What is the Research Community?

The Money and Mental Health Research Community is made up of Experts by Experience: people like you. We consider you to be Experts by Experience, given that no one knows the relationship between mental health and financial difficulties better than people that live and care for people with financial difficulties and mental health problems. Members of the Research Community take part in important research projects to help us break the link between financial difficulties and mental health problems. You, the members of our Research Community, are at the heart of everything we do.

What is My Money and Mental Health?

My Money and Mental Health is an online space created for our Research Community members - like you - to give their insight to both shape and inform our work.

We have designed this space to make it easier to take part in surveys and focus groups, see the surveys you have taken part in and keep up to date on the work we do. In the ‘Surveys’ section, you’ll have access to all the surveys we have for you to complete the status of each project your completed surveys relate to. Any other opportunities we have to get involved, like participating in a focus group, are displayed under the tabs of the same name in the portal. There will be some surveys that are only available on My Money and Mental Health, so keep your eye open for those. There is no obligation to take part in every research activity, just do what you feel able and comfortable to do.

This online space is private, and the only place someone would see what you post is in discussions (focus groups) or in the 'Ideas' section. You are able to let us know if you'd like your posts in the 'Ideas' section to be anonymous within your message and you'll also be able to use an alternative display name of your choosing in discussions to hide your identity, but the team at Money and Mental Health will be able to see your messages. It’s important to know that it isn’t moderated or monitored live: this is a place to take part in research to help us change things for the better rather than somewhere to get help.

What will you ask me to do?

Research Activities

As a member of the Research Community, you will be invited to take part in a range of different research activities, such as surveys and focus groups. Every Friday (other than the last one in the month), we send out a survey by email to members for them to take part in. Some members will be asked to take part in some activities and not others - this is purely because of the lived experience they have and the research we are doing at that point in time. On the last Friday of the month we send an email updating you about the work we’ve been doing.

Every research activity we invite you to take part in by email will also appear in the relevant section, be they surveys under the ‘Survey’ section or focus groups/discussions under the ‘Discussion’ section. But there will also be activities that are only available on My Money and Mental Health, so keep your eyes open for them.

There is no obligation to take part in every research activity. Just do what you feel able and comfortable to do. None of our activities are compulsory, and almost all of our questions within the surveys (besides some key ones) are voluntary, so you don’t have to answer anything you don’t want to.

Speak publicly

You’ll also have opportunities to engage with the public and the media. The opportunities we have to speak publicly about your experience change, ranging from being on TV (you can see some Research Community members in action here) to being interviewed by a journalist about your experience. Depending on the opportunity, you can still remain anonymous to the public or choose to use your name publicly. Again, this is not an obligation and your experience of being part of the Research Community will not be impacted by not choosing to participate.

How do I leave the Research Community

You can leave the Research Community at any point by going to 'My Account' in the top right corner by selecting the icon. At the bottom of that page you'll be able to either unsubscribe from emails and survey invites or delete your account entirely, removing yourself from the Research Community. If you choose to delete your account, the data you provided in previous surveys will remain but will be completely anonymised.

We strive for the Research Community to be an inclusive space where our members feel valued and listened to. If you haven’t felt that way, we would really like to know what we could do to make the experience more enjoyable. You can give us your feedback through the ideas tab here, or you can email us directly.

What duty do Money and Mental Health have to you?

We really value your participation and are committed to your right to privacy.

You have the right to request a copy of all the information we hold about you. If you would like a copy of some or all of your personal information, please contact us.

We want to make sure that your personal information is accurate and up to date. You are entitled to ask us to correct or remove information that is inaccurate.

You are also entitled to withdraw from the Community at any time. If you withdraw from the community, we will securely destroy the personal information we hold on you at this time, leaving only the anonymous research results from any surveys and activities you have participated in.

You should read our Member Agreement and privacy policy for more information on how we protect your privacy.

How do I make a complaint to Money and Mental Health?

We’re really sorry to know that you’re not happy with your experience of being a Research Community member.

To tell us what’s gone wrong, please tell Leia at [email protected], and we’ll do our best to sort it out.

We’ll initially acknowledge your complaint and then make every effort to resolve your complaint and aim to provide a final response within 30 days. If you then feel the complaint has not been satisfactorily resolved, you can request that your complaint is reviewed at a higher level. We will then follow the same timelines as the initial complaint.

You can read more about our complaints policy here.

You are also able to complain to the Charities Commission at any time. Information about how to complain to the Commission can be found on the Gov.uk website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/complaints-about-charities.

Where do I report abuse?

If you feel that you have been engaged in an abusive way by another Community member or anyone else through being a part of the Research Community, please raise it with us immediately. We do not tolerate abusive behaviour in any capacity and would like to address it, should it arise, right away.

If you have been spoken to abusively in a focus group, please tell any of the Money and Mental Health staff that are part of that focus group. We encourage you to tell us right away so we can immediately address it, but if you feel comfortable telling us after the focus group has ended you are within your rights to do so.

Should you feel that you have experienced abuse through other activities within the Research Community please contact Leia at [email protected]. We are only able to respond within working hours but we will do our best to address what you’ve experienced as soon as we can.

I have a suggestion or feedback that I’d like to share

We always want to know how we can make being a part of the Research Community a better experience for all of our members, so hearing your feedback is always appreciated, and we’re grateful for the time it’s taken for you to tell us. We’re also always interested in knowing what other topics or areas we should look at, so please let us know your ideas.

You can tell us your feedback and suggestions through the ideas section on the portal, or you are welcome to email Leia at [email protected].

I have a question about a research activity.

Do I have to complete every activity I’m sent or every activity that is displayed on the portal?

Every activity we offer the Research Community to take part in is voluntary, so you do not have to complete any activity that you don’t want to.

It is helpful for us to understand more about particular experiences so we know how best to work toward change, but we completely understand that you might not want to, or be able to, complete every activity we send your way!

What if I do not know how to answer certain questions in a research activity?

If you feel that our questions could be clearer please do let us know by emailing Leia at [email protected], and we’d be happy to both help clarify questions and take notes on how to improve how we frame questions in future surveys and focus groups.

Almost none of our questions are compulsory, so if you don’t know how to answer one and don’t want clarification or simply don’t want to answer at all, you’re welcome to move to the next question in the survey.

I have a question about a survey or surveys in general.

What if I am not able to complete or submit the survey you have emailed me?

For a survey to be submitted, all the ‘required’ questions must be answered. We rarely have these, but it’s worth checking that they’ve been answered if you noticed a ‘required’ question.

If you’re still not being allowed to complete a survey, then please do contact Leia by emailing [email protected].

How long will I have to complete a survey?

Some surveys will always stay open, while others will only remain open for a few weeks. That’s because some surveys are for specific projects or to respond to a consultation with a deadline, so we need all the data by a certain point. For important surveys, we’ll send out a reminder by email so you can take part before they close. We’ll be clear with surveys that will always stay open on the portal. So you’ll notice that the surveys displayed through the portal will change as we progress with the projects that they’re for, but new surveys and activities will appear that are relevant to others. If you start a survey, you can save it and return to it at another point; just watch out for a reminder in case it closes.

How can I find out the results of the surveys I take part in?

Our completed surveys are currently not published anywhere, we use the data to understand particular experiences to do with people’s mental health problems and their financial difficulties. We often use the responses from the survey to produce reports that make specific recommendations to governments, health care providers and essential services. We will use statistics from the surveys in those reports, as well as anonymous quotes from Research Community members. We sometimes use the data to respond to consultations from the government or regulators. We also use it to write blogs and presentations. The Research Community also plays a key role in our Mental Health Accessible programme - where we work with companies like banks to improve their services - but these reports are not made public.

We always try to keep you updated about what we’ve done with your survey responses, but sometimes this might not be straight away while we’re analysing the data or writing the reports. You can read our blogs here, reports here and consultation responses here. You can read about the changes we’ve achieved because of your insights here.

My page is blank, not loading, or I cannot move to the next page

Please allow two minutes for the page to load, as it may take a while. If this doesn’t work, try refreshing the page using the refresh/reload button on your browser, in most cases, this will load the question properly and allow you to complete the survey or activity. Finally, if you have another internet browser installed on your computer (for example, Chrome or Firefox), try accessing the survey from there.

Once you’ve submitted a survey, you should be sent to a page that thanks you for the time it’s taken for you to complete the survey.

You’ll then be able to return to the portal homepage, and the survey should be listed within the completed surveys section.

If you can’t see the survey there, try refreshing the page. If you still can’t see it please contact Leia by emailing [email protected].

Your completed survey data is stored on our platform provider QuestionPro, whose privacy policy you can see here. No one other than select team members at Money and Mental Health are able to see your data, and your name is not listed alongside it when they can view your answers. This data is then reviewed to understand how we can best help people experiencing mental health problems and financial difficulties, which we summarise in the reports we publish. You can view our published reports here.

I have a question about quick polls.

What are Quick Polls?

You’ll see quick polling questions appear under the ‘Quick Polls’ tab on the home page. These are single questions that help us understand our community and their experiences better. The quick polls section will only appear when there is a poll to take part in.

Your answers to these questions are stored securely in the same way as survey data. You can access more specific information on the storage of your data here.

Do I need to answer Quick Polling questions?

These questions are optional, feel free to answer as many or as little of them as you like.

They help us direct our work by helping us know which issues to focus on or help us understand your experiences more deeply, but answering them is entirely your choice.

I have a question about group discussions.

What is a group discussion?

Group discussions (or focus groups) are a chance to tell us about your experiences in more detail and to share these stories with other members of the Money and Mental Health Research Community. These discussions take place on a web-based chat room moderated and led by a member of the Money and Mental Health team who will ask questions to those taking part. You’ll be able to see what other members of the group post, and they’ll be able to see what you share. You’re always welcome to just share whatever you feel able to, there’s no pressure to tell us things that make you uncomfortable.

How do I take part in a group discussion?

These discussions are by invitation only. Don’t worry if you haven’t received an invitation yet, as a small team, we are only able to run them every so often. When you are invited to join a group discussion, you’ll receive an invitation over email.