People First Radio – January 11, 2023People First Radio – January 11, 2023
People First Radio
Conversations focus on how hard it can be to access poorly advertised supports while living in poverty and why early academic skills matter for children’s mental health. Guests share lived experience, economic data and school psychology perspectives on what helps people cope and feel more secure.
0:00•11 Jan 2024
Hidden Help, Hard Maths: Poverty Support and Kids’ Mental Health on People First Radio
Episode Overview
- Many supports for people on income assistance and disability, such as crisis food and clothing supplements, exist but are poorly communicated.
- Applying for subsidised housing in Nanaimo often requires both a provincial waitlist number and separate internal applications to individual housing providers.
- Food banks and pet food banks can significantly reduce living costs, but using them can involve extra labour and feelings of shame.
- Complex paperwork, lack of printers and stamps, and low capacity in crisis create major barriers to accessing benefits, highlighting the need for hands-on advocacy.
- Research discussed suggests early academic success, especially in reading and basic maths, is strongly linked to better behaviour and mental health in later primary years.
“There is hope. There are things out there that can help you. Even in the midst of this economic crisis, my son and I are doing okay.”
What drives someone to seek a life where basic needs feel a little more secure, even on a low income? This episode of People First Radio follows two big threads: how people in poverty try to access support, and how children’s learning and mental health are tightly linked. First up, Joe Pugh speaks with former librarian and current disability recipient Sarah Pump, founder of Poverty Advocacy Nanaimo.
Drawing on her own struggle to access support, she talks about how many benefits feel like “a well‑kept secret” – from crisis food and clothing supplements to subsidised housing and even a weekly pet food bank. She describes the “invisible labour of being poor”, like rushing home from the food bank to cook and freeze meat before it spoils, and the emotional weight of walking into a depot for the first time. Yet she’s clear that “there is hope.
There are things out there that can help you,” and pushes for practical help with forms, printers, stamps and all the fiddly steps that can stop people in crisis from ever finishing an application. The programme then shifts to a broader look at poverty and kids’ wellbeing.
Economist Burton Gustaitis explains how Canada’s official poverty line is calculated using the market basket measure, breaking down the real costs of food, housing, transport and basics, and noting that many disability recipients fall below that line. Finally, associate professor and former school psychologist Gabrielle Wilcox argues that early academic skills and student mental health are deeply connected.
She points to research showing that children who learn to read and master basic maths in the early years tend to feel and behave better later on, while repeated academic failure can chip away at confidence and lead to behaviour issues. Her message for parents and teachers is simple: care about feelings and marks together, not one instead of the other.
If you care about poverty, kids’ wellbeing, or just how everyday people keep going on limited means, which part of this conversation will stick with you the most?
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