Counselling for expats, by someone who’s been one
Online therapy sessions via Zoom with Jen Morrison, a BACP-registered counsellor based in the UK who built her own life between two countries.
There’s a particular kind of weight that comes with building a life somewhere that isn’t where you grew up. It’s a mix of freedom and loneliness, pride and homesickness, the strange experience of belonging and not quite belonging all at once. It’s hard to describe to people who haven’t lived through it.
I know it from the inside. I moved to the UK from Florida in 2011, and the experience of being an expat still shapes how I live and work every day. I know the particular loneliness that can sit underneath a life you love, the unsettledness of building everything from scratch, and the strange mix of freedom and disorientation that comes with choosing a life nobody else quite charted for you.
If any of that sounds familiar, I’d love to hear from you.
Some of what brings expats to therapy
Loneliness that sits underneath a good life
You’ve built something abroad. On paper, it’s working. And yet there’s a kind of isolation that’s hard to describe to people who haven’t been through it.
The gap between here and home
The small, daily experience of not quite being from the place you’re in, and not quite being from the place you came from any more, either.
Cultural adjustment that doesn’t end when you arrive
The early excitement wears off, and you start noticing the things that don’t make sense, the humour that doesn’t land, the shorthand you were never taught. It’s tiring in a way that’s hard to explain.
Guilt about family back home
Missing milestones, worrying about ageing parents, watching close relationships drift as life pulls you in opposite directions.
Identity questions you weren’t expecting
Sometimes you wonder who you’d be if you’d stayed, or whether this is the life you wanted or just the one that happened. There’s a strange grief that shows up in questions like these.
Who I work with
I work with expats at all stages of life.
Some are Americans, Australians, Canadians or Europeans who’ve built a life in the UK and are finding things harder than they expected. Others are British expats living abroad in Amsterdam, Singapore, Dubai or New York, working with me because they want a UK therapist who shares their frame of reference.
A few are newly arrived somewhere and still trying to find their footing. A few more have been abroad for years and are only now starting to ask why something still feels off.
Whatever stage you’re at, I’d love to hear from you.
What sessions are like
We meet online via Zoom. You’ll join from wherever you are, I’ll join from my therapy room in Amersham, and we’ll go from there.
I use a person-centred approach, which means sessions are shaped around what matters most to you, not a plan I’ve decided on in advance. There’s no agenda you have to fit, no set programme, and nothing you need to have figured out before you start.
A lot of my expat clients tell me that being able to talk about the life they’ve built, the one they left, and the one they sometimes wonder about, with someone who understands it from the inside, is something they didn’t realise they needed.
Want to know more about my approach?
Read about how I work
What you need to get started
Not much.
- A private space where you can sit undisturbed for 50 minutes
- A reliable internet connection
- A device with a camera (laptop, tablet or phone all work)
We’ll use the same secure Zoom link for each session.
A note on time zones
Most of my international clients work with me in the mornings or evenings UK time, depending on where they’re based. I’m happy to find a time that works for you, wherever in the world you are.
The details
- Session length: 50 minutes
- Fee: £65 per session
- Availability: Daytime and evening appointments available, in person in Old Amersham or online via Zoom
- Payment: Bank transfer in GBP, from anywhere in the world
Your first conversation with me is always free.
Book a free 15-minute consultation, ask me anything you want, and get a real feel for how I work before you decide anything at all.
Or send me a message first if you prefer.