Hello thank you for reading my inquiry, I am going to try and keep this short and sweet but also try and include all relevant information. I am posting in this multiple places. Here, legal advice, and Social Security forums among others. Skip to TLDR to skip my sob story.
I am 26 in Upstate, New York.
I have a diagnosis of Bipolar disorder, with other mental health stuff such as ADHD and PTSD being investigated for possible diagnosis.
I also have a chronic IBS like condition that I'm not sure of the diagnosis specifically. I am going back to the GI soon.
I have been hospitalized for manic episodes and drunk binges several, several times in the past few years.
I am currently on medication that I don't feel work very well but I am still pursuing my mental health care thru meds and counseling.
I am and have been on for some time Fidelis Medicaid insurance which basically covers all costs for me.
I have never been able to keep a job for long for a variety of factors. Mostly my inability to get my brain "right" all the time. I am great when I'm good but if I'm not good I'm a total liability.
I have no education or real professional skills. I'm not stupid, clearly, but for different reasons I never got educated. I am good enough at customer service, fast food cooking, menial labor, and briefly held a call center job where I used other skills but couldn't commit to the workload to their standards and was asked to resign. The call center was my last job, last November 2023 I lost it. Before that I was at Five Guys. Five Guys will not rehire me again. I've been back and forth between Five Guys and other similar jobs in the service industry since I graduated HS in 2016.
I live with my grandmother, when I'm working I am paying rent, about $600/mo plus some of the groceries. That contribution is much less than half of her total cost of living. She does not mind my staying unless I'm having some kind of episode. She has called the police on me before.
Our situation gets tenser when I don't have income, of course. The word eviction gets thrown around sometimes but I don't think she'd see me homeless unless I did something truly outrageous. I do fear that I might, someday, and at that point I'd have no other lifeline.
I am looking for a new job but it has been slow going. I find the nature of job applications, especially these days, to be extremely taxing. I don't have any really good references and have had several interviews and phone calls that went nowhere.
I have exhausted my small savings and now have essentially nothing except my Gramma and the waning support of my significant other who I've been with less than a year.
Also relevant is I have about $3000 in debt for a single semester of community college I flunked out of, about $800 or so on an old credit card, and about another $800 on an ambulance ride I had out of network during a period I was not on Fidelis Medicaid .
TLDR: 26, M, NYS, live with Grandma, can't keep a job, Bipolar diagnosis and got on meds for it in the last year. History of episodes causing problems with family, education, and work go back to my childhood. I have Fidelis Medicaid insurance. I have a relatively small amount of debt.
Am I a candidate for any kind of Social Security or other welfare program support? My therapist almost scoffed at the idea and said even if I had a case it would take "years".
What should be my first steps into exploring this? I was hoping my therapist would have some knowledge or insight but he basically laughed at me. Replacing him soon anyway.
Is there a local office I can visit? Does the state or any other local organization have advocacy workers that can help me navigate? What are the online resources?
And most of all should I bother to try?
I'm very confused and scared rn. I wouldn't just take my check and sit around. Id continue to explore opportunities for education or perhaps something entrepreneural.
What else can I do to dig myself out of this hole if Social Security isn't an option? I'm wide open to suggestions, especially as I continue to get my house in order regarding my health.
Thank you in advance.
original posted by PaulLarry98 to r/personalfinance on Thu, 14 Mar 2024 07:09:57 GMT.