with the client or patient, at the first sign that our support may not be appropriate or working for their situation, given every situation is unique.

Get on top of your debts

There is no shame in finding yourself struggling to pay debts, there certainly shouldn’t be judgment – this can happen to any of us. Because we are mental health professionals, we work on the principle of ‘no judgement’ – no matter the reason you are in debt, it is our place to help, not judge.

We have strong relationships with over 140 different financial firms, ranging from banks to pay day lenders, utility providers such as gas, water, electricity and telecoms. We work closely with strata management providers, government departments and other businesses that you may owe money to.

Our process is to,

  1. Engage with your creditors immediately so that they understand you are represented, which means that all contact is directed to our office, including texts, calls, letters, emails, which should help you sleep better at night, not panic when the phone rings and you feel more comfortable when opening the mail or your emails
  2. Understand your situation in as much detail as possible,
  3. Collect as much information and documentation as possible,
  4. Engage with your creditors and depending on your situation,
    1. Have them release you from your debt,
    2. Repair your credit file,
    3. Reduce your debt and structure the remaining balance in payments which are affordable AND sustainable,
  5. Work with you to educate you as best we can to identify and address the issues which caused your financial difficulties so as do try to reduce the risk of falling back into the same situation.

Testimonials

“I was on my last legs. No one would help me, I was so close to losing my house, my car and then my job. I was close to bankruptcy, I was so depressed I couldn’t go to work. A friend referred me to Small Village and after a half hour chat, they assigned me a counsellor, Paul. He was amazing. I felt ashamed and embarrassed, I didn’t know where to start.
After the first session, I felt like such a weight had been lift off my shoulders. I was able to cry and talk and never felt judged, which was what I was scared of most. After our first session, he organised a colleague to contact my different banks and finance companies and his colleague was able to get everything back on track. I was able to keep my house, my car, some of my debts were forgiven, some were reduced and the interest frozen so I could pay them off over a longer time.
While his colleague Sharon was working with the people I owed money to, Paul was helping me with weekly sessions to deal with the drain and trauma of being with a partner who was less than nice to me for many years.
Now, I have no issues getting out of bed, going to work, I don’t panic when the phone rings or avoid checking the mail or email. I think if I just did the debt thing it wouldn’t have helped, I needed help with what was going through my head after that relationship. I’m a better mother, have a new, nice, genuine partner and instead of not sleeping, worrying about the walls closing in around me, I sleep well at night and enjoy getting out of bed and seeing my kids.
Thank you Paul, thank you Sharon”

Susan KUmina, NSW

“I thought I was in too deep. My head was a mess, my finances were worse, it was like a never ending merry-go-round that I was waking up to every night. After my first chat with Coleen, I felt like the weight of the world was lifted off my shoulders. I’m in a so much better place now. I can sleep again!! The nasty calls have stopped!!
Thank you!!”

Sarah BBlacktown

“I’m not big on airing my dirty laundry – I didn’t tell anyone about my depression or anxiety. I definitely didn’t tell anyone about how much debt I was in. I was worried what people would think of me. I guess I didn’t see how my depression and stress were getting worse because of the debt I was carrying. At first it was embarrassing to talk about it, but it got easier and eventually I was able to clear up all my loans and cards, and my credit file is much better. We bought a house six months ago. Before Small Village, we were told it would be 5+ years before we could get a home loan. We were approved six months after Small Village helped us.”

Ahmed KSunshine

“I was told to sell my house. I was told to go bankrupt. I felt like the walls were closing in. My panic attacks were bad enough, the debt made it unbearable. I panicked anytime my partner mentioned debts or payments. My manager at work noticed I was struggling. I felt uneasy talking about my problems, but it got easier. It took a few months because I had so many debts, but I’m debt free now, the black marks on my credit file are gone, I kept my house and didn’t have to bankrupt. I’d recommend Small Village to anyone struggling with debts and their mental health!”

Paul ZFreemantle

Credit repair services

Please consider your options before using a credit repair agency. In many cases they will provide assurances and the outcomes may not meet those assurances.
Financial independence is critical to every person, especially when vulnerable or experiencing a challenging period.
Where you experience life changes, for instance,

  • Mental health issues,
  • Family violence,
  • Coercive control,
  • Physical health issues,

These can cause financial difficulties. Where these circumstances are beyond your control and unexpected, financial firms can amend your credit file, depending on your situation and supporting evidence. Most financial firms are understanding of the impacts of unexpected life changes, so the need to use credit repair firms, whilst sometimes necessary, is generally unnecessary, especially where mental, physical illness or family violence or coercive control is a contributing factor.

We understand your needs

Financial difficulty is almost, directly, or indirectly, linked to a range of other circumstances, most notably mental health conditions (please click on the link previous to this for more information – the more information you have about the link between mental health and financial difficulty, the better you can understand how circumstances beyond your control can impact you both mentally, physically and financially).

We’re not here to judge, under any circumstances, our aim is to provide you with the support, advocacy and assistance you need to regain your financial independence and help to provide support through that process.

Self-representation

We always suggest working with your creditors directly. We have provided support via the link below, which you might find useful before asking for assistance in advocating on your behalf . If you feel uncomfortable or unable to deal with creditors, please contact us and we can discuss your situation and what we can do to better support you – our free resources are available via this link – https://www.smallvillage.com.au/resources

Service Commitment

There are no quick fixes to addressing financially difficulty and/or mental health, but there are solutions which both we and financial firms can provide.

Advocating and providing mental health support are not easy, but, both are worthwhile, and processes we committed to.

We put a lot of planning into carefully planning how best to serve the needs of each client, be it mental health support and/or advocating on behalf of vulnerable clients and patients.

In some instances, we may suggest involving other services to best assist our clients and/or patients, which may be more in-depth mental support, debt help services and including but not limited to services which support Indigenous Australians and people where English is not their first language.

Legal & financial advice

It is important to understand that Small Village does not provide legal or financial advice, nor can we represent you in legal proceedings.
If you require free advice, please consider the National Debt Help Line at www.ndh.org.au or visit www.moneysmart.com.au
If you are not able to resolve your issues through our self-help resources, or the services above, we can advocate on your behalf and/or provide you with the contact details for experienced legal professionals.

Building your support network

Small Village was established to provide a range of support services to vulnerable people who need extra care, because too often vulnerable people fall through the cracks – we want to do our best to reduce the number of people who fall through those cracks.
Managing debt and/or mental health whilst struggling with both can be akin to climbing Everest. It can feel impossible to work through.
We work to build a support network around you. We will do our best to provide you with the best support we can, holistically, and where we can’t, we will assist you in finding the right support that will best assist you.
It’s this holistic approach that sets us apart from other mental health and debt counselling services.

If you have a complaint, please, in the first instance bring this to our attention directly, this is generally referred to as an ‘internal dispute’.

Our aim is to always resolve complaints internally, however, if your complaint is not resolved within 28 days, you have the option to refer your complaint to the financial services Ombudsman, AFCA (Australian Financial Complaints Authority).

AFCA is a free service who oversees most financial services complaints. If you wish to contact AFCA, you can do so by phone, email, post or live chat, the details of which are below.

Phone: 1800 931 678
Email: [email protected]
Postal Address: GPO Box 3, Melbourne,  3001
Live Chat: https://www.afca.org.au/make-a-complaint/complain/livechat’