MNHQ here - do you want free life advice?

[AnnaCMumsnet]

Mumsnet recently teamed up with Maternity Action to offer a FREE advice clinic. You might have seen the thread here.

We wanted to try out a way of making good free advice available to all. The thread helped lots of users with issues including grievance procedures, sick pay while pregnant and rights in the work place.

Now we'd like to do it again - or, at least, something similar.

What issues would you like help with? Housing? Money? Relationships? Are there any organisations you would like us to feature?

Let us know and we'll see about organising more free advice clinics.

Thanks

MNHQ

What to do when a parent is very ill and you have power of attorney. What to do once they die. I'm in this situation and I'm worried I should be doing something and what I should do once the worst happens.

Group chat for anxiety/depression with a psychologist to chair.? Just a sort of weekly chat to look at coping techniques.

Improving self esteem and confidence but without reading a self help book which you know is talking rubbish.

Yy to self esteem and confidence.

Elderly care and finance.

Money/finance. There are lots of different aspects worth covering - thinking about retirement if you don't have much of a pension, managing debt, saving/investing for children, advice for people being financially controlled/abused, rights/entitlements on separation - especially for SAHM's who want to leave a relationship but scared to because they don't have an income of their own.

Another vote for rentals with pets here. Rentals generally, landlords just selling up under you, literally tipping people out on the streets.

Trying to find anywhere that will allow pets, when most of the country have dpets!!

Coping with a dh with severe military ptsd. Or not coping really.
Managing on a budget when we haven't bought anything remotely frivolous for years, and and frankly I can only hope not to last too long because struggling on a pension isn't much of an incentive to live past retirement. Grief from bereavement.

Stress, insomnia and panic attacks how to hide it from the dc better. How to be a better dm. How to be a better wife. How to have hope and believe it will get better before the dc leave home.

Special needs. We've spent 5 years trying to navigate a system nobody explains. What help is there from social service , doctors, school, how to say the right thing to get referred not robbed off or having to explain the story x 100.

Haha fobbed off not robbed. Ironic!

@Winterhatsandgloves you sound really low, are you ok? My DH has a chronic illness, so I can appreciate how difficult and bleak things can be. Feel free to PM if you ever want to chat.

I’d like careers advice please. How and when to hire a career coach, how much it is, what to expect etc.

Career advice would be good

Don't eat yellow snow...

Careers advice. Decent careers advice is really hard to find for free.

Grey clouds, thank you. I am really down. I used to be fun and happy once, and I can't see a way out. Every time I find a way to improve things there is another set back and it's impossible to see a way forward. There is too much iyswim. I try to sort things but there is too much and I have to have my eye on everything all the time . I feel as if my life is like that show 24.

Careers advice, finances & budgeting, business start-up advice would be amazing. And I don’t have DC with sen, but have worked in that field in education and have friends with DC with sen and it’s a total nightmare getting things in place to support DC at home and school. It’s such a lonely road and a seemingly endless fight.

Also support on applying for benefits! I’m an educated woman and usually pretty capable, yet I still get letters from HMRC that I just cannot make head nor tail of. I can’t wait to be free of the benefits system. I’m working hard to do so, but in the meantime - omg there’s times I could really do with a hand navigating it.

Mental health too!

Rights when relationships break up, married / unmarried:

• share of house, pension, savings etc

Before becoming a "trailing spouse" especially abroad:

• implications for career
• being able to take the children back home if the relationship ends
• financial security for the follower
• countries to avoid because of poor legal rights for trailing spouse

Career advice for those thinking of going SAHP / part-time:

• how to keep up to date and employable,
• keeping up pensions
• pros / cons of joint finances
• how to organise equal free time & spending money

Hello, I'm looking for advice please from all you mamas!
My partner's mother is very overbearing with my child and I find it increasingly difficult to tell her not to do things with my daughter, as she is doing things that a parent should do! I feel like I can't say anything to her because unfortunately I did suffer with postnatal depression for the first few months of my daughter's life, and she did help me a lot with childcare and also when I went back to work she is the one that looks after my daughter 2 days a week. I feel like if I do say anything to her then she's going to chuck that all back in my face as she is a bit of an only child syndrome kind of woman so what she wants she gets and I think that she also finds it difficult that she hasn't got complete control over my daughter, and at times she makes me feel like I'm not my daughter's mum and that I kinda just had a baby for her! Its as if she's reliving her time through my daughter as she never had a daughter she had two boys! I feel like I'm at my wits end as I don't know what to do as I don't want to live my life like this anymore, and I don't want it to put pressure on my relationship as at the end of the day that is my partner's mother as much as he's supporting me. I did pluck up the courage on Wednesday to ask her not to gift presents from my daughter as I felt like that something that is for her parents to do and she got very snotty with me and hasn't spoken to me since. Just looking for a bit of advice as some of you have probably gone through this situation or is going through this situation as my main concern is I don't want to rock the boat and I don't want there to being a big flare up and for my daughter not to see her grandparents, but I also don't want to be undermined it as a mother. She's also quite intimidating as you know when she's not impressed she won't tell you but it's just a look she gives you! Hence why I've avoided saying too much to her. Thank you Xx
P.s hindsight's the wonderful thing had I known her looking after my daughter while I went to work which mean I would have all this anxiety and stress it would have never happened in the first place but I thought keeping it in the family was the best option!

Yes please to anything financial. How to save, how to make your money go further, how to earn more and how to earn a decent wage when going back to work after being a SAHM.

There was a recent thread about lack of savings for retirement. I would be very interested to know what my priorities should be re savings accounts, ISAs, LISA, pension etc.

Yes to career advice please

@ivysmama sounds like its time to put your dd in nursery!!! You made a choice not to at the start, and this is unhealthy now. It worked while you needed the extra help and now its not and you don't feel able to speak up. Your dh certainly should though.

Anyway, try moving your post to the parenting boards where there are lots looking for this kind of support

@Winterhatsandgloves I'm so sorry to hear that. It's incredibly difficult to stay resilient when negative things keep cropping up. Have you got any support? Does your GP know what you're going through? I've had counselling to try to cope with DH illness and how our life has changed. It's not a fix but it did help. I know NHS waiting lists are long, but would this be an option for you? I'm thinking of you.

Care options for special needs/disability for young adults.

Why is it when they leave education, they are expected to become fully functioning adults even though they are not and in some cases never will be.
Particularly options where there are no other family members except ageing parents to pick up the slack.
How to navigate the system if the disabled person can't.

Grey, thank you - my go can't do anything tbh, I have to find a way to manage it all.

I did think of counselling but it would just be moaning and I don't have time. I work too, corporate, and a little business too, for interest so I have found keeping busy works.

I'm sorry to have hi jacked the thread a bit. I've just had some devastating news which has stopped me in my tracks this evening. I'm distracting myself on mn whilst my brain works out what to do next.

Budgeting would be good, not the ' don't drink Costa though' we haven't had a Costa for years! Proper budgeting for those already budgeting!

And helping dc with their emotional needs - so they grow up with good baselines and not messed up by us. We don't mean to -we think we are nice and try so hard to be good parents - but I bet we are messing them up somehow and I won't know til they are 18 plus I suppose and then it will be too late.

Oh, accept myself for who I am , and stop trying to be perfect and accept the reality of mylife

Work coaching.
and career change advice too including realistic training paths etc