A stack of bills. Photo: ThePants (flickr)

As credit-card debt, the loss of homes, and predatory lending are leaving many Americans in financial crisis, financial training for the underprivileged has never been in greater need.

Now, a movement within social work to provide clients with the tools to make financially responsible decisions — and to understand why they get into financial trouble in the first place — seems to be taking off.

David Crary with the Seattle Times reports there are financial think tanks in St. Louis, new on-line certificates in financial social work, and financial training at many social work universities.

Margaret Sherraden, a professor at University of Missouri-St. Louis has long advocated for financial training in social work schools. Sherraden explains,

The growing field of economic empowerment represents an exceptional opportunity for the social work profession. Arguably, no other profession is as well positioned as social work to assume leadership.

Getting to the roots of why people spend the way they do is a main objective for those in financial social work.

Robin Mckinney, a University of Maryland social-work graduate, explains that much of our financial education is focused on numbers, but emotions play an important role in making financial decisions.

Although long overdue, approaching financial crisis from a behavioral perspective makes sense as a more sustainable method to addressing debt for those in economic need.