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Book bridges gap between mental health and money

01 November 2023 | Story Valentino Ndaba | Photo SUPPLIED

As we deepen our understanding of the connection between money and psychology, financial therapy has gained popularity as a field of study. During World Mental Health Awareness Month, it was essential to delve into practical guidance for financial therapists, as well as for financial planners and mental health practitioners who are integrating financial therapy into their practice.

Dr Prince Sarpong, Senior Lecturer in the School of Financial Planning Law (SFPL) at the University of the Free State, and Prof Liezel Alsemgeest, Director of the SFPL, recently edited and published a book titled: Perspectives in Financial Therapy. Other academics from the SFPL who contributed to the book include Dr Rika van Zyl (Senior Lecturer) and Henda Kleingeld (Lecturer).

Perspectives in Financial Therapy

Published in July 2023, Perspectives in Financial Therapy aims to contribute to the body of knowledge in financial therapy. Both academics and practitioners in the mental health, financial planning, and related fields recognise the increasing prevalence of money-related psychological distress.

According to the editors, the primary target audience for this 14-chapter book includes academics and practitioners in the fields of financial therapy, financial planning, financial counselling, financial coaching, and mental health, as well as undergraduate and graduate students in these fields.

Mental well-being and financial matters

In Chapter One, Dr Sarpong begins by taking a close look at the developing field of financial therapy. He then investigates Models, Resources, and Tools Applied in Financial Therapy in Chapter Four. In this chapter, Dr Sarpong provides discussions on “the identified money scripts and money disorders in financial therapy, and on some of the main models, tools, and resources employed in financial therapy. The models in financial therapy are adapted mainly from the broader field of psychology and financial planning and can be employed by financial planners, financial therapists, and mental health professionals in helping clients to resolve their money-related distresses”.

Understanding generational differences is a crucial part of financial therapy. in Chapter Seven, Prof Alsemgeest touches on how each of the generations develops and distinguishes itself from other generations through shared social and historical life experiences. She added, “The chapter stresses that in the practice of financial therapy, it is important for practitioners to understand how each generation’s attitudes, perceptions, and behaviours around money were shaped, in order to be able to create rapport with a diverse group of clients.”

Comprehensive perspective on financial therapy

The book also delves into various other topics, including the brain and financial decision-making; practical application of neuroeconomics in financial planning; decolonising assessments in financial therapy from an African context; challenges, benefits, and implications for online financial therapy; couples and financial therapy; planning for and surviving divorce; rebuilding a stable emotional and financial foundation after divorce; therapeutic jurisprudence and estate planning; the limitations on freedom of testation, allaying estate planning fears through trusts; as well as a critical appraisal financial therapy.

News Archive

SA must appoint competent judges

2009-05-08

At the inaugural lecture are, from the left: Prof. Teuns Verschoor, Acting Rector of the UFS, Judge Farlam and Prof. Johan Henning, Dean of the Faculty of Law at the UFS.

Supreme Court of Appeal Judge Ian Farlam has called on the South African government to appoint and continue to appoint competent, fair and experienced judicial officers to sit in the country’s courts.

He also emphasised the need to have an efficient and highly respected appellate division, which rightly enjoys the confidence of all.

Judge Farlam was speaking at the University of the Free State (UFS) where he delivered his inaugural lecture as Extraordinary Professor in Roman Law, Legal History and Comparative Law in the Faculty of Law.

He said there were important lessons that emanated from the study of legal history in the Free State, particularly including the lesson that there were courageous jurists who spoke up for what they believed to be right, and a legislature who listened and did the right thing when required.

“This is part of our South African heritage which is largely forgotten – even by those whose predecessors were directly responsible for it. It is something which they and the rest of us can remember with pride,” Judge Farlam said.

Addressing the topic, Cox and Constitutionalism: Aspects of Free State Legal History, Judge Farlam used the murder trial of Charles Cox, who was accused of killing his wife and both daughters, to illustrate several key points of legal history.

Cox was eventually found guilty and executed, however, the trial caused a deep rift between the Afrikaans and English speaking communities in the Free State.

Judge Farlam also emphasised that the Free State Constitution embodied the principle of constitutionalism, with the result that the Free State was a state where the Constitution and not the legislature was sovereign. He said it was unfortunate that this valuable principle was eliminated in the Free State after the Boer War and said that it took 94 years before it was reinstated.

Judge Farlam added, “Who knows what suffering and tragedy might not have been avoided if, instead of the Westminster system, which was patently unsuited to South African conditions, we had gone into Union in 1910 with what one can describe as the better Trekker tradition, the tradition of constitutionalism that the wise burghers of the Free State chose in 1854 to take over into their Constitution from what we would call today the constitutional best practice of their time?”

Media Release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@ufs.ac.za
8 May 2009

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