Is money:
- Causing stress and conflict in your life?
- Triggering arguments in your relationship?
- Making it difficult for you to make it through the day?
- Causing you to have physical symptoms that may include headaches or panic attacks?
- Weighing you down with sadness and worry?
- Making it hard for you to sleep at night?
- Causing you to hide bills or receipts from your family members?
- Affecting your job performance?
- Making you feel like you are bouncing from crisis to crisis?
Money problems are not uncommon. Every day brings new opportunities to earn, spend or save money, and new reasons to worry about it. Money often becomes a significant relationship issue for many couples, and frequently contributes to divorce. Financial problems may trigger depression and anxiety over money can negatively affect health.
But why pay money to solve money problems?
Budgeting is not enough because it ignores the meaning that you and/or your spouse/partner attach to money. It has many meanings that are beyond dollars and cents. To some, money represents power and control. To others it may compensate for a poor self esteem, be an expression of love and affection or represent status which is associated with success and privilege.
The meaning of money is learned during childhood and impacts how money is viewed as an adult. A trained mental health counselor helps you to identify these messages and how they impact your behavior as an adult. You can then move on to establish financial priorities. Budgeting becomes a reflection of what is important to you and your spouse/partner and not merely an exercise in dollars and cents.
But I just don’t have enough money to pay my bills
The current economy has placed many individuals in a difficult financial situation. If you are one of them, you may find yourself experiencing sadness, stress and hopelessness. Ignoring these feelings will not make them go away. If anything, it may contribute to a sense of being overwhelmed.
Although it seems like a contradiction, spending money on mental health services can help. Addressing the emotional issues resulting from your current financial situation will help you to identify available options. It will also help to move you from a position of fear to being able to select an appropriate course of action.
Why Denise can help
Therapists are trained to talk about issues such as sexual behavior, substance abuse and eating disorders but typically not financial issues and their significance. This is despite the fact that couples rank money as the top problem prior to marriage as well as a top problem in the early stages of marriage. It is one of the main reasons that couples argue as well as divorce.
This is where Denise can help. Her background as a retired CPA and CFO, gives her a unique perspective on how money impacts relationships and individuals. She combines her mental health counseling skills and financial knowledge to help you clarify your values around money, identify messages you received from the family you grew up in and understand what drives your money behaviors. Using a variety of counseling and financial techniques she will help you to understand yourself and your partner so that you can communicate more constructively and plan finances more effectively. As your counselor, she will work together with you to ensure that you establish financial priorities and develop the skills necessary to have productive discussions that foster a healthy financial partnership.