Financial education and alcoholism: reconfiguring narratives of women in recovery

Abstract

This article presents the results of a qualitative study focused on women recovering from alcoholism who participated in a financial education course. In a moment of vulnerability, marked by chemical dependency and economic disorganization, the research objective was to understand how this educational intervention was perceived by this audience and how it enabled the reorganization of their financial lives. The methodology included in-depth interviews with 13 participants and the course creator, complemented by the analysis of pedagogical and promotional materials from both the focal course and its competitors. Findings reveal that the course, by adopting an experiential and relational approach — distancing itself from the utilitarian model and reinserting money into the fabric of social and affective relations — created a transformative learning environment. For these women, often excluded from formal financial knowledge, the acquisition of management skills became a resource for empowerment, autonomy, and freedom of choice. In this context, financial education, beyond mere technique, proves to be a tool for the reconfiguration of personal narratives, enabling the subversion of deep-seated “limiting beliefs” and stimulating the creative capacity to envision and build a future distinct from the present of vulnerability, demonstrating the role of learning in promoting agency and the reinvention of subjectivity, and offering a strategic contribution to the social branch of the Brazilian creative economy.