Cathy Oddie, who survived financial, psychological and physical abuse from two partners, describes it as "being trapped in the hamster wheel".
"When you have experienced financial abuse, you are so depleted financially, then you're dealing with all the psychological and physical aspects of being abused," she told AAP.
The Ballarat woman was saddled with $70,000 debt after her partner of more than six years had an affair and left.
When she tried to get him to help pay off the debt, he sent her a legal letter that could have led to him making a claim on her superannuation.
Years later, she has struggled to find appropriate full-time work.
Ms Oddie consults as a lived experience advocate, holds some board roles and receives JobSeeker payments.
She has previously worked across government and family violence services, and disclosed her abuse to workplaces, but says she has never felt supported.
One government agency asked for evidence to attend court during work hours to apply for an order against her first partner.
"When you have managers that treat you as a deficit, that you're a liability, that increases your stress burden, then it makes you feel a lot of shame," Ms Oddie said.
A new report revealed 71 per cent of employers felt confident they could identify and respond to an employee experiencing domestic and family violence.
However, only eight per cent of victim-survivors said their workplace took an active role in supporting them, and 89 per cent had concerns about disclosing their experience at work, The Rebuild report said.
About 71 per cent of employers were aware of workers' entitlement to 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave, but only 34 per cent of survivors knew this.
"Australia has invested significantly in helping women escape violence, but there is really almost nothing on the other side of that," Humans of Purpose chief executive Melanie Greblo, who commissioned the report, said.
"Once a woman reaches safety, the recovery and rebuilding process, which can be years and years, really is not supported at all."
Employment was an important pathway to recovery for victim-survivors, Centre for Women's Economic Safety chief executive Rebecca Glenn said.
Safe workplaces provided physical, psychological and cultural safety, with clear communication about what happened when an employee disclosed abuse, she said.
She said best practice was for employers to train workers with lived experience to respond to domestic and family violence, much like first aid responders.
"Perhaps they wear a different colour lanyard, so people know they're the safe person to talk about the issue - that's important because survivors will often say they do not feel safe telling their own manager," she said.
The report recommends research funding from government to map employment pathways for victim-survivors, and for peak industry bodies to distribute best-practice domestic and family violence employer resources.
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