Migration Therapy
Finding the way together:
Online therapy for expats and their families
Adjusting to new settings and living in a transnational family is challenging, but you don’t have to do it alone. As a counselling therapist specialising in migration, I’m here to provide the mental health support required to embrace the entire migration journey.
I offer online therapy for expats and their families—including children struggling to adapt to expat life, and the parents left behind with children and grandchildren scattered around the world.
Therapy for expats and those in the emigration process
While the migration journey is a unique experience for everyone, there are three definitive stages of migration that you’ll go through:
PRE-EMIGRATION
The pre-emigration stage is filled with many emotions, from the big decision to move abroad to the guilt of leaving loved ones behind, fear of telling your friends and family, the many stresses that come with the practical aspects of emigration, and not knowing what to expect at your new destination.
Our therapy sessions during this stage centre around your decision to move, the reasons for your move, and understanding whether emigration is to be temporary or permanent.
THE ACTUAL MOVE
As the physical leaving day gets closer, new emotions start flooding in. The final goodbyes to friends and family, your last day at work, packing your many suitcases, and eventually, the emotionally charged experience at the airport.
Leaving the country is the first tangible experience of migration. Our sessions leading up to this event will help you prepare for what is a short, but an extremely emotional experience.
ADAPTING TO A NEW COUNTRY & ACCEPTING EXPAT LIFE
While there will be many exciting moments as you start adapting to life in your new country, it will also come with challenges—from finding a place to stay, getting set up logistically, settling into a new job, and finding your way around your new surroundings.
Our sessions post emigration will assist in dealing with the initial emotions experienced after leaving your home country and the challenges of adapting to a new culture, country, and way of life.
Even after you’ve settled into your new country logistically, expat life can be rewarding and challenging at the same time. Common long-term challenges include cultural displacement, dislocation from family, isolation, stress, and the unique challenges of being a trailing spouse.
Our expat counseling sessions are there to help you work through each challenge as it comes up and equip you with the mental-health tools to work through them yourself.
Therapy for transnational families
Emigration has a ripple effect on all family members involved, not just parents but all loved ones involved. Everyone is affected in a unique way. The relationship as it was known has changed. The ones staying behind deal with different challenges than those emigrating – each experiencing a loss that needs to be grieved.
I offer therapy sessions for parents adapting to their children and grandchildren living abroad, helping them work through their grief and ambiguous loss
Therapy for immigrant children
Adapting to life in a new country is just as challenging for children. From learning a new language to adjusting to the differences in schooling, cultural barriers and separation from their friends and family at home, there is a lot they need to go through.
I offer therapy sessions for children who are struggling with the emigration process.
Therapy for expats returning to South Africa
Emigration is not permanent for all. Many return to South Africa for various reasons, but their return can sometimes be just as hard as their departure. Not only do they find that they have changed, but the South Africa they left behind has also changed. Friends and family have moved on, and it’s simply not possible to slip back into the life they led before leaving.
Our sessions can help you work through these changes and adjust to a new life in South Africa.
Online therapy for expats and loved ones
My online therapy sessions allow us to connect and stay connected wherever you are in the world.
While my experience is based within the South African context, and my private practice is based in South Africa, I offer counselling sessions to expats worldwide.
HOW I WORK
Most appointments are scheduled for an hourly session. Our first session will focus on understanding where you are in your migration journey, your current experience, and your needs. To make the most of your initial session, I require you to complete an intake form to be returned before the commencement of the first session.
PAYMENT
You are responsible for the payment of your session. Upon your payment, I will provide you with a document to be sent to your medical aid.
