Therapy for international students
Maastricht & Online
Moving abroad to study can be an exciting and enriching experience. It can also come with unique challenges: navigating a new culture, building a social network from scratch, studying in a second or third language, and being far away from the people and places that feel familiar.
I work with international students who are carrying a lot while trying to keep up with the demands of student life. Whether you're feeling overwhelmed, lonely, lost, under pressure, or simply in need of a space that's just for you, therapy can offer that support. You don't have to carry it all on your own.
Themes
The themes we explore may be directly related to your experience of studying abroad, or to challenges that are part of life more generally. Some of the reasons students come to therapy include:
❋ Anxiety and low mood
❋ Academic pressure and stress
❋ Perfectionism and procrastination
❋ Relationships
❋ Loneliness and homesickness
❋ Adjustment challenges
❋ Identity questions
❋ Feeling stuck or uncertain about the future
Why I enjoy working with international students
As a third culture kid, I grew up between cultures, attended an international school, and later studied abroad myself. These experiences give me a personal understanding of the opportunities and challenges that can come with living, studying, and building a life away from “home”.
I've also spent many years working alongside international students as a tutor, coach, and counsellor, supporting them through both academic and personal challenges.
My approach
My approach is warm, explorative and rooted in Gestalt therapy, a relational and experiential form of therapy that focuses on developing awareness and increasing your sense of choice and agency.
You might come to therapy because the patterns that once made sense now keep you stuck or cause suffering. I'm also curious about how your wider environment and the stories you've absorbed about yourself, others and the world, shape how you are and feel today. Together, we bring those patterns, stories and experiences into awareness and explore new ways of being and relating.
I work in an integrative way, drawing on other modalities when I think they might be helpful, including Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), mindfulness, and therapeutic art.
What it’s like to work with me
❋ Sessions are collaborative and we work at your pace.
❋ My focus is on meeting you as a whole person and creating a space that respects your lived experience, welcomes difference, and supports your sense of choice and agency.
❋ My role isn't to have the answers - it's to be a curious, caring and steady presence as you find your own.
❋ We talk and we might also try things out together (e.g. a grounding practice, a creative exercise, or an experiment with movement or role-play).
❋ I'll often invite you to notice what's happening for you right now - in your body, your feelings, your thoughts.
❋ The work can be gentle and it can be hard, it can bring relief and it can bring discomfort, it can be serious and it can be playful. There's space for all of it.