What Is a Financial Therapist, and When Do You Need One?
Financial therapists help individuals address the psychological aspects of money, including identifying and overcoming past financial trauma and emotional hurdles.
“While a financial coach or advisor can advise clients about financial matters, they will likely have limits when it comes to providing emotional support around money,” says Dr. Courtney Crisp, an adjunct professor at Pepperdine University and licensed clinical psychologist. “With financial therapists, you can ideally get the best of both worlds. Often, people work with financial therapists and financial advisors concurrently.”
What services do financial therapists provide?
“Financial therapists are often able to provide therapy services in the same way a regular psychotherapist would, but they also specialize in helping people with issues around money,” Crisp says.
Like other mental health professionals, financial therapists rely on evidence-based practices—those that have been scientifically tested and shown to work—to help their clients identify and address their psychological holdups around money and what might be causing them to repeat harmful behaviors. A financial therapist could help someone find the root cause of behaviors like compulsive spending, financial avoidance (or obsession), lying to a partner about money or gambling.
In many cases, the practice requires clients to look into their past to identify money traumas that might have led to where they are today. Ultimately, therapists address the mental and emotional side of money in a way that other financial professionals don’t.
The exact services a financial therapist might provide depend on their professional background. A therapist with a mental health background might be more inclined to focus purely on the clients’ feelings associated with money.On the other hand, a financial planner trained in financial therapy might offer more technical financial services, while also helping their clients overcome their psychological barriers.