She then had to give up her shifts at an aged-care facility and has had to learn how to get by on a single-parent pension from Centrelink.

“I was on a single parent pension a few years ago,” she said.

“It wasn’t great but we managed.

“But we just can’t these days, the price of food has gone up and rent takes about half my income.”

Ms Callahan said the bills were stacking up and the financial strain was just about at breaking point when she was involved in a car accident while uninsured.

That is when she decided to ask for help and dropped into the Woodrising Neighbourhood Centre.

The centre provides a state government backed free financial service where the public can meet with NSW Financial Counselling Association accredited professionals.

“When I first went in I was really overwhelmed,” Ms Callahan said.

“I avoided dealing with anything and didn’t know what to do.”

Ms Callahan met with financial counsellor Kristen Hartnett who helped with a budget, recommended other services and advocated for her, writing letters and negotiating with creditors.

“It was great to have someone to talk it through with,” Ms Callahan said.

“We sit down week to week and try to work things out.

“Where I was overwhelmed by a big problem, she (Ms Hartnett) broke it down into small ones and made it more manageable.”

Ms Hartnett said there was a constant demand for the financial service in the area and that the current financial climate had caused more people with different needs to seek help.

Her advice to people under financial pressure is to seek help sooner rather than later.

“The sooner the better, often banks say if only you rang six months ago we could have helped but we can’t do anything now,” Ms Hartnett said.

The Woodrising Neighbourhood Centre will receive $85,273 from the NSW Department of Fair Trading to provide financial counselling services for at least another two years.