Sliding Scale Self-Assessment

This is a short questionnaire to help you locate yourself on the sliding scale. It’s totally anonymous and does not get submitted to or read by anyone but you. There are so many elements of class and access that are not included in these few questions, so please just use this as a general guide to think about your access to resources (or lack thereof) and make an honest and self-loving evaluation. This pdf from Hadassah Damien’s Ride Free Fearless Money is a powerful visual way to look at this. But, of course, you know your financial situation better than any scale could ever measure.

1. How I cover my general expenses

A. I live entirely on passive/gifted income*
B. I live partially on passive/gifted income or voluntarily work part time or for less pay
C. I live entirely from the money I earn from my job(s)
D. I support other people with my income
E. I receive SSI/SSDI or am currently accruing survival credit card debt

*passive/gifted income = inheritance, trust fund, investments, rental properties, family support

2. My family of origin has

A. investments / multiple properties
B. a home that is paid off / retirement income
C. a home they pay a mortgage on
D. more debt than assets / I have no access to their assets
E. I help support my family financially

3. Student loans (if applicable)

A. My loans are paid off or I went to school without loans
B. Student loans for professional/post-secondary education in my current field
C. Student loans and most people in my family have higher education
D. Student loans and I'm the first person my family to go to college
E. Was unable to pursue post-secondary education due to finances

4. Expendable income

A. I can easily cover my basic needs and plenty of extras*
B. I can cover my basic needs and regular extras
C. I can cover basic needs and occasional extras
D. I can cover my basic needs and nothing else
E. I struggle to cover my basic needs

*extras= meals/drinks out, air travel, vacations, non-essential clothing, organic or higher priced foods, etc

5. I would say my race, ethnicity, gender, citizenship, class, and disability status:

A. positively impacts or does not impact my income
B. Intersectionality* is real, but mostly A
C. Somewhere in the middle
D. Intersectionality is real, but mostly E
E. negatively impact my income

*the complex, cumulative way in which the effects of multiple forms of discrimination (such as racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, classism and more) combine, overlap, or intersect especially in the experiences of marginalized individuals or groups

6. Annual income

A. over $150,000
B. $115-$150,000
C. $80-$115,000
D. $35-$80,000
E. under $35,000

Now go back through your answers (Cosmo-style) and see how many of each letter you circled.

If you got mostly As and Bs and Cs, you should be paying me market rate ($200/hour) in order to allow me to offer a sliding scale to other clients.
If you got mostly Ds and Es, I am happy to offer you a sliding scale slot, we can talk more in an intake appointment about how to think about what you have capacity to pay.

All individual therapy appointments are 45 hour long and receive the same quality of care.

Thanks to Beth Blum for this self-assessment adaptation, Rye Young for his edits and insights and Hadassah Damien for her work on sliding scale and financial literacy in general.