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Financial Advocacy
& Mental Health Support

Who are 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 and that care is not provided, be it from the lack of access to mental health support or extra care from creditors, neither of which is intentional, but it does happen and increases the risk of vulnerable suffering even more so.

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, at which time we will discuss potential alternate specialists to assist in either providing mental health support and/or advocacy.
  4. ‘Progress and Ethical Responsibility’
    We have a number of ethical, legal and regulatory obligations. Amongst those is to ensure the assistance and support we provide to you is appropriate, not just at the initial stages, but throughout the period we provide that support.Whilst we are limited in what guarantees we can make, we can make two,
    1. We will always endeavor to act in your best interests,
    2. If we, or you, feel that our ability to provide appropriate mental health support is either not improving your position, we, in discussions with you, will work together to either change the level of support we are providing, or in some circumstances arrange to refer you to other professionals who may be better suited to your needs. This, on the rare occasion it occurs, is done in line with our principles to ensure we do no harm and act in your best interests.

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 340 different creditors, 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.

A very simple overview of our process is,

Step 1: We gather information from you about you and documentation that helps us to support your situation,

Step 2: We write to your creditors and explain your circumstances, along with supporting documentation, such as police report(s), court orders, medical documentation etc. In this correspondence we propose a resolution to the creditors, which is dependent on your circumstances, which may include, but not limited to,

  1. A partial or full debt waiver,
  2. A reduction in debts with the balance paid over an extended period of time, lowering repayments,
  3. A freeze on interest, with the full balance being repaid over an extended period of time, lowering repayments,
  4. A temporary freeze on payments

**IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT THESE PROPOSALS ARE ONLY SUGGESTED TO CREDITORS WHERE YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES SUPPORT IT**

Step 3: You creditors will respond an agree, disagree or make a counter proposal. We will discuss these with you and discuss next steps, which in most cases is either accepting the counter proposal from the creditor(s) or we will continue to engage with them to build a stronger case to get the most appropriate outcome possible for you

Step 4: We reach an agreement with your creditor(s). If we cannot, again, we will discuss this with you and provide you with the option to raise concerns with the Ombudsman responsible for the debt type, for instance it is a financial services debt, this Ombudsman would be AFCA (the Australian Financial Complaints Authority).

In 98% of cases, we are able to reach a resolution which both the creditor and the client/patient are comfortable to agree on, avoiding the need to raise complaints with an Ombudsman.

Step 5: Depending on your circumstances, and if you and we see benefit, we will work with you to better help you understand your finances to reduce the risk of experiencing financial difficulty again.

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 and your creditors are committed to.

No two clients or patients, nor their struggles are identical. For this reason, amongst others, we put a lot of planning into carefully deciding how best to serve the needs of each client, be it mental health support and/or advocating on behalf of vulnerable clients in need of extra care.

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’