Tools & Support

The start of a new school year often brings excitement: new teachers, new classmates, new activities, and a fresh start. But for expat families, returning to school can bring a much more complicated mix of emotions for your child—and for you. Perhaps your child is starting a new school in a new country, culture, and community. Or perhaps they are returning to the same school, but some of the friends who were an important part of their life have … [Read more...] about Back to School in an International Community: When a New Beginning Feels Difficult

Over the next few weeks, airports around the world will fill with expatriate families heading "home." Some will return for a few weeks to visit grandparents, reconnect with old friends, and enjoy familiar foods. Others will be making a more permanent move, closing one chapter of their lives and beginning another after years abroad. For many, this return has been anticipated for months. Sometimes years. And yet, after almost thirty years living … [Read more...] about Going Home This Summer? Why Returning Home Can Feel Harder Than Moving Abroad

We live in a world that rewards doing over being — and for those of us who have chosen to build a life far from home, far from family, and far from the networks that once held us, that pressure can feel even more acute. The full calendar, the packed schedule, the person who never seems to stop — so often it is a way of coping with the distance, the newness, the quiet ache of starting over somewhere else. And most of us, at some point, have played … [Read more...] about Are You Feeding Your Brain What it Actually Needs?