Stephanie Briscoe, LCMHCS NCC CEAP |September 17, 2025

I’ve had patients come to therapy sharing how their past challenges with money growing up in financial instability, carrying debt, or watching family members fight about bills are showing up in their current responsibilities. They’ll admit, “I have the money, but I just can’t make myself pay the bill.” In fact, as a therapist, I’ve recognized similar struggles in my own journey. Using my ARC Mentality™ (Accountability, Relatability, and Consistency), I can both empathize and challenge these patterns, because financial avoidance is more than a bad habit it’s a survival strategy that has outlived its usefulness.

What Is Financial Avoidance?

Financial avoidance happens when people delay or sidestep money-related tasks, even when they have the resources to complete them. This could mean ignoring bills until late fees arrive, avoiding budget conversations, or resisting looking at account balances. On the surface, it looks like procrastination. At its core, it’s often tied to unresolved financial trauma.

The Role of Financial Trauma

Financial trauma is the emotional imprint left by past negative money experiences poverty, job loss, financial abuse, or family conflict around bills and spending. Even after circumstances improve, the body remembers. The nervous system associates money with stress, shame, or fear, and avoidance becomes a coping mechanism.

For example:

• A patient raised in a home where utilities were often shut off may feel panic at the sight of a bill, even though their income now covers it.
• Someone pressured by an ex-partner to hand over finances may freeze when making decisions, linking money to conflict.
• Others avoid looking at their accounts because it triggers shame, even if they’re financially stable today.

Procrastination as Protection

When avoidance sets in, it isn’t about irresponsibility, it’s about emotional regulation. Procrastination provides short-term relief: If I don’t face this now, I don’t have to feel the anxiety right now. The problem is, the cycle adds stress in the long run late fees, guilt, and mounting pressure that only reinforce the belief that money tasks are overwhelming.

Practical Steps Toward Change

As with most challenges tied to trauma, healing takes time and intention. Here are a few strategies I share with patients and practice myself:

• Automate where you can: Schedule autopayments to reduce decision fatigue.
• Create positive pairings: Pay bills alongside something comforting coffee, music, or journaling.
• Start with micro-steps: Log into the account without committing to pay yet. Momentum builds from there.
• Reframe the story: Instead of thinking, I’m losing money, remind yourself, I’m investing in my stability and peace of mind.
• Seek trauma-informed support: Therapy approaches like CBT or EMDR can help untangle the past patterns fueling present-day avoidance.

Moving Forward with ARC

Applying the ARC Mentality™ means holding yourself accountable to your financial habits, finding relatability in the fact that many people struggle with this, and building consistency in how you face financial responsibilities. Change isn’t instant, but every step away from avoidance is a step toward empowerment.

Paying bills may never feel fun, but it doesn’t have to feel crippling. By recognizing the roots of financial avoidance and practicing healthier approaches, you can move from fear and delay toward confidence and consistency. Your relationship with money can shift from survival mode into one of peace and progress, something I’ve seen both in my patients’ lives and in my own.

About the Author

Stephanie Briscoe, NCC, LCMHCS, LPCS, CEAP, is the CEO and Lead Clinician of Mirror 2 the Heart PLLC, a faith-based counseling, coaching, and consulting practice serving North Carolina and South Carolina. She is the creator of the ARC Mentality™ framework leadership and personal growth built on Accountability, Relatability, and Consistency. Stephanie helps individuals, couples, and professionals strengthen their mental health, relationships, and workplace effectiveness with practical tools rooted in faith, psychology, and real-world experience.