As a therapist with my own lived experience of moving to and living life in a new country and who has felt the practical, mental and emotional shifts, that navigating a new culture brings, I offer my professional support to expats in Denmark. I do so with an acquired international outlook and with the understanding that although we may both know the terrain our individual experience of walking it, will respectfully remain unique.
A landscape you may recognize
The first stages of your arrival to a new place or country, often fully demand your practical efforts and energy. You move into a new home, perhaps start a new job and gradually become more familiar with your surroundings. An often busy and bustling time of activity.
It is entirely natural, that your internal shifts after a move, are slower and often more complex in their adjustment. Perhaps even more so than you feel able to or give yourself permission to express and share with others. You may come to listen and adhere to the voice of an inner critic telling you that if you made the choice to start a new life abroad, you should be able to make it work. Or the inner pleaser, who doesn’t want to burden others with their needs or struggle and therefore experiences a sense of duty or obligation to carry the burden alone and in silence.
As these patterns continue to form, you can come to hold onto a false belief or narrative, that because you struggle or continue to struggle to “fit in” you are somehow failing. In turn, you may experience all or some of the following:
· An increasing or permanent sense of fatigue from your efforts Low mood or frequently fluctuating and unpredictable states of mood.
· A lingering and constant sense of anxiety or unease.
· A tendency for withdrawal and/or avoidance.
· An increased feeling of isolation from others and your immediate environment.
Independent of the depth of struggles, they will often involve and surround themselves around important and layered themes regarding loss and identity together with our common human need for connection and sense of belonging. These are vital parts of foundations that we stand upon to help us develop meaning and value in our lives. And it is generally underestimated how the same foundations can become temporarily stirred and even shaken, when we uproot and start somewhere new.
A therapeutic space where we walk your terrain together
I would like to start with assuring you that you do belong even if you may not have quite yet worked out where and how. Equally I wish to assure you that you do not have to navigate these significant shifts alone- there is support to be found. I offer you a therapeutic space that is open for you to unfold your unique experience and challenges of living as an expat in Denmark. I can meet you there and support you in discovering new routes into a deeper sense of integration and belonging. You can learn more about me and how I work and you are also welcome to contact me to schedule a free pre-consultation to get a sense of whether I am the right therapist for you.
