Mental Health Protection – Angela’s Advice

Mental health has become an ever-increasing topic of conversation in recent years. The mentally straining lockdowns seen nationwide over the last 18 months have had a real affect on people. The true hardships of mental health issues are beginning to be more commonly understood and openly spoken about as the subject becomes rightfully less taboo, but with 1 in 4 people suffering with a spell of poor mental health every year in the UK alone, surely this is something we should be discussing more with our clients.

For many, talking things over with loved ones can be all they need to aide their recovery, but it’s not always that easy. Sometimes, however, we can need expert help and support. So many protection policies provide some great services in regard to mental health. Not only are these there to maintain your mental wellbeing, they also cut out NHS waiting lists. I believe it’s important for us to promote these valuable services with clients. It scares me to think how many people suffer without knowing that there’s help available to them through their policies

Protection and mental health

In our industry we talk about ‘protecting the mortgage’ but I don’t believe this phrase really does ‘us’ justice; protection is so much more than this. Life can throw anything at us at any time. That is where value added services, often incorporated into ‘mortgage protection’, can make all the difference to our clients.  Most providers offer ancillary services with counselling being one of the most popular. In addition, many providers extend this to spouse/partner and children too.

The true value of this came to mind while speaking to a teen’s mental health charity worker the other day. He said that things are particularly hard for teens at the moment as the pandemic has only added to the pressure. He was also concerned about counselling waiting lists getting longer. I wonder how many clients and their teens are struggling whilst waiting for help, perhaps not knowing their policy could open a door to them.

I think that policies that incorporate these great services are truly what advice is all about. The best way to help clients is to make sure they are aware of them, not only at the time of setting up the policy, but regular reminders at review time too. Always a great reason for picking up the phone to a client too