My passion and purpose for working on ‘all things economic abuse’ came from conversations with victim-survivors. I heard how economic abuse took away their freedom and stopped them from achieving their full potential.
I then discovered that there were no practice responses to economic abuse - it wasn't even named in policy. So, in 2008, I undertook the first piece of research on economic abuse in the UK to understand the issue better. This led me to develop the Economic Power & Control Wheel, which demonstrates the variety of economic control tactics abusers use and how they 'thread through' and reinforce other forms of abuse. The Wheel is now used widely in practice and across the globe and has been translated into several languages.
I have since conducted extensive research, including with other academics, looking at economic abuse in the UK and internationally. This includes a number of reports, journal articles and book chapters, as well as my own book ‘Understanding and Responding to Economic Abuse’.
I am an Emeritus Fellow in the Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit at London Metropolitan University, a Research Associate at Durham University and an Honorary Research Fellow at City St George's, University of London.
My decision to establish Surviving Economic Abuse (SEA) in 2017 was inspired by international learning from Australia and the US gained via my 2016 Churchill Fellowship. Having seen what could be done, I was determined that women in the UK should have access to the same.
As founding CEO, I pioneered innovative practice, policy, regulatory and legislative approaches to economic abuse. This includes economic abuse being named and defined in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 and the criminalisation of post-separation abuse. You can read about my achievements in securing economic justice for victim-survivors here.
I was awarded an OBE for services to victims of domestic and economic abuse in the 2020 Queen's Birthday Honours. I also won the Third Sector Award for Rising Chief Executive in 2020 and in 2021 was named the Charity Times Awards ‘Rising Leader of the Year‘.
I stepped away from SEA in May 2024 to take the work global. I coordinate a group of NGOs working to end economic abuse in their nation states, undertaking inter-country learning and seeking solutions to cross-boarder issues . I act as an Expert Advisor to the International Finance Corporation (IFC) housed at the World Bank and undertake consultancy work.