To hate it when major national charities don't actually do anything but boast about signposting ? ?

[koalakate999]

I really like the idea of supporting a charity.

But for goodness sake, you need to have an actual purpose.

E.g the Samaritans may not be perfect, but they provide a 24/7 phone line for lonely people to actually chat/ share worries/ get human contact, ( could be pretty useful at 3.00am on xmas day if feeling very low).

But so many of the other "big ones, " e.g. Age U.K, Macmillan, Mind etc seem to take a lot of money just to "signpost," people to local services they likely already knew about, e.g their local Citizen's Advice.

In fact, a lot of them all just seem to signpost to each other !?

Am I unreasonable in thinking the big charities should actually help individuals more, e.g. grants, services etc.

If anyone could suggest big charities that are providing tangible help I'd be very grateful.

People don't want to hear it, though. Better to fetishise admin costs instead, and pretend that the necessary work to keep a charity afloat that isn't direct client support can be done for fuck all/by magic/unicorn highly skilled volunteers.

I could write a book about peoples awful experiences with Macmillan including my self and my sister. Pretty much every person on the support forums i am on have had awful experiences with them. Im not just talking no support when most needed( incuding terminal diagnosis and end of life care) im talking clueless nurses giving wrong test results, people told theres no help for them when there is, people looking for support and callously told other people are worse off than them or even that they cant have the cancer they claim to have as they are too young !! I know a handful of people have had good help and support, but thats just not good enough. Macmillan raises millions of pounds a year with high profile campaigns and people give money in good faith to help people who have cancer. This money is not being used for that purpose, its not anywhere near good enough to say that a small amount of people who need Macmillan will get the support they need and Macmillan should be accountable for this.

I’m so sorry that you experienced this

I had similar when having to deal with complex circumstances and spent so much time ringing and being passed around only to find zero help at the end of it.

Its like a type of gaslighting when people say ‘oh, just phone XYZ they will help” and after you’ve jumped through the hoops several times you know that no one actually can help, but still if you don’t comply with the next well-meaning suggestion you get tarred with the label of not helping yourself. It was soul destroying and really affected my mental health.

cheeseandlobster it sounds like your charity did more than just signposting which is what the op is getting at. You actually got people help. Some organisations promise a lot in a way that raises your hopes but in the end only have telephone numbers to others organisations who then just say “sorry, there’s nothing we can do for you”.

What also doesn’t help is that it gives a false impression to the wider public that all you need to do it call a number and all this magic happens. Then when you are still in crisis and nothing has changed or things are worse, people think you have simply haven’t tried hard enough or you’ve brought it on yourself. There’s little enough empathy as it is and this just makes it worse.

I've stopped supporting charities whose entire goal is to 'raise awareness.' Particularly when (for mental health) they tend to focus on the most socially acceptable, mild forms.

They also aren't willing to criticise any company or organisation who provide them with funding.

Macmillan were rubbish with both of my parents too. I really recommend Pancreatic Cancer UK, though, who have a helpline staffed by qualified specialist nurses. They gave me so much practical advice on what to do and who to contact. They even followed up with me after my dad died to see how I was.

Our DS has ADHD and challenging behaviour. We have almost never found a charity, or frankly a professional apart from school (and they are variable), who does anything other than signpost to other organisations, which they haven't bothered to properly research; we already know about the organisations, have tried them and they won't work with DS or they are just parent support groups where we end up talking other parents through how to apply for an EHCP.

One exception is IPSEA who supported us through a tribunal; their volunteer was an actual barrister doing it pro bono.

It almost seems to be a circular arrangement. The SW pointed us to the local parent carer forum who tell us to get support from a SW. The SW then tell us off for not engaging with their suggestions (which we'd already heard of, and tried, and were useless for us).

Shelter! Awful charity. It's basically just like a BT operator

My experience of Macmillan was shocking and there have been a few other posts saying the same. Glad they were helpful for you though.

drspouse that's my experience too - LA & charities have a circular arrangement where they 'signpost' you back and forwards between themselves & consider it job done.

As a parent of disabled & chronically ill children the only charities who've ever actually done anything are IPSEA, Family Fund & CRY.

In terms of considering who to donate to who actually help people I'd really recommend this website www.givewell.org they assess charities for actual evidence they help people and work out who provides the most help for the money. The research is really interesting when you see what's been proven to work is sometimes the simple, unglamorous option not the big exciting sounding things with lots of PR.

Wrong. In my area they offer a housing support service where support workers help vulnerable people to secure housing, apply for benefits, set up utilities etc. They also have a drop in centre for those who need immediate advice. Hardly like BT at all. Please check your facts before you post stuff like this

I have cancer and I have used Macmillan services locally and nationally.

The national helpline has been awful, one adviser just hung up on me!

Locally my service has been amazing. From the Clinical Nurse Specialists who advocated for me after I had dreadful treatment on the ward after my cancer operation. The Macmillan benefits adviser who sorted out my applications ensuring the right medical people signed them. Being on the end of the phone when I was anxious about symptoms and then attending my appointment. My local service has a member of staff who has telephoned regularly to check on my wellbeing after surgery and chemo.

MacMillan provide nurses, age U.K. have local groups that provide services, not sure about mind

The nspcc is a huge one for this. They have a phone line and it's often suggested on here that you call them instead of social services. ALL they do is take inaccurate and incomplete information and pass the substandard referral on to children's social services. And they don't provide details of the actual referrer so we can't contact them and get the information we actually need meaning we can't act on lots of their referrals. Fucks me right off. I hope in the years since I worked in that area it's improved.

I don't think the nspcc are too popular on here now!

In areas where it provides counselling and groups, it is commissioned to do this via nhs money. Locally they act like they are doing it via fundraising when actually they won a contract over nhs services and hold all the local funding to do so. They make it seem like it is done from the charity side rather than government contract. In the same way virgin care are running out the goodness of their hearts
^^
Services are put out to tender, Mind are doing nothing wrong here. And at least local Mind organisations are local rather than a national swooping in and hoovering up contracts.

Wanted to add I've heard some bad things about national Mind from a number of sources. Wouldn't touch them with a bargepole, or give them any money.

If there weren't national charities, how would the people they represent be heard? How would people with dementia (for example) have a say in national strategy? Or housing needs if Shelter didn't have such a high profile?

Local charities can be very effective at responding to the needs of people in their geographical area. They can be agile and flexible. But they need a common strategy to influence spending, investment and planning.

I completely agree with you in some cases. The amount of 'youth mental health' charities there are out there - all with their fancy websites and ads and social media teams. But if you need ACTUAL help all you find on there is 'get a CAMHS referral'. Because that's so easy and straightforward.

If I could get a CAMHS referral I wouldn't be googling for help would I?

All of those charities do way more than just signpost people. And as others have and signposting is a bit more complicated anyway than you are imagining.

Macmillan find nursing posts, have a dedicated support line 24/7 365 days a year on which you can get emotional support, access to a medical professional to discuss questions about cancer and a national benefits team plus they fund local teams around the country to provide face-to-face advice. They also fund entire cancer support centres in hospitals. Macmillan have a lot of money as a charity and use it to do way more than signposting!

Mind are less well funded but have information and support lines, advocacy including IMHAs, peer support schemes, support groups.

Age U.K. have benefits advice teams, run home from hospital support, helplines, befriending schemes etc etc etc.

So I would gently say that you don't know what you are talking about.

We actually have quite a good local one that worked with a friend's teen DD who was unwell enough to need hospital at one stage. Her DS is the same age as my DS and is fairly similar to him in that he has ADD and some challenging behaviour at home some of which stems from anxiety. However they would not see my DS though they were very helpful with her DS despite them being the same age because her DS is a sibling of a child they had already seen and my DS wasn't.