AUGUSTA — Crisis & Counseling Centers was recently awarded a $7,000, one-year grant by Maine Women’s Fund to expand its financial literacy program to empower women in recovery in central Maine, according to a news release from C&CC.

Through free training sessions, women with behavioral health needs and varying degrees of financial understanding can learn how to budget, build credit, pay down debt and save money. Trainings will be provided on a one-on-one or small group basis to offer targeted education, and must be paired with counseling or case management services in order to impact the client’s overall health.

The organization successfully piloted a similar financial literacy program agency-wide, with one-year grant funding from Skowhegan Savings to conclude in June. The agency’s on-staff financial literacy consultant Nicole Auclair developed an extensive curriculum and training booklet, designed to teach the fundamentals of personal finance and encourage fiscal responsibility. Auclair has nearly 20 years of experience as a budget coach.

In addition to providing financial literacy education to C&C clients free of charge, the agency will offer monthly financial literacy empowerment seminars to female clients of other behavioral health programs in Kennebec, Knox, Lincoln, Sagadahoc, Somerset and Waldo counties, at no cost to the participant.

Funding for this program will begin July 1. For more information about scheduling an appointment or seminar, contact 626-3448.

For more information about C&CC, visit crisisandcounseling.org.