Financial Therapy with Families

Abstract

A manualized form of financial therapy for families is proposed to decrease tensions caused by conflict arising on family members' understanding of money. When used with families, financial therapy goes beyond financial education by addressing individual behaviors and attitudes toward personal finance within the dynamics of a family system. To address a therapist's lack of formal training in family systems and/or financial therapy, a manualized form of financial therapy is introduced. A case example is presented to illustrate the benefits of this approach. This article demonstrates that therapists can use a manualized format of financial therapy for families to promote positive changes in a family's dynamics and behaviors in regards to finances.