Financial and Mental Health: Exploratory Research

Clients will be given access to one-on-one financial counseling, provided by trained peer specialists, initially working under the guidance of the project director. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Your Money, Your Goals: Financial Empowerment Toolkit for Social Services Programs (21) will be used as a reference during counseling sessions, with a view to developing a manual based on clients' existing experiences and coping strategies, such that the desired behavior change is manageable, realistic, and based on real-life possibilities rather than idealized circumstances which may be far from the reality of people's lives. Counseling will in all cases be responsive to clients' particular needs and concerns, rather than following a predetermined sequence.

Support groups, facilitated by peer specialists and guided initially by the project director, will be offered for clients interested in specific financial issues such as budgeting, managing benefits, wise spending, planning and saving. The peer support groups will focus on enabling clients to share their own experiences with finances.

Interested clients will be helped to open bank accounts at banks of their choice, and to manage associated tools such as Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) cards and online bill pay. Clients will also be advised regarding use of non-bank financial products such as prepaid cards and check cashers. Representatives from both bank and non-bank providers will be invited to come in and talk with clients about the services they offer, and clients will also be invited to visit the facilities to be guided around the available services.

Clients will have the option of joining a savings club, which will combine group meetings, facilitated by a peer specialist under the initial guidance of the project director, and regular savings deposits towards specified goals. Clients will be offered a limited savings match as an incentive to achieve their savings goal (for example, the savings club will offer a 50% match on any money saved within a specified time period towards a specific goal, up to a maximum of a $100 match).