LaQueshia Clemons Practices Financial Therapy Where Money Meets Emotion

On the Freedom Life Therapy and Wellness website, debt payoff and emergency fund calculators sit one click away from individual and couples therapy offerings. Both belong to the same practice and are staffed by the same clinicians.

LaQueshia Clemons spent more than a decade in social work watching financial stress show up as a mental health problem, and she built a business that addresses both sides.

‍LaQueshia Clemons is a licensed clinical social worker, accredited financial counselor, and founder of Freedom Life Therapy and Wellness, a financial wellness practice for individuals and couples. She works through financial therapy, coaching, workshops, and speaking engagements. A member of the Entreprenista League, she has become a regular source for national outlets covering the emotional side of personal finance.

LaQueshia has spent her career sitting with people at their most financially exposed. “I realized there was a gap between financial advice and emotional support, so I created Freedom Life Therapy and Wellness to bridge that gap,” LaQueshia says.

A decade in the field, and the pattern that kept repeating

Her career began in community mental health, where she worked with children, families, and individuals facing complex mental health challenges, trauma, poverty, and housing instability. She moved on to integrated healthcare and crisis work before becoming a public defender social worker for the State of Connecticut, a role she still holds while supporting youth and families in the juvenile justice system.

The same pattern surfaced case after case. “As a social worker, I saw how financial stress impacted mental health, relationships, and overall well-being every day,” she says. She had also come through financial challenges of her own, and that experience shaped what she came to believe about lasting change.

Money advice was widely available, but counsel on how to work through the feelings attached to it was harder to find.

Building the practice she could not find anywhere else

Entrepreneurship was never the plan. “It happened because I saw a need that wasn’t being met,” she says. “No one was doing the kind of work I envisioned.”

Freedom Life Therapy and Wellness became the bridge. The practice pairs individual and couples therapy with financial counseling and coaching, money mindset work, budgeting and debt support, and help through major life transitions. Clients can start with a free 15-minute consultation.

“When I started, I wasn’t sure it was even possible to build a career around financial therapy,” she says. “Today, I’ve built a practice that fills a unique gap by specializing in the intersection of mental health and financial wellness. Seeing clients’ lives change while creating a business that reflects my vision has been my greatest accomplishment.”

Ambitious professionals, couples, and the money conversations they postpone

Her clients are ambitious professionals and couples, and the presenting problem is rarely a numbers game. “I help ambitious professionals and couples heal their relationship with money so they can build wealth with confidence instead of stress,” she says.

Her specialty has put her in front of national audiences. Bankrate quoted her on what unmanageable credit card debt does to a person, including the moment a client finally looks at the full picture.

“When my clients go through it, when they start to see what they’re spending on and how it affects them, it can get very emotional,” she told the outlet. Her advice was deliberately low-tech: Write the numbers down on paper, because writing makes them real.

A year of growing the team and the audience

This past year brought expansion on several fronts. She added to her team, and the practice now lists clinicians and financial coaches working side by side. She also grew her national visibility through media and speaking engagements, and kept building awareness of financial therapy as a field.

“It’s been incredibly rewarding to see more people recognize the importance of addressing both the emotional and practical sides of money,” she says.

What she wishes she had known

“I wish I had known that building a successful business takes much longer than most people realize,” she says. “It’s easy to compare yourself to businesses that seem to have grown overnight, but what you don’t see are the years of consistency behind them.”

Her advice for founders early in the process is to move before the confidence shows up. “Don’t wait until you feel ready. Start before you have everything figured out because clarity comes from taking action, not from waiting,” she says. “Be willing to learn, ask questions, and evolve.”

The last filter she applies is a values test: Build a business that matches the life you actually want.

She also thinks about what her daughters are watching. “Let your children see the journey, not just the outcome,” she says. Her own calendar runs on work-life integration, with seasons where the business needs more of her and seasons where her family does, with rest scheduled before exhaustion forces the issue.

What comes next for financial therapy

The plan is to reach more people with the same work. She wants to keep growing the practice so it can serve more individuals and couples, and expand the educational side through workshops, speaking engagements, and resources that make financial wellness easier to get to. Advancing the field of financial therapy itself sits beneath it all.

You can follow LaQueshia on LinkedIn, read her published media features, and find the practice, its services, and a free consultation at freedomlifetherapy.com.

If LaQueshia's approach to helping people heal their relationship with money resonates, the Entreprenista League is a community of women founders who value connection, shared experience, and practical business insight as they grow. Learn more about the Entreprenista League right here.