Money Clinics: A New Response to Economic Abuse
Tracks
Monarch Room - In Person
| Thursday, December 1, 2022 |
| 2:05 PM - 2:25 PM |
Overview
Rebecca Glenn, Centre For Women's Economic Safety
Speaker
Ms Rebecca Glenn
Founder And Ceo
Centre For Women's Economic Safety
Money Clinics: A New Response to Economic Abuse
Abstract
This brief 7-minute presentation will share the rationale for, design of, and early learning from, a new service response in the domestic and family violence ecosystem: CWES Money Clinics.
Women experiencing and escaping domestic and family violence are often experiencing economic abuse as part of the broader pattern of the perpetrator’s controlling behaviour. Financial concerns are one of the most common reasons people stay with or return to an abusive partner. Despite this, there are very few places to turn if you have money questions.
CWES Money Clinics is a new service being trialled to address this gap. The Clinics provide victim survivors a safe and understanding environment where they can gain information to inform their financial decision making. This service can support the work of specialist DFV case workers, financial counsellors and others, who often work within strict eligibility criteria and must address other concerns in the first instance. There are many financial concerns that could have long-lasting consequences if they remain unaddressed.
Women who run the CWES Money Clinics have expertise in finance, domestic and family violence and trauma-informed practice. They understand that without economic safety, there is no safety. Every domain of a person’s wellbeing is potentially compromised unless they regain control of their economic resources and have enough money to live on.
Women experiencing and escaping domestic and family violence are often experiencing economic abuse as part of the broader pattern of the perpetrator’s controlling behaviour. Financial concerns are one of the most common reasons people stay with or return to an abusive partner. Despite this, there are very few places to turn if you have money questions.
CWES Money Clinics is a new service being trialled to address this gap. The Clinics provide victim survivors a safe and understanding environment where they can gain information to inform their financial decision making. This service can support the work of specialist DFV case workers, financial counsellors and others, who often work within strict eligibility criteria and must address other concerns in the first instance. There are many financial concerns that could have long-lasting consequences if they remain unaddressed.
Women who run the CWES Money Clinics have expertise in finance, domestic and family violence and trauma-informed practice. They understand that without economic safety, there is no safety. Every domain of a person’s wellbeing is potentially compromised unless they regain control of their economic resources and have enough money to live on.
Biography
Rebecca founded the Centre for Women’s Economic Safety (CWES) to raise awareness of economic abuse as a form of family violence and advocate for structural and systems change to support women’s economic safety.
The Centre builds on her work in domestic violence and financial wellbeing; most recently at Insight Exchange, a social change initiative of Domestic Violence Service Management. Before that she worked in financial wellbeing at the Commonwealth Bank (CBA) where she was a key member of CBA’s Domestic and Family Violence Working Group, and at not-for-profit organisation, Financial Literacy Australia, where she was the founding CEO.
In 2019, Rebecca was awarded a Churchill Fellowship Report to investigate service responses to women experiencing or escaping economic abuse in the UK, USA and Canada. In 2021, she was named an AMP Foundation Tomorrow Maker.
