Cultural Adjustment
You may have arrived here because you are an ATCK (adult Third Culture Kid), international student, immigrant, expat, or repat that has been feeling:
Mentally fatigued, confused, or disoriented—which leads to difficulties concentrating or completing normal tasks
Physically “off” (with various body aches, undesired changes in sleep or eating patterns, tense, etc.) or sicklier than usual
Sad, hopeless, unmotivated, or lonely
Excessively concerned about things such as cleanliness, health, safety, or being taken advantage of
Unusually irritable, defensive, or hostile
Out of place and extremely homesick
However you landed here, I’m so glad you did. Read on to see if my cultural adjustment services might help you.
Moving to a new country for the first time or moving back to your home country after a period abroad can be both an exciting and stressful experience. While on the one hand you may appreciate all there is to discover or feel grateful to be once again close to your roots, you may also feel lost, out of control, and frustrated.
While these feelings are a normal part of culture shock and adjustment, you may need professional help if they don’t improve over time, trigger mental health issues, or if you would simply prefer not to navigate the transition on your own.
Because of difficulties with cultural adjustment, you may:
Feel helpless or trapped by language or cultural barriers
Question or regret your decision to move and spend time daydreaming about being elsewhere
Develop an overly negative view of the country where you currently live or idealize the country you left behind (i.e., “everything is bad here, all things were better there”)
Withdraw from others locally or abroad due to feeling misplaced, forgotten, or rejected; or focus exclusively on maintaining long-distance relationships at the expense of establishing local ones
Feel more insecure than usual, doubt yourself, or question your core beliefs—such as those around gender, religion, and morality
Feel ashamed for struggling with the move, changing, or having mixed feelings about the local culture
If this is you, you need a welcoming space to make sense of what you’re going through and integrate the different aspects of your multicultural experience.
I understand what it’s like to grow up in a culture different from that of your parents and to move and live abroad as an adult. I view cross-cultural transitions as a unique opportunity for personal discovery and growth, and together we can work to:
Identify neglected physical, mental, emotional, social, or spiritual needs and improve self-care.
Develop coping skills to deal with symptoms of anxiety or depression.
Acknowledge and grieve for unresolved losses (such as the loss of language, way of life, geography, relationships, roles, etc.).
Explore difficulties establishing or keeping relationships, and strengthen the ability to meaningfully connect with others where you currently live and overseas.
Support the development of a multicultural identity that integrates old and new experiences and values.