Five FAQs of Financial Therapy for Mental Health Professionals

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Whether you are considering referring a client to Financial Therapy, or want to embrace Financial Therapy into your own work as a mental health professional, here are some common questions I get as a Certified Financial Therapist-Level I and Financial Therapy Supervisor!

1.     What is Financial Therapy?

Financial Therapy serves as a bridge between mental health and financial professional services like Financial Planning, working with a Financial Advisor, investments, and accounting. The role of a Financial Therapist, courtesy of Bari Tessler, founder of Financial Therapy is to support money healing (past), money practices (present), and money maps (future). Financial therapists are comfortable exploring the impact of money on relationships, emotions tied to money, and resulting behaviors, including thoughtful work with Financial Trauma. The goal of Financial Therapy for many is to have a better or healthier relationship with their money personally and professionally.

2.     Who can be a Financial Therapist?

If pursuing certification through the Financial Therapy Association, financial planners and mental health professionals are currently the two home disciplines applicants must come from. Other trainings are made available to a larger pool of professionals, including the Financial Social Work Certification, and The Trauma of Money training.

3.     Is Financial Therapy a private pay service?

For the most part, yes clients come into Financial Therapy as private pay clients. For mental health professionals who are also Financial Therapists, if the client is in a state where the mental health professional is licensed, they could bill insurance for a mental health diagnosis related to the financial therapy work, however it’s not common.

4.     How does a Financial Therapist get clients?

Since Financial Therapy is a growing industry, many Financial Therapists list themselves in the Financial Therapy Association online directory or market their services on their own website. Networking with financial professionals in your area can support a collaborative approach for clients you want to serve. Engaging in podcast interviews or blogs written for your ideal audience can also help potential clients find you.

5.     How do I get started as a Financial Therapist?

You’ll want to select a training that works best for you. Currently, both Financial Therapy Association and Financial Social Work offer online programs for certification. Financial Therapy Clinical Institute is also offering online courses for specific aspects of Financial Therapy, including couples and money, families and money, and Financial Trauma.

We are also fans of doing your own work to understand your edges and personal money story. This can mean engaging in individual Financial Therapy as a client yourself, participating in our 6 week online Momentum and Money course for mental health professionals (and cohorts for Financial-therapists-in-training), or seeking individual or group Financial Therapy Supervision.

Croswaite Counseling, PLLC currently offers regular Momentum & Money groups, monthly Financial Therapy group supervision, and provides Financial Therapy as well as Financial Therapy individual supervision to mental health professionals wanting to heal their own money story and/or serve clients in this role. Learn more and discover the best-fit service for you at https://croswaitecounselingpllc.com/financial-therapy

Master Your Money in Private Practice: Five Tips from a Financial Therapist

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As we find ourselves fully in the fourth quarter of 2022, perhaps you’ve started thinking about your goals for next year. You might be thinking about setting a goal to earn a certain amount, launching a secondary income stream, or are preparing to raise your rates. Do any of these bring up some anxiety? If so, you are not alone! Mental health professionals are helpers through and through. Some would say our worth is wrapped up in what we do for others. We complete extensive training to provide professional interventions and obtain a license to practice, but for many of us, having a business degree isn’t part of the initial equation. Therefore it’s not uncommon to see our community struggling with how to navigate money matters in private practice. It has become a challenging rite of passage when becoming our own boss.

Thankfully, we can support one another in the process of creating a healthier relationship with money to thrive in private practice. We’ve already embraced our vulnerability by exploring how to go about increasing our rates, moving to a cash-pay practice, and navigating when to charge for no-shows and late cancellations, as just a few examples. It’s the challenge of running your practice as a business that brings up some additional money blocks. Sometimes the blocks aren’t even ours to own! There are times we receive judgement from our communities who may question our motives, our focus or purpose, or believe we can’t maintain a thriving six-figure business and be a heartfelt professional at the same time. A change in mentality around money is needed. Although we can’t make the bigger systemic change overnight, there are several things we can do as helping professionals to master our money and meet our professional goals.

1. Read a Money Book. Find a book that speaks to you, preferably one with built-in exercises to challenge your own discomfort around money. I appreciate the exercises found within Jen Sincero’s book, You are a Badass at Making Money and Bari Tessler’s book, The Art of Money. Exploring our current emotional response to money in crucial. Are you avoidant with your money? Do you feel like your money is controlling you rather than you controlling your money? What do you want your future relationship with money to be? By moving through these simple yet powerful exercises, you can remove money blocks and recognize your money triggers as a business professional.

2. Revisit Your Values. When exploring your relationship with money, it helps to know what holds the highest value for you. If one of your top values is stability, you may find yourself pursuing income streams to ensure stability within your business. If one of your top values is community, you may consider carving out a select number of reduced fee or pro bono spots to serve clients who couldn’t normally afford your services. Values, in principle, mean they are important to your life. Check in on how present your values are in your work now. If one of your top values is family but you find yourself working all the time, reworking your beliefs about money can help.

3. Watch Something on Money. I love having people watch the movie “Knives Out” to see what comes up for them in their money story related to each character. Who do they relate to and why? Who are they repulsed by and why? Seeing money behaviors and disorders represented in these characters can be an eye-opening experience for professionals to discover their own limits when working with clients and money. More recently, Netflix put out a documentary called “Get Smart With Money,” where four individuals were paired up with financial professionals to identify strategies to help them achieve their money goals. For some, it was about getting out of crippling debt. For others, it was about investing and making their money work for them. The concepts and tools presented throughout the documentary have value, so I encourage professionals as well as clients to watch.

4. Know Your Numbers. As you explore your emotions around money, it’s equally important to know your numbers. Do you know your average income each month? Do you have a sense of your expenses each month? Have you created a PTO account to pay yourself while taking a much-needed break for self-care? Do you know your net worth? Fortunately, there are tools out there to help you organize your money. Perhaps you start with an excel spreadsheet of your expenses to see where things land. Or maybe you have a graph already populating your spending habits through your online banking portal. You might invest in an app like TillerHQ, YNAB, or Mint to track your money or save for the future. With so many options out there, the important thing to remember is to find one that works for you.

5. Work with a Financial Therapist. As a Financial Therapist myself, I was inspired to take the leap into this role after doing my own personal money work. Talk about ah-has and epiphanies! I’m excited to share that the Financial Therapist community is growing and that there is a whole directory of Financial Therapists online who focus on helping people improve or heal their relationship with money. Find your best-fit professional by state or specialty and see how your feelings towards money shift, in having a safe space to do this powerful work as a practice owner.

Your relationship with money will evolve and change for the better as you do your own meaningful work. 2023 is a new year with new perspective for all of us. Let’s cultivate a healthy relationship with money for improved mental health, work-life balance, and money mastery as professionals in private practice!

Khara Croswaite Brindle, MA, LPC, ACS, CFT-I is a Certified Financial Therapist-Level I, Licensed Professional Counselor, Approved Clinical Supervisor and Group Practice Owner in Denver, CO.

Meeting Your Money Milestones

For many small business owners, entering the last quarter of the year prompts us to revisit our numbers. Perhaps we are trying to wrap up projects or carve out time for new ones in the new year. What if we are wanting to see if we hit our annual revenue goal? Or maybe it’s our desire to see how 2021 compared to the strangeness that was 2020. Whatever the reason, we tend to feel some pressure to finish strong before the holidays. I know this feels true for me, especially with the added milestone of buying our first house this Fall! So what are you missing in your toolkit to meet your money milestones? Let’s take a look at some Financial Therapy tools that have worked wonders for other business owners!

Know Your Numbers

I know this may seem like a no-brainer, but it isn’t uncommon for a small business owner to experience avoidance, overwhelm, guilt, or shame when trying to get closer to their numbers. Do you know your monthly expenses? How about how much you make each month? What are your periodic expenses for the year, factored over 12 months? Although it may be emotional, this is an opportunity to get closer to your money which has long lasting, positive effects including increased confidence and security in your business. Do you feel like you already have these elements locked in? Consider the 50-30-20 rule for your business versus your personal expenses. This can be a thought-provoking, next-level exercise in healing our relationship to money for driven professionals everywhere!

Rename Your Accounts

A personal favorite, it’s amazing to see the shifts that happen when business owners rename their accounts to something that has more emotional buy-in. How different would it feel to see a savings account named “Vacation to Hawaii” or an account that says “Dream Home” when putting money aside each month? How would it feel to rename a credit card to “Life-changing Trip to Italy” rather than credit card debt? This simple but powerful shift in how we think and feel about our money can make all the difference in staying committed to our savings goals or our debt reduction plan. So think about what words would capture a positive emotion for you when you sign into your bank accounts online. Try a couple of names on for size and see how they land. You can always rename your accounts again and again as you work to find the best fit.

Talk About Money

This tip may seem strange and yet talking about money continues to be a taboo conversation for many. Maybe it was discouraged in your family. Maybe it’s created a visceral reaction in you to talk about money with your partner, spouse, or business partner which has lead to fighting in the past. In order to heal your money story, you have to get close to it and talk about it. To be clear, I’m not suggesting you go around saying “I can’t afford ______.” That’s a self-limiting belief that we have all been caught saying to ourselves. I’m talking about taking the power out of money by making it a more casual conversation. Perhaps it’s celebrating a milestone with a colleague you trust. Or having what Bari Tessler calls a Money Date with your partner or spouse to check in on your goals. Maybe you are sharing what you’ve learned about yourself in your Financial Therapy work with friends and family. Although we know not everyone can hold these conversations with you in having to do their own work around money, modeling money chats as safe can cause a positive ripple effect for those who wish to partake.

Revisit Your Money Monthly

Lastly, once you start the work of knowing your numbers, don’t forget about them! The work of money healing is not a one-and-done process. You have to check in once in awhile. So what would it be like to set up a money date for yourself to review your numbers? Will you run a P&L for the business? Review bank statements to see what you made this month? Utilize a tool like TillerHQ, MoneyGrit, or YNAB which give you a snapshot of your month? There are plenty of possibilities here so discover what works for you and go for it!

I hope these tools are as impactful for you as they’ve been for other brave small business owners who wished to redefine their wealth, worth, and work-life balance. This is just the tip of the iceberg of what Financial Therapy can offer! If you feel inspired, intimidated, or just want the accountability of doing this work with someone who can offer the safe space and compassion to create a difference, please reach out!

Khara Croswaite Brindle is a Certified Financial Therapist-Level I™ Professional. Schedule your free 20 minute discovery call to explore Financial Therapy here.

What the Movie “Knives Out” Teaches Us About Money

There are millions of people in the world who would describe their relationship with money as “complicated.” Maybe it’s the belief that more money would make them happier, so they struggle with workaholism. Or they were taught that being rich leads to greed, so they spend their money as soon as they earn it. Perhaps they avoid looking at their bank statements because it causes them distress or shame to see the growing debt. All of these reactions are valid and become the focus of money healing work offered through Financial Therapy.

So where does the movie “Knives Out” come in? For someone who’s ready to explore their relationship with money, I encourage them to notice what shows up as they witness each character’s relationship with money in the movie. Is there a character you relate to? Does their behavior cause an emotional reaction in you? Notice any thoughts, feelings or judgements that come up.

“Knives Out” captures several money disorders in action. There are ten money disorders identified within Financial Therapy so far and these characters represent the emotional toll of disordered behaviors with money. Behaviors many of us want to heal and change in ourselves. So grab your popcorn and get ready to look at “Knives Out” from a whole new perspective by revisiting the characters below.

Are you similar to Marta Cabrera, the main character who finds herself the recipient of a large inheritance in addition to sudden grief and loss. Marta is a caregiver who suffers from Noble Poverty, the phenomenon that one must sacrifice their own financial stability in the name of helping others. The inheritance initially causes her distress and triggers questions about her worth until she shifts to seeing it as an opportunity to help her loved ones.

How do you see Ransom Drysdale, the antagonist in the story? Ransom’s expectation is that he is one of the rightful owners of the family fortune and should remain such, which causes him to threaten violence and be manipulative to get his way. His grandfather Harlan Thromby’s decision to bequest his fortune to his caregiver Marta instead of the family, infuriates Ransom. Ransom demonstrates Financial Denial about the changing circumstances of his spending due to his grandfather’s decision, which threatens the lifestyle Ransom has come to expect with his grandfather as his benefactor for years.

Maybe you recognize the behaviors of Linda Drysdale, mother to Ransom and daughter to Harlan, the benefactor in this story. Linda is a Financial Enabler, believing Ransom and the other family members deserve their inheritance based on blood relations and the commitment they’ve maintained to Harlan over the years. Because of this belief, she attempts to convince Marta of her obligation to return the inheritance to the family to allow them to continue their lifestyles, believing they have earned that right.

What about Walt Thromby, the dedicated, hard-working son who is left reeling when his father refused to bequest the business to him after his death. Walt knows he has helped grow the business and thus the fortune, demonstrating signs of Workaholism to prove his worth and value to his father Harlan for decades.

Or perhaps you recognize the emotional reaction of Joni Thromby, daughter to Harlan. Joni has leaned on the contributions of Harlan as a single mother. She demonstrates Financial Dependence, which causes her to panic when hearing from Harlan that he will no longer fund her lifestyle, reporting she is now on her own.

Which leads us to Meg Thromby, daughter of Joni. Meg represents Financial Enmeshment. Her dependence on mom Joni and reliance on grandfather Harlan who pays for her schooling, is jeopardized by Harlan’s decision to stop funding her and mom’s lifestyles. As a daughter, she feels obligated to speak up and secure funding in response to reactions of stress and self-preservation in both her and mom. Joni leans on Meg to fix things by asking Marta to return the money to the family.

Last but not least is Richard Drysdale, husband to Linda. Richard has married into the family and has his own agendas throughout the movie, which we learn when it’s discovered that he has a secret relationship with another woman. This leads us to wonder if he represents Financial Infidelity in addition to Relationship Infidelity, hiding accounts or funds from his wife as part of his secret life.

Other money disorders include Hoarding, Gambling, and Compulsive Spending. Although not blatantly represented throughout the movie, these money disorders could also be contributing to the urgency and unrest of the family, which aptly categorizes this movie as a drama.

What’s coming up for you? I enjoyed this movie for the entertaining who-done-it element that kept us all on our toes the first time we watched it. Now I value it for the money exploration and self-discovery it can offer in the world of Financial Therapy. Are you ready to watch it with new eyes? Perhaps it can assist you in crafting a new relationship with money!

Khara is a contracted Financial Therapist with Financial Therapy Solutions in Denver, CO.

Learn more about Financial Therapy and work with Khara here.