Who I Work With

Are you a prospective or existing expatriate who wants to make the most of the opportunities offered by your experience abroad?

I work with expatriates and their partners who are either in the process of deciding whether to move to live and work abroad or who have arrived and are working to build their new lives abroad. All of my clients share a common desire to get the best from the opportunity offered by their relocation. They aim to build happy, fulfilled and meaningful lives abroad for themselves and their families.

I generally work with clients who are:

• Facing a life defining moment – whether to move abroad or not. Knowing that a decision has to be made but unsure about how to make the ‘best decision’ given all the variables that need to be taken into account. Once the decision has been made many clients often benefit from ongoing support during the preparation and relocation stage, adaptation and onwards into the future.
• Planning and organising their move abroad but feeling overwhelmed by the whole process. It is true that a move abroad involves a whole scale ‘life change’. This brings with it a huge range of organisational and practical issues. These issues are often combined often with the emotional turmoil that results as you leave the predictability and comfort of home for somewhere that is new and possibly more uncertain.
• Adapting to their new lives and work abroad but feeling that things are not as they hoped they would be. Adaptation takes time; there are moments of excitement and elation but also times of loneliness and uncertainty as people endeavour to find their way in a new location, culture and language. They have left family and friends behind and are now struggling to build a new network to plug the gap they left behind. If there are children they may be unsettled by the move and it can be difficult to know what to do to help them.
• Trailing partners who feel marginalized by the experience of expatriate living. Their partners may seem to be fulfilled and busy with his/her life at work, the children are occupied and contented but often the trailing partner feels that they left their life behind when they moved to live abroad. They want to build a more meaningful life but are unsure  how best to go about identifying and then creating the change they want.
  

I have found that I have had the greatest success with clients who:

• Possess an enthusiasm to accept and embrace new challenges. They recognize that in relocating abroad they have stepped outside of their normal comfort zone but are keen to find ways of bridging the gap and develop personally to cope with these new challenges and circumstances.
• They agree that ‘you get out of life what you put in’. When they hear people say that expatriate living offers ‘great opportunities and benefits’ they feel inspired and although currently they may be finding it difficult to identify these things they have a deep desire to succeed and create happy and meaningful lives abroad for themselves.
• They believe that they are the author of their own destiny. They acknowledge that there are people available to offer support and guidance but recognize that ultimately it is down to them to make their own choices and take responsibility for those choices.
• They are keen to get going and find ways to resolve their issues and problems: They accept that ultimately they will have to take action to make the necessary changes. They feel motivated at the thought of looking forward to change in a structured and productive way.