What is Financial Therapy?

Hi, I’m Haylie (she/her) & I’m a financial therapist

My goal is to help you build a relationship with money based on a foundation of self-trust. As a financial therapist, I help folks who are ready to do the deep healing work around money, supporting them in building a healthy relationship with money by relearning how to have a healthy relationship with themselves. We work together to heal financial trauma, strengthen self-trust, and redefine their concept of success.

My clients end their work with me feeling at ease with their finances, and with the confidence and ability to use money as a resource to nourish the life that they want to live.

financial trauma

So many people have experienced financial trauma, whether from interpersonal interactions or from the dominant economic culture or from internalized shame around money. This trauma affects our ability to relate to money as a nourishing resource, and instead causes money to bring up deep feelings of shame or inadequacy. Our families, communities, and society at large hand us a lot of default beliefs about money and success. Some of these beliefs are rooted in survival experiences, or come from an unhealthy, toxic relationship with power. It is extremely common to struggle with feelings of depression, shame, anger, or anxiety around money. These feelings usually stem from internal beliefs we hold about money. Most of us could identify times when we have held negative beliefs around money that prevented us from taking actions that we knew would improve our financial situation.

financial therapy

The personal finance industry has focused on providing financial literacy and education, but has largely ignored the psychological and emotional factors of making good financial decisions. Although financial literacy is important and obviously necessary, it is just one part of the solution. Because money is inherently emotional, understanding your psychology and emotions around money is essential for you to make sustainable changes that can lead to financial success.

As a trauma-informed psychotherapist and a certified financial therapist, I offer a unique experience to those who work with me. Our work together will focus on 3 main areas:

1) Relationship - Stories & Scripts

This is the part of our work that will feel the most like ‘therapy.’ In this area of focus, we will explore your money story, your emotions around money, and your money scripts (the beliefs we hold about money that affect our financial behavior).

2) Values - Dreams & Goals

In this area of focus, I’ll help you identify and define your personal core values and connect these values to your financial goals. Aligning your financial goals with your personal values allows you to redefine what success means to you, and results in long-lasting, sustainable changes in your financial behavior.

3) Practice - Structure & Support

This is the area of focus where the numbers come out. Just like cultivating a mindfulness practice or movement practice, I’ll help you cultivate a money practice that is aligned with your values. Using all the valuable information we’ve gathered from the emotional work we’ve done up to this point, we’ll be able to put structures in place (i.e., scheduling money dates, making a spending plan, opening an investment account, etc.) that support your financial AND emotional well-being. And I’ll be there to hold your hand through the process.

You can have a relationship with money that is peaceful, empowering, and built upon the foundation of self-trust. Living a life that is free from money shame and financial trauma is not out of your reach.

If you want to transform your relationship with money and create a life that is aligned with your values, I’d love to help you get there.

Sound good? Let’s chat!

My Style

My style is friendly and fun, but firm. I am bold and direct, and I always mix in a healthy dose of humor. My clients appreciate my naturally hopeful, but realistic, point of view. I have a gift for helping people envision, and start creating, a new reality for themselves. I bring my full self to my sessions and make space for my clients to do the same.

I believe (re)learning to trust ourselves is the foundation to healing. My approach to therapeutic work is systemic, relaional, trauma-informed, and anti-oppressive. I use a combination of systems theory, narrative therapy, parts work, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), somatic practices, and mindfulness practices to nurture your sense of self-trust and get to the heart of the issue. I hold a strengths-based, inclusionary, altruistic ethical worldview. I believe each person knows intuitively what they truly need and I believe each person has the ability to self-heal; at the heart of my work I believe that healing happens when there is enough safety; my role is simply to be a guide and collaborator in your healing journey.

my Values

I recognize that the personal finance industry has typically ignored the intersection of money with politics, race, and gender. For too long, the hierarchical systems of racism, patriarchy, individualism, and meritocracy have used shame and guilt to keep us from viewing money as a tool to empower ourselves. We’ve been sold the narrative that, “If you are in a financially negative situation, then it is your own fault.” This is an ignorant and oppressive view that ignores the systemic barriers that exist in our society.

I am passionately against any form of oppression, and I will always acknowledge the systemic oppression and generational trauma that my clients with marginalized identities experience. I am LGBTQIA+ affirming and work from a body liberation, sex positive, and trauma-informed lens. My goal is to cultivate a safe, shame-free space to engage with money. I want all of my clients to feel comfortable bringing their whole selves into therapy and coaching.

Let’s get started

You deserve to have a relationship with money that gives you confidence and joy. You can feel at ease and empowered by your relationship with your money. If you are READY to do the deep healing work around money so you can nourish the life you dream of living, I’d love to help you get there.

about me

I was born and raised in the Deep South in Georgia, and now I am proud to call Seattle, Washington home. Although I do miss the sweet tea and collard greens, I love the PNW with all its abundant natural beauty and I love experiencing the rhythm of the changing seasons.

Some of the ways I show up in the world:

  • White, queer, able-bodied, cis woman

  • I am a mother to two boys

  • I am in a hetero-passing long-term partnership

  • Survivor of a high-control religious cult

When I am not in the office, I can be found making memories with my partner and our two little boys, spending time at the beach, binge watching the latest season of RuPaul’s Drag Race, or doing deep dives into astrology.

Licensure/education

Certified Financial Therapist™ Professional

LSWAIC #SC61383440

I receive ongoing support and mentorship from Nadia Ahrens, LICSW and horizon greene, LICSW

Master of Social Work, Virginia Commonwealth University

BA in Communication

Currently pursuing the Trauma of Money™ Professional Certification