From Despair to Hope: Financial Counsellors Share Their Stories for Anti-Poverty Week

21st October 2016 – To coincide with anti-poverty week, Financial Counselling Australia has today released “Financial Counselling: It Makes a Difference” a compendium of 65 case studies from the files of financial counsellors.

Many people don’t know or understand what a financial counsellor does – they are often confused with financial planners or budget workers.
This report will help dispel some of that confusion, providing an insight into the day to day work of a financial counsellor.

The case studies are a microcosm of that work, showing how the lives of 65 families were transformed from debt and despair to stability and confidence.

These stories paint a stark picture: of people struggling on meagre Newstart payments while they apply for job after job. Of people who suffered an unexpected illness, crippling them financially. Of small business owners still recovering from the  global financial crisis. Of relationship breakdown, family violence, addiction—a whole myriad of unexpected life changes.

Behind the statistics showing there are nearly three million Australians living below the poverty line are the faces of real people and real families struggling to get back on their feet.

We don’t expect everyone will read all of these case studies, but a quick skim read will show you two things – that people in debt are often living in poverty and that financial counselling makes a difference.

Contact: Fiona Guthrie, 0402 426 835
Financial-Counselling-Makes-a-Difference-A-Collection-of-Case-Studies.pdf