Table of Contents
- Who This Page Is For
- Why It Matters to Work With Someone Who’s Lived It
- What Will Sessions For Expats and Immigrants Look Like?
- Signs You Might Resonate With This
- How Can Therapy for Expats and Immigrants Help?
- Session Details
- Frequently Asked Questions
If you’re reading this in English, in a country where English isn’t the first language (or maybe it is, and you’re just far from where you learned it), then this page is probably for you.
Living abroad changes things in ways that are hard to name sometimes. It’s not just the logistics of a new address. It’s the quieter shifts in how you relate to people, how you think about “home,” even how you understand yourself.
That’s the space this page speaks to. I offer online therapy for expats and immigrants navigating exactly this kind of in-between life.
Therapy in a language that isn’t fully yours can add a layer of distance right when you need closeness the most, which is part of why I hold therapy sessions in English specifically for people in this situation.
Who This Page Is For
This isn’t a separate therapeutic modality, it’s more of an orientation or a way of naming who I work especially well with. You might find yourself here if:
- You’re a native or fluent English speaker looking for therapy, wherever you happen to be living.
- You’ve moved abroad, recently or years ago, and you’re facing hardships or questions that are specific to that experience.
- You grew up as a third culture kid, moving between countries and cultures before you had much say in it.
- You want a therapist who has actually lived some version of this, not just read about it in a textbook.
- You’re a Canadian or American living abroad, navigating therapy and healthcare systems that work differently than what you grew up with.
Remember, there are as many versions of this experience as there are people living it. If something here resonates, that’s more than enough reason to reach out!
Why It Matters to Work With Someone Who’s Lived It
I’ve lived in multiple countries myself (including Canada, the US, Dubai, Spain, Poland and Uruguay), and I know, from the inside, what it’s like to rebuild a sense of place and routine somewhere new.
I’m not saying this to draw a straight line between my experience and yours, everyone’s path abroad is different. But it does mean I’m not starting from theory alone.
I understand the particular fatigue of explaining yourself over and over in a new place, the strange grief of missing somewhere you don’t fully belong to anymore either, and the quiet effort it takes to build a life without your usual support system nearby.
What Will Sessions For Expats and Immigrants Look Like?
These sessions follow the same format as my individual therapy work. There’s no separate technique here, just a lens that shapes what we pay attention to. We’ll likely spend time on:
- What “home” means to you now, and whether that’s shifted.
- The specific stressors of living abroad – logistics, isolation, identity, belonging.
- How your relationships (with people here, and people back “home”) have changed.
- The layers of yourself that came from different places, and how they fit together.
There will be threads that come up again and again, the way they tend to in any therapeutic relationship.
Some sessions will be more practical such as adjusting to a new routine or navigating a specific stressor. Others will be more reflective, like sitting with what it means to belong somewhere, or nowhere, in particular.
Signs You Might Resonate With This
- You’ve built a life somewhere that isn’t where you grew up, and it comes with its own kind of loneliness.
- You’re fluent in the local language, but therapy still makes more sense to you in English.
- You’ve said goodbye to people and places more times than you can count, and it’s starting to catch up to you.
- You don’t quite feel at home here, but “back home” doesn’t feel entirely like home anymore either.
- You’re the one who’s always adapted to new systems, new cultures, new versions of normal, and could use a space where you don’t have to.
- You’ve had to explain your story to a new therapist more times than you’d like, and you’re looking for someone who already gets the shape of it.
If anything on this list resonates with you, don’t hesitate to book a free consultation. Let’s talk!
How Can Therapy for Expats and Immigrants Help?
- Making sense of identity that spans more than one culture or country.
- Building a sense of routine and stability, even while things around you stay in flux.
- Processing the grief and disorientation that can come with repeated relocation.
- Strengthening relationships strained by distance, or built from scratch in a new place.
- Finding language (literally and otherwise) for experiences that don’t always translate cleanly.
Session Details
Sessions follow the same structure as my individual therapy sessions, 50 minutes, held online, typically weekly or every other week.
You can find full details on the Individual Therapy page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to be a “typical” expat for this to apply to me?
Not at all. This applies just as much to immigrants, third culture kids, international students, digital nomads, people who married into a life abroad, or anyone whose relationship to “home” is more complicated than a single place.
What if English isn’t my first language?
That’s completely fine. Many of my clients are fluent, not native, English speakers. What matters is that English is the language you feel you can do this work in.
Do you only work with people currently living abroad?
No, this also applies if you’ve since returned “home” and are processing what that move meant, or if you grew up moving between countries and are still working through what that shaped in you.