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The Reach Framework

About REACH

The first complete survivor pathway

There are already helpful tools that explain economic abuse.

Some help people recognise controlling behaviour. Others help professionals understand and measure what is happening.

But recognising abuse is only the first step.

Survivors also need to know:

Where am I now?

What help do I need?

What can I do next?

REACH was created to help answer those questions.

It does not assume that recovery happens in a straight line. People may move forwards, feel stuck or return to an earlier stage when their circumstances change.

Once someone recognises where they are, REACH shows them the next steps they can take towards safety, recovery and long-term financial independence.

“A woman’s best protection is a little money of her own”

— Clare Boothe Luce

Find out more

The Five Steps

"What is happening to me?"
The first and most critical stage. Many survivors do not initially identify their experience as abuse because, on the surface, it can look like generosity or “taking care of things”. Recognition without judgment is the foundation of everything that follows.
- Controlled access to money and accounts
- Prevented from working or studying
- Debt taken out in your name
- Employment deliberately sabotaged
- Financial information hidden from you
- Post-separation financial control
"How do I create safety?"
Physical safety and economic safety are inseparable. This stage supports survivors in creating financial safety, whether or not they are ready to leave physically. Small steps are real steps.
- Opening a private bank account
- Checking your credit report
- Contacting your bank's specialist team
- Digital safety: devices and accounts
- Accessing emergency funds
- Safety planning for those not yet ready to leave
"How do I stabilise my life?"
The period after leaving is often the most vulnerable. This stage focuses on stabilisation, securing the practical foundations that allow a survivor to begin rebuilding. Without stability, recovery is not possible.
- Safe housing: the immediate first priority
- Income stability and benefits access
- Challenging abuser-generated debt
- Using the Economic Abuse Evidence Form
- Credit protection and financial disassociation
- Intersectional support for marginalised survivors
"How do I rebuild my independence?"
The active rebuilding stage. Reclaiming your financial identity, legal rights, and confidence. The feelings that you are bad with money, or can't manage, those were put there deliberately. They are not true.
- Challenging coerced debts formally
- Financial Ombudsman complaints
- Legal remedies and asset recovery
- Employment support and skills
- Rebuilding credit: practical strategies
- Peer support and community
"How do I move from surviving to thriving?"
Healing is not a destination, it is a direction. This stage is about long-term financial wellbeing, consolidating recovery, and, for those who choose it, supporting others on their own journey.
- Long-term financial planning
- Ongoing trauma-informed support
- Building savings and resilience
- Reclaiming identity beyond survival
- Peer mentoring and advocacy
- The thrivership model