Nadeem Shaikh's Financial Wellness and Mental Health

Nadeem Shaikh argues that Financial wellness for good mental health is not an add on or luxury that we consider an act of charity. It is central to the recovery process and it should be the source of inspiration and motivation for Fintech innovators.

Transcript

1. Financial Wellness and Recovery There is a widely recognised mental health crisis in western countries. It affects different groups of people in different ways but one of the more disturbing aspects of the current crisis is its impact on young people. Girls under the age of 18 are suffering something like an epidemic of self-harming behaviours from anorexia to addictive cutting. Boys see high levels of ADHD and violent behaviour. In the next age group up, 18-25, the problems are compounded by the movement from child to adult services and the need to develop some kind of financial independence. The traditional approach of enlightened financial services, based on inclusion, does not really have the answers to this ever growing problem. Mind, the mental health charity, captures the problem in a simple graphic: For the Fintech industry helping to address this crisis should be the defining challenge of our generation. Because we have the tools that can help. We have those tools if we can make a paradigm shift to understand the totality of the role of the financial wellbeing plays in the lives of people with mental illness and indeed, without mental illness. That is the essence of the Financial Wellness approach. There are three levels on which taking the Financial Wellbeing approach to the development and delivery of Financial Services can assist in the process of recovery: 1) Accessibility: There are many Fintech start-ups that are focussed on looking at their clients holistically and trying to devise apps and services that meet all their needs. That can mean things that are as simple as designing secure applications that are simple and intuitive to use, that provide one stop services and that allow for and can manage mistakes. Accessibility of services is about taking the stress out of managing your resources so that you can get the most out of them. It is about human centric design that allows for mistakes and redos. It is about working with those in recovery to design the products that they want and need. 2) Management: Managing of our finances through technology needs education and engagement. In that critical 18-25 age group the financial services industry can do much more to engage the neuro-diverse community to provide them with the knowledge and skills they need to feel and be more independent. That might mean reaching into schools with programmes targeting specifically at the neuro-diverse. It should mean working with government to ensure that national curriculum is up to date in terms of the Fintech training needs of vulnerable young people. 3) Direct Service: Empowerment is a crucial element in recovery. There needs to be a financial wellness partnership between the industry and the NHS in the UK and other services in other countries, that can provide the combination of technology, innovation and training that people in recovery need. It has to begin before in-patients become out patients, it has to begin before a young person leaves home and potentially drops off the radar. In short, financial wellness for good mental health is not an add on or luxury that we consider an act of charity. It is central to the recovery process and it should be the source of inspiration and motivation for Fintech innovators.