Survivor's Guide to Money

Book excerpt: Written by a survivor of sex trafficking, Survivor's Guide to Money: How to Use Money as a Tool When It Was Used Against You as a Weapon is the first financial literacy curriculum for survivors of sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation. Survivor's Guide to Money is an evidence-based program designed to help survivors: - Developed safety and self-care plans to work through high-stress financial situations - Learn to track spending and saving habits - Understand financial abuse and its long-term impact on financial wellness issues - Examine the concept of self-worth - Grieve the loss of time and money following exploitation - Learn and practice communication and boundary tools - Identify common triggers around money … and much more! This workbook is designed to give survivors a framework to understand the financial abuse they endured, identify obstacles, and set goals to work towards on their journey to financial wellness. The first four chapters in this workbook are the "prep work" before the deeper process begins. They are critical groundwork that must be done to maximize the effectiveness of the rest of the workbook. The next four chapters are focused on working through some key areas where survivors experience trauma and ongoing damage even long after they have found their freedom from their abuser(s). The remaining chapters in the third and final section shift into thinking about the future, creating goals, and developing a plan to achieve them. By taking a critical look at where you have come from, where you are now, and where you want to be in the future, survivors will complete this workbook with a clear plan of action. This workbook is designed to be used in a variety of formats. First, it can be used by an individual in a self-paced setting. Or, it can be used in group formats (peer support groups, residential programming, or supplement direct service outpatient services).