The impact of intimate partner economic abuse on mental health

Digital communication has become an essential tool to alleviate the consequences of social isolation during a pandemic.

In accordance, Bell Let’s Talk Day continues to be a transcending initiative that aims to destigmatize mental health issues among Canadians.

Most individuals are unaware that stay-at-home orders have put more women at risk for intimate partner violence (IPV), which negatively impacts their mental health. Existing scholarship suggests economic abuse has a proportional relationship to the consequences of psychological well-being of IPV survivors, which include symptoms of depression, anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder. Ultimately, this fundamentally ruptures survivors’ agency and sense of empowerment.

Contextualized as different from domestic violence, economic abuse can be defined as a behaviour that controls a victim’s ability to acquire resources, including being denied access to bank accounts, or having limited decisionmaking in regards to family finances.

“About 95 per cent of women who experience domestic abuse also experience economic abuse. It can also occur on its own,” said MP Anita Vandenbeld in a House of Commons Speech last October.

“One of the challenges is mental health. It is complex and not accessible for survivors,” says Meseret Haileyesus, founder of the Canadian Centre for Women’s Empowerment (CCFWE), which is the only Canadian organization that advocates for survivors of economic abuse.

Through group therapy supported by the City of Ottawa, registered psychotherapists from CCFWE give survivors tools to manage their anxiety such as offering financial safety planning.

“During the pandemic, victims are not allowed to open their cameras to access information. They don’t have laptops, phone access or their computer is broken,” says Haileyesus.

While the Canadian welfare system offers support for women who struggle with domestic and economic abuse, the system lacks permeability for Black, Indigenous and women of colour, who have a different experience.

“I waited for a therapist for months. During our first contact, she didn’t welcome me properly. I was shocked. I’m a Black woman, broken, in a scarf and jacket. I just wanted help because I was in a difficult situation,” says an anonymous survivor.

“She told me if I didn’t take medication, she was going to refer me to the community,” she says. “All she gave me was a community resource printout. They said they would call back and they didn’t. This is typical systemic racism.”

Like the anonymous survivor, there are many other racialized women who share similar experiences. Listening to a woman’s voice should not be associated with race, age or social class.

While the Canadian government has introduced gender-based policies that foster gender equality, the Criminal Code of Canada under Section 265 excludes the threat of economic abuse, allowing it to exist legally in Canada.

CCFWE psychotherapists are developing a self-care guide for survivors. CCFWE needs more resources to expand its services to stop intergenerational trauma that stems from economic and domestic violence.

CCFWE calls for support from Canadians to sign its petition to immediately expand the federal strategy and funding to end gender-based violence to include financial and economic abuse. Future generations need this support. To join a CCFWE support group, visit ccfwe.org/ join-women-support-group.