Understanding Black Women's Financial Beliefs: Therapeutic Interventions that Consider Culture and Childhood Trauma

Friday, October 6 | 10:00 am – 10:50 am | Providence 1

This paper aims to enhance literature in financial therapy and financial counseling. Many therapeutic approaches, such as attachment theory, used today are based on research that is not culturally inclusive and may not be appropriate for Black women, or women of other ethnicities. This paper presents a proposal for a redesigned approach to using narrative therapy in a way that is more inclusive and sensitive to intersectionality and financial enmeshment. Future findings could influence financial therapy and financial counseling professionals to reconsider the therapeutic interventions that are being used to enhance the overall experience and outcomes for Black women. 

Joanne Wu

Joanne C. Wu, CFP®, PFP® is a Canadian Ph.D. student in the personal financial planning program at Kansas State University, and a Senior Financial Planner in Canada. Her research interests are in the link between financial knowledge, financial self-efficacy, and culture to being frauded. Her teaching goals are to pioneer undergraduate and graduate post-secondary bachelor’s degree education in financial planning for Canadian universities. She is on track to becoming the very first Canadian Ph.D. graduate in the Personal Financial Planning doctoral program at Kansas State University, and potentially the first Personal Financial Planning Ph.D. in all of Canada. 

Additional Authors

  • Jaquenette Cooke
  • Meghaan Lurtz