Solution Focused Financial Therapy: A Brief Report of a Pilot Study

The financial counseling, financial planning, and financial therapy fields are hampered by a conceptual and empirical paucity of clinical and experimental evidence-based research. In an attempt to decrease this gap in the literature, a pilot study was developed to test the implementation of a solution-focused financial therapy client intervention approach, in which solution-focused therapy techniques were applied in a financial counseling setting. This paper reports findings from a clinical intervention study of college students (N = 8) who presented a variety of financial issues related to budgeting, investing, and debt repayment problems. Data were gathered prior to the start of treatment, after treatment ended, and three months later. Participants’ psychological well-being and financial behaviors improved, while financial distress decreased. The solution-focused financial therapy approach used is discussed.