Expat Mental Health
10/05/20 • 26 min
Expats are at double the risk of mental health conditions compared to people who never move abroad. And over half of those who are unhappy living abroad say that not having a personal support network in the host country contributes to their unhappiness.
We have great hopes for our new expat life, but reality often lets us down. We realise that expat life is not the Instaperfect dream we expected and this can hurt. Expat life is an emotional rollercoaster. Many say it, many agree – you have ups and downs. It’s when the ups disappear and the downs dip further and stay down that we need to get support and help.
Nobody expects to experience mental health problems, and nobody can predict how you will cope with your new life, however resilient you think you may be.
Being properly and realistically prepared for your new life abroad makes it easier to manage your expectations and hopefully prevent some of negative experiences you may encounter.
- Get expat life support at every stage of your expat journey - from home to away and back again! Join The Expatability Club: the one-stop-shop for everything expat.
- Want independent advice about your move overseas? For a one-to-one chat, please check my calendar for dates and options here
Expats are at double the risk of mental health conditions compared to people who never move abroad. And over half of those who are unhappy living abroad say that not having a personal support network in the host country contributes to their unhappiness.
We have great hopes for our new expat life, but reality often lets us down. We realise that expat life is not the Instaperfect dream we expected and this can hurt. Expat life is an emotional rollercoaster. Many say it, many agree – you have ups and downs. It’s when the ups disappear and the downs dip further and stay down that we need to get support and help.
Nobody expects to experience mental health problems, and nobody can predict how you will cope with your new life, however resilient you think you may be.
Being properly and realistically prepared for your new life abroad makes it easier to manage your expectations and hopefully prevent some of negative experiences you may encounter.
- Get expat life support at every stage of your expat journey - from home to away and back again! Join The Expatability Club: the one-stop-shop for everything expat.
- Want independent advice about your move overseas? For a one-to-one chat, please check my calendar for dates and options here
Previous Episode
Plan Your Packing
How to organise your packing and shipments efficiently
An overview of how to organise your possessions into the different transportation options you have for your move overseas.
Tips on what to pack into shipping containers, air freight, luggage and carry-on. Plus information about taking your vehicle overseas.
- Get expat life support at every stage of your expat journey - from home to away and back again! Join The Expatability Club: the one-stop-shop for everything expat.
- Plan And Pack For Your Overseas Move: A complete guide to organising your packing ready to move abroad. eBook available here
- 'Arrive Well' - Checklists for your arrival overseas - available here
- Packing Lists - available here
- Want independent advice about your move overseas? For a one-to-one chat, please check my calendar for dates and options here
Next Episode
The Expat Partner's Identity
Why being the expat partner makes such a difference and what extra challenges the accompanying expat partner faces.
These challenges can lead to a loss of confidence and a rapidly disappearing self-identity.
To start with, we get labelled as ‘the trailing spouse’... We don’t like that. Our identity is immediately stripped from us and we are given a demeaning and disempowering label. We are so much more than a label.
However, some communities consider the label itself to be the sole cause of an expat partner’s dissatisfaction and spend hours choosing alternatives which simply compounds the issue. Because this means the actual issues are being brushed under the carpet and ignored. Deflecting away from solving the problem by focusing on the wrong thing altogether.
Our lost confidence and ultimately potential mental health issues aren’t caused by a label used by companies or individuals. Potential problems in self-identity and general upheaval and expat life are caused by a lack of genuine and experienced support.
In this episode I dive into self-confidence issues, self-identity and dependence; working through to discover how to retrieve your self-confidence, find yourself, reclaim your identity, and protect your independence.
Many expat partners say that as soon as they take complete ownership for their own happiness and stop relying on each other that they really start to be happy.
- Get expat life support at every stage of your expat journey - from home to away and back again! Join The Expatability Club: the one-stop-shop for everything expat.
- Want independent advice about your move overseas? For a one-to-one chat, please check my calendar for dates and options here
Expatability Chat - Expat Mental Health
Transcript
[00:00:17.130]
Welcome aboard the Expatability Chat podcast, helping expat parents navigate the challenges of moving and living overseas. With Carole Hallett Mobbs, Expat Life Mentor and Consultant and founder of ExpatChild.com.
[00:00:23.610]
Hi, welcome back to Expatability Chat. As we approach World Mental Health Day on the 10th of October I want to focus on an aspect of expat life that isn't always widely acknowledged. Expat mental health.
[00:00:38.670]
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