Ellen Boswell
Hackham Community Centre, SA
Video here
Why did you become a financial counsellor?
I was working at a bank… every few clients would come through and they might be experiencing hardship or family and domestic violence and it was just really obvious that there wasn’t that support there for them. And I wanted a career that was more in line with my values.
What’s the most rewarding part of your work?
It’s that look you get on a clients face when you know that you’ve helped them just a little bit, enough for them to stand up tall. You’ve taken a little bit of weight off their shoulders.
Can you share a specific moment with a client that reminded you why this work really matters?
The great thing about this job is that you actually see that most days, which is nice. I can specifically think of one lady who I helped about a year ago. She would come back on and off for about 18 months. She had an intellectual disability but wasn’t aware of a diagnosis at the time and was caring for her son.
She had lots of little debts and was finding it hard to deal with them all at once. So, we would sort of deal with one and she’d go away and come back. But the referral that I provided her led to her own diagnosis. She was able to move to a safer house because she’d actually been experiencing financial abuse from her landlord. And the great thing was a few months later – I hadn’t seen her for a long time – and she emailed me and said that she was able to self-advocate with an old utility bill and she didn’t need me anymore. How great is that?
What kind of issues are you most commonly helping people with at the moment?
It’s quite varied. I’d say I’ve got quite a few clients that have high arrears on their mortgages. I think with interest rate increases and just the cost of housing is so much higher now, it doesn’t take that long to get the mortgage really far behind. And utilities, just soaring electricity bills.
Anything to add?
It’s just such a rewarding job. I’m so glad that I found it. Just flicking through TAFE options and uni options. I would encourage anybody to get into it as well.
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