My Coworker Is Extremely Depressed

Hi guys!

I work in an office with a pretty small team of people. Right now, we're in the middle of a bunch of transitions and dumb corporate stuff, so things have been busy and hectic.

My coworker and me have gotten to bond a lot over the past year and change. We are really different people at very different points in our lives, but we get along really well. I care for them quite a bit. For now I'll refer to them as B.

Ever since we started working together, B has had some really unfortunate life circumstances. I mean like some comically evil stuff happening to them. They've struggled a lot with finances more than anything. I've seen them do a lot to get by. Their partner lost their job and cannot seem to find work due to some court charges (complicated mess) and their children are teenagers in school who havent had much luck finding work either. The family only has 1 car anyway. And B has to take their grandmother to appointments for health issues often.

B does deliveries outside of work. Has applied to many social assistance programs. Has gotten some help through our job's donation program. A few months ago everything was looking way better for B. They put in a lot of work to make things good for their family. But then something happened and everything spiraled again. I can very clearly see that they're trying hard. But bills upon bills and old decisions and their family's problems are all weighing down on just B. It feels unfair.

To me, I see someone with a bright personality and spirit who's becoming more and more worn down. And today, B broke down and told me they have been thinking about not wanting to be here anymore. It made me feel so awful. I've been there before. I didn't want to just tell them it "nooo it gets better" even though it does! I wanted them to feel heard. Hearing that stuff when you've been suffering financial, health, and emotional burdens nonstop for years can make you feel bitter and misunderstood.

B told me their birthday had just passed, and nearly nobody in their life did or said anything about it. And they didn't mind much anyway, since they've been too stressed and busy to care. It made me feel sick. The things they told me about feeling like they just wanted to give up...I know how extremely earnest they were being.

I'm navigating this situation the best I know how. Our old manager was someone who would of cared, but she recently left to pursue a new career. I really really want to help B. I've tried, even though they never ask me for the help. I myself don't make a lot of money so I've tried looking into county programs they can receive some sort of assistance from. But it looks like they've already tried. I wish it wasn't so easy for bills to build up on people like this. Regardless of whatever mistakes you've made in the past, I don't believe it should be this hard to recover and move on with your life.

What do you guys think I should do?? I've looked into basically every program we have local to us for help. B has already used the job's employee aid service. They don't know anybody who can or would help financially. They already do deliveries outside of work and have to support their whole family. There's so much more too. What is there left to do? I suggested GoFundMe but they don't want to bother with it for a lot of extremely understandable reasons.

People do not deserve to suffer like this. I worry for B's wellbeing. I think I've learned a lot from them in the time we've worked together. I want to help my coworker, I want to help my friend. If anybody has any advice at all, please let me know. I'll provide any context needed.

Thank you for reading!!!! B is a bit older than me, and doesn't really know about reddit LOL. But in a very corny way, I have found very life changing stuff on here myself. So I'm thinking some outside perspective might help.