Any ideas for making more money and being financially independent?

[Earlgrey19]

I’m separated after an emotionally abusive marriage. I was at home for 5 years recently after the kids were born especially as one had serious health problems in the early years. I gave up academic career, retrained as counsellor. Salaried Counselling jobs are part-time; I though that would fit well with family. Then marriage broke down. My job pays 14k. My STBX earns over 3 times more. We haven’t yet separated finances because I can’t afford it. It’s awful being financially dependent on him, especially ad he is controlling. I’m in the family home and he was furious with me the other day for paying someone to clear wisteria out of the guttering. I’m dyspraxic and don’t trust myself on a ladder.

Complicated situation: my STBXH recently had serious cancer and has poor odds of surviving next few years and so divorce doesn’t make sense (re life insurance, inheritance tax, etc). Therefore an trying to remain separated, not divorced, for now.

I know I can look at benefits — I will if I have to.

Any career ideas, though? I can try to build private practice counselling alongside my salaried job, but my experience is that it’s unstable — clients come and go. I’ve had 2 not pay their bills. I’ve thought about training to be a mediator for divorcing couples as their fees are high and it’s not unrelated to counselling. Anyone have experience of this career? Or any other ideas? I can’t go back to academia — it’s impossible to have substantial time out as you have to have continuous publication record. Feeling desperate and can’t believe I’m in this situation.

I feel you. No bright ideas though. My own 'side hustle' can't be emulated easily (translation in niche language), but I absolutely understand how you feel. Training to mediate sounds good. Could you train to deliver training in counselling?
Wishing you well.

What was your academic field? That might yield some ideas.

If it’s a subject studies in school or close to one perhaps being a tutor in that subject might suit you.

Or being a tutor for the OU.

Most counsellors I know expect payment by bank transfer just before the session starts or at the very latest just after it ends. That way you never do a session without being paid, or at least you never do more than one.

You mention the instability of counselling. Could that be turned into a positive feature? One group of counsellors I know of operate a very easy going drop in system. They have an online booking system and post their slots a few months in advance. Their rationale is all about enabling people to access counselling who might not otherwise be able to.

No need to book a recurring slot (although you can if you want to). So people who can’t manage the same time every week can book
according to their needs/shift patterns etc. I hey also encourage people to book one-off or irregular sessions or short spells.

They charge a pretty low hourly rate (£30 an hour) but it’s all Zoom so no premises overheads. They do charge more for the first session and if someone hasn’t had any sessions for a certain period (can’t remember if it is three or six months), so that incentivises loyalty and regularity, even if the regularity isn’t “same time every week”.

They are usually fully booked for at least a month ahead and their online system requires patent the day before or the slot is released on the day and advertised at a slight discount to fill the slot.
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Work at least 2 hours more and claim universal credits. Calculator here: entitledto.co.uk (or org.uk).