Pre-Departure
Before an individual or family moves abroad, it is often helpful to consider strengths and areas for possible growth. This enables us to focus on assets that might help work through or even avoid some of the challenges inherent to any international move. Strategies are customized to help families function effectively given the dramatic transition they are about to make.
For individuals, personality traits are considered that might help or hinder a cultural transition. Is the individual open to new experiences? Are there any emotions experienced regularly that might be troublesome - such as anger or sadness? Does the person thrive upon meeting new people and the stimulation this often brings? These are just a few examples!
While Abroad
There are a variety of challenges that confront expatriates at various stages of an international relocation. To be sure, many researchers have tried to define these stages into "models of cultural transition." What is most important to consider, however, is that virtually every aspect of your life changes when you move to a new country. When children are involved with a move abroad, there are many other important considerations, such as schooling and effective parenting in a new culture that may not share the same values as your own.
As problems arise, it is important that they are dealth with as swiftly and effectively as possible to avoid having them mushroom into full-blown crises. Counseling can help individuals and families develop skills to do this themselves and identify problems that will require additional resources, such as professionals in the host country or telephone and/or video counseling.
Repatriation
Most people have heard of culture shock, but there also exists another phenomenon called reverse culture shock. When expatriates move home, they inevitably realize that the life they left behind is likely gone for good. Living abroad is a transformative experience, and what once was satisfying and even stimulating may now hold little or no interest for the returning sojourner! When old friends tire of the stories expats so need to share, relationships can become strained or lost.
What happens when someone lives in another part of the world and sees and hears things 7 days a week from an entirely different perspective? Frequently, their own world view will change or at least shift. This can also complicate a return home.
Children and adolescents often have the hardest time following repatriation. If they have spent long periods of time during key developmental periods in another country, they often feel that they belong to neither their host or home culture. That is why these children are often referred to as "third-culture kids."
