The Nervous System's Role in Financial Decision-Making with Sarah Carr

Today I speak with Sarah Carr about the intersection of trauma, neurodiversity, and financial well-being. Sarah shares her journey from growing up in a high-demand high-control religious environment to becoming a financial therapist who helps clients—particularly women and neurodivergent individuals—reclaim their relationship with money.

We discuss how trauma responses show up in our financial decisions, why income became Sarah's security blanket after leaving an oppressive marriage, and how raising two children on the autism spectrum taught her about nervous system regulation and the beauty of different ways of thinking.

Meet Our Guest

Sarah is a Certified Financial Therapist®, Certified Financial Planner®, and wealth manager committed to helping people rewrite money stories, deconstruct old patterns, and cultivate embodied financial well-being without shame.

Raising and educating two neuro-diverse children, Sarah has learned more about the impacts of Autism and ADHD on her clients' financial lives and relationships. Sarah serves on two non-profit boards: Reclamation Collective, a national community advocacy organization providing resources and support for those harmed in religious and spiritual contexts, and Endless Mountains Pride, a local non-profit providing education, advocacy, and connection for the LGBTQ+ community.

While Sarah works with clients across the country, she resides in upstate New York where her favorite place to recenter is along one of the many waterfall trails she loves to hike.

Episode Highlights

Growing up in high-demand, high-control religion shaped Sarah's early beliefs about women and money
The identity crisis of becoming a stay-at-home mom after having financial independence
How leaving an oppressive marriage revealed her money script that income equals security
Discovering financial therapy while navigating early motherhood
Processing personal trauma while learning about son's autism diagnosis
Working with women leaving high-control religious systems and neurodiverse clients
How trauma creates stuck emotions and disrupted agency
Permission slips and questioning deeply held beliefs about capability
We don't heal individually—we heal collectively

Resources

Website
LinkedIn
Instagram
Facebook
Reclaiming Financial Agency: An Interview with financial therapist Haylie Castillo
The Financial Wisdom of Ebenezer Scrooge by Ted Klontz and Brad Klontz
Truth and Repair by Judith Herman

Keywords

#FinancialTherapy #ReligiousTrauma #Neurodiversity #MoneyMindset #FinancialEmpowerment #TraumaHealing #NervousSystemRegulation #FinancialWellbeing #WomenAndMoney #HighlySensitive

Click here to watch our interview on Youtube

Diana Gisel Yañez is an Investment Advisor Representative of Natural Investments PBLLC. Natural Investments is an independent Registered Investment Advisor. All the Colors is not a registered entity and is not an affiliate or subsidiary of Natural Investments. See our Disclosures and Disclaimers and read our Form CRS.