Financial Therapy

A lot of us avoid looking at our money because it overwhelms us. The anxious anticipation of what we might find, the confusion we might feel, the shame that creeps up…all of this can cause us to bury our head in the sand.

When you engage in financial therapy with me, I bring organization and clarity to the process, all while helping you track your nervous system’s responses so you can move out of survival mode. We start by mapping out the money that is coming in and going out. Maybe there is a surplus, or maybe you are living beyond your means. We work with what we find.

Next, we explore and clarify the things you value most in life. A lot of us get our values and our goals mixed up. I help you sort this out and choose the top values you want to focus on for the next 12 months. We connect these values to SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) that you will carry out over the next year. The vitality that comes from living in alignment with your values has a momentum that is hard to describe.

I believe that a path to a truly abundant life includes and transcends financial capital. That’s why I also support people in taking stock of eight forms of capital, borrowing from the paradigm of Financial Permaculture. These eight forms of capital are financial, social, living, material, experiential, intellectual, cultural and spiritual. Social capital is just what it sounds like: our relational world. Living capital relates to the health of the soil and water in our landscape, our livestock and such. Material capital is our stuff—our cars, computers, homes. Experiential capital is what we know how to do. Intellectual capital is what we know about. Cultural capital is our sense of values and norms and the myths and folklore that preserve and transmit them for future generations. Spiritual capital has to do with our sense of connection to the more-than-human world.

A word about my training and scope of practice…I am not a certified financial planner or an accountant. I will not manage your money, advise you about investments or give you tax advice. I was certified as a financial educator and personal finance counselor by the Institute for Financial Literacy from 2010 - 2014. I let my certification lapse while I was getting my doctoral degree in clinical psychology, but I never stopped being a nerd about financial health. I’ve been influenced by David Bach, Dave Ramsey, Tori Dunlap, and Vivian Tu. In other words, the old guard and the new guard. Drop me an email if you want to explore this way of working together.