Today's ground-breaking episode involves an extremely important, yet often overlooked aspect of intimate partner violence - economic abuse. Dr Nicola Sharp-Jeffs is the founder and CEO of charity Surviving Economic Abuse, and we are honoured to have her on the show to talk about her incredible - and vital - work.

Domestic abuse can take many forms. Some aspects of this are well-known and recognised, such as physical violence and verbal abuse. However, a very damaging form of domestic abuse is economic abuse, where an abuser restricts how their partner acquires, uses, and maintains money and economic resources. They may prevent their partner from being in education or employment, take their pay, control their bank accounts, control how and when money is spent, or build up debt in their partner's name.

Economic abuse is almost always carried out by a male abuser against a female victim. Economic abuse can reinforce or create economic instability. In this way, it limits women’s choices and ability to access safety. Lack of access to economic resources can result in women staying with an abusive partner for longer than they would like and experiencing more harm as a result.

The impact of economic abuse makes rebuilding lives challenging. Many women leave with nothing – having no money even for essentials – and have to start again from scratch.

In this episode, Dr Nicola talks to us about why she started Surviving Economic Abuse, the work the charity does, and the impact they have on the lives of survivors.

The importance of this episode cannot be overstated.

 

If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this episode, please know that support is available to you. Resources, including organisations that can support you, can be found at https://survivingeconomicabuse.org/resources/.