Psychotherapy for expatriates (expatriates)
Based on my own experience abroad, I offer therapeutic support for people who have emigrated.
Often a move abroad takes place in order to develop professionally. For family members, this can be an exciting and rewarding experience, but also one that presents many difficulties and challenges. From planning to moving to arriving and living in their new home, people go through many emotional stages that can benefit from support.
In most cases, the euphoria masks the perceived cultural differences, the letting go of the old home and the lack of understanding of the previous environment, as well as the loss of important local reference persons. When the new impressions have settled, an overwhelming reaction can occur.
Psychotherapeutic support on the way into the unknown can help to maintain mental health and promote resilience.
When the whole family emigrates
A move for the family as a whole, can severely affect the family system. Often, emigration is accompanied by an increased demand for perfection. Parents are anxious to make the best decisions possible.
The question of the type of school (homeschooling, free learning, an international school or rather a conventional school in the country of arrival)? Consideration must be given to how children will cope with language barriers and when the best time would be to emigrate.
The whole life has to be reorganized. First of all, there are banal decisions to be made, such as the choice of school, extraordinary activities, and childcare services. Parents have to put their childrens' needs first. This quickly leads to constellations that promote burn-out and depressive disorders.
Surveys have shown that often partners who have migrated because of the other partner's job are predisposed to develop depressive disorders because they have to take over the main part of the care work and organizational tasks. Their professional or personal opportunities, which are often a stable source of self-worth, are eliminated, making them vulnerable. Psychotherapeutic support or treatment in their own mother tongue or with someone who has a clear cultural reference can help them to develop their own perspectives.
Initially, I recommend that expats receive 25 hours of therapy and counseling at a frequency of once a week.