This training has been resheduled from 2nd Dec 25.
“Reclaiming your finances is part of reclaiming your life. You are not bad with money — someone took that power away. But you can take it back.”
Economic abuse is a powerful and often hidden form of control that can trap individuals in unsafe situations and limit their independence. This training equips participants with the knowledge to identify the signs of economic abuse, understand its impact on survivors, and explore practical strategies for support, intervention and financial empowerment. Whether you’re a frontline worker, advocate, or community leader, this session will deepen your understanding and enhance your capacity to respond effectively and empathetically.
- Define economic abuse and understand how it fits within the broader spectrum of domestic abuse.
- Identify signs and risk indicators of economic abuse.
- Understand short- and long-term impact on survivors
- Respond appropriately using a trauma-informed approach.
- Explore pathways for support and safety planning that address economic control.
- Learn practical tools to regain control over finances.
- Explore budgeting, credit repair, and financial safety planning.
- Identify support services and resources for long-term financial recovery.
Trainer: Jodie McVicar is Head of Training with Scottish Women’s Aid, managing national training and strategic partnerships across Scotland. Jodie has previous experience working within refuge at Edinburgh Women’s Aid, and as a Trustee with Fife Women’s Aid, as well as an extensive background in L&D and child protection – both within statutory and third sector services.
Whilst financial abuse has long been recognised as a form of domestic abuse, recent research has highlighted the overarching issue of economic abuse. With 96% of survivors of domestic abuse also reporting experiencing economic abuse this session will explore the specifics of economic abuse, both during the relationship and post-separation.
It will increase participants understanding of how domestic abuse, also known as coercive control includes economic abuse often including tactics such as sabotaging someone’s employment, taking out debts in their name and ruining someone’s credit rating.
It will highlight how economic abuse seeks to trap people in relationships and the challenges that are involved in living with economic abuse, issues around separating, remaining separated safely and rebuilding a life detailing the support that many financial institutions are now offering as a result of greater understanding of this form of abuse.
Learning outcomes:
- Understanding the impacts of domestic abuse and specifically economic abuse through theory, research and survivor testimony
- Knowledge of services to ensure people experiencing domestic abuse are able to be signposted to appropriate support.
- Knowledge of the initiatives and support being offered from financial institutions, employers and specialist domestic and economic abuse organisations in Scotland.
Facilitator: Judy Ferguson, SWA National Training Coordinator.
Judy has worked with Women’s Aid since 2011 and also worked with the Scotland SafeLives training team delivering the DA Matters Training Programme to 14,000 Police Scotland staff. Judy regularly provides training and consultancy to a wide range of multi agency statutory and voluntary bodies including the COPFS, Police Scotland, Social Work, Law Society Scotland, Criminal Justice Workers, Heath, Housing and Violence Against Women & Girls Partnerships etc. Judy has a wealth of experience informing her practice and a burning passion for working to end domestic abuse and violence against women in all its forms.
We can also offer tailor made, bespoke support with training needs analysis, training, policies and procedures and implementing new legislation. We are happy to build a package specifically relevant to your organisation and the needs of your team, building on the work of our domestic abuse specialist trainers across the country. We are happy to deliver both virtually and face to face, and can accommodate any number of learners. Our training and inputs are fully interactive, engaging and will support your team with practical application of their learning journey with us. Please contact judy.ferguson@womensaid.scot Scottish Women’s Aid’s National Training Co-ordinator to discuss your requirements.
This session aims to provide a broad overview of domestic abuse including economic abuse and post-separation abuse. With 96% of survivors of domestic abuse also reporting experiencing economic abuse it will increase participants understanding of how domestic abuse, also known as coercive control includes economic abuse and is more than physical abuse.
It will highlight how coercive control operates including the abusive tactics, risks and finances that trap people in relationships and the challenges that are involved to separate, remain separated safely and rebuild a life.
It will improve confidence in how to recognise and respond to domestic abuse, including how domestic abuse may impact individuals, how you may spot the signs and signpost to specialist services if required.
Learning outcomes:
- Understanding of domestic abuse and how it impacts on those who experience it and how it affects their behaviour and choices
- Understanding the impacts of domestic abuse and economic abuse through theory, research and survivor testimony
- Knowledge of services to ensure people experiencing domestic abuse are able to be signposted to appropriate support
Facilitator:
Judy Ferguson is the National Training Coordinator at Scottish Women’s Aid having previously spent nearly a decade with East Ayrshire Women’s Aid leading on all Domestic Abuse and Gender Based Violence multi agency training within the local Violence Against Women Partnership.
A certified Safe & Together Trainer with a passion and commitment to ensuring addressing domestic abuse becomes everyone’s business, Judy regularly provides training to COPFS, Police, Social Work, Criminal Justice Workers, Heath, Housing and VAWG partnerships and strives to improving the understanding of, and response to survivors and children experiencing domestic abuse.
Judy strives to support organisations develop robust approaches to end violence against women and girls, recognising it is a breach of human rights and unacceptable in any society and everyone has the right to live free from the threat of violence and abuse.
For decades, victim-survivors of domestic abuse have been asked, ‘why don’t you just leave?’.
This question illustrates a lack of understanding of how coercive control operates, the safety implications for women attempting to separate, as well as the finances required to separate and remain separated. However, a further fallacy is also at play – the assumption that the abuse ends when the relationship ends.
Through PhD research with victim-survivors and domestic abuse support workers in Scotland, this presentation will explore the various tactics of economic abuse that perpetrators introduce post-separation to continue their campaign of power and control over victim-survivors’ lives. The session will highlight how post-separation economic abuse includes a variety of interpersonal as well as formal tactics – illustrating how perpetrators are able to facilitate abuse through institutions, such as banks, and via legal processes which are intended to provide justice.
With permission from the Domestic Abuse Intervention Program (DAIP), Jenn has adopted the original Duluth Power and Control Wheel to situate the participants’ experiences of post-separation economic power and control and will present this newly adapted wheel to illustrate key findings from her research.
Facilitator: Jenn has spent 10 years working in research, policy and educational roles in the field of violence against women. She holds an LL.M. in International Human Rights Law and a MRes in Public Policy Research. Jenn is a PhD candidate at the University of Glasgow, where her research examines economic abuse, the costs of separation and support available for victim-survivors in Scotland. Alongside her role as PhD candidate, she also works as the Banking Specialist for the charity Surviving Economic Abuse. In 2020, Jenn was a visiting scholar in the Center on Violence Against Women and Children at Rutgers University in the US. She has developed an expertise in economic abuse and banking and has undertaken key research collaborations with the Royal Bank of Scotland and is currently seconded to Lloyds Banking Group.
Helpline: 0800 027 1234
helpline@sdafmh.org.uk
