Repatriation - the reverse culture shock experience

Counselling in Danish or English - online or in Gentofte, Denmark

Testimonials

  • Life-changing

    🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

    “After moving to Denmark, we started to argue a lot, even about small things. We realized we needed help and luckily found Nanna, who runs Expat Hero couples therapy. Our time with her has been life-changing, as she has helped us understand ourselves and each other with her expertise and empathy. We feel more confident in our growth as a couple and a family thanks to therapy, and look forward to continuing our progress.”

    Intercultural couple moving to Denmark after having met during their international careers overseas.

  • We highly recommend Nanna

    🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

    "Nanna has been an invaluable resource to us during our time in the US and in Denmark. Her expertise and support has made our journey, as a couple and parents, stronger and more caring across time zones, culture and borders. Her approach is empathetic and constructive.”

    Danish couple based in the USA & transitioning to Denmark

  • Positive effect on work

    🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

    "Our time with Nanna allowed us to communicate with each other more effectively and compassionately during a very stressful transitional period in our lives. This also had a positive effect on our work lives, leading to a more balanced and productive output.”

    International Dual Career Couple based in Copenhagen

  • Tough repatriation

    🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

    "It became very clear that even though we were prepared, it was the repatriation that proved to be the toughest. It's a time when even the strongest family is challenged. When transplanting our children into the Danish system, we realized that they were not entirely Danish. It's not a focus area for the company so we felt alone."

    Erik, VP at Danish Global Organization.

  • Expat Hero tools helped

    🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

    "I had never seen my children react like that before. There was a level of conflict among them that completely threw us off. Besides feeling embarrassed, I had no one to talk to about it. I couldn't exactly call HR at my husband's company and confess that we didn't have it all figured out. I mostly wanted to go back home with the children. Getting tools from Expat Hero really helped."

    Mother of 3 TCK’s reflecting on the family’s outplacement overseas.

Repatriating Couple Therapy Online or in Gentofte

Returning home after spending years abroad is for most couples and families a journey of mixed emotions.

At Expat Hero we are specialized in the often unexpected reverse culture shock, shaken identities and grief many repatriating expats experience.

We assist you in preparing for repatriation through targeted counseling sessions for you as a couple or the whole family.

Based on 10 years of experience supporting and advising repatriated families, we have built significant expertise that benefits you so you don't have to struggle upon your return.

Before you move back home, you will gain knowledge about:

  • Reverse culture shock

  • How you can prepare your children for the upheavals

  • Tips and concrete tricks to make settling into your home country easier

  • Tools to communicate and maintain good contact under pressure.

Have you returned home and feel that your relationship is under pressure?

In sessions with Expat Hero, you will experience understanding of how all-consuming repatriation can be. We have experienced firsthand the turbulence that repatriation can bring.

You will receive support and tools to understand the emotional impact of repatriation so that you can better meet each other with care and understanding.

You will receive concrete tools to stand stronger together, regain strength, love, and unity, which you may have worn down a little extra during the years abroad.

“We should have treated coming home as another international transition. We didn’t prepare for such a rough landing”
— Repatriated family of 5

The benefits of couple therapy include:

  • Greater self-awareness

  • Understanding the dynamics that may come between you

  • Clarification and handling of doubts

  • Improved communication and conflict resolution

  • The ability to repair and reconnect after conflicts

  • Tools to grow and heal past unresolved moments breach of trust

Seeking support to look at your relationship from an external perspective and assistance in identifying and changing unhealthy patterns is NOT a sign of weakness but rather a sign of COURAGE to take responsibility for the love and the family's most crucial foundation: the relationship.

About Nanna

We are all in the same boat

At one time or another, we all experience challenges, losses, grief or emotions that can overwhelm us and feel all consuming.  We also all struggle in our relationships from time to time feeling inadequate, over-responsible or alone.

My background for becoming a couple and family therapist is fueled by my own story. I’ve been a wife, accompanying partner and a dual career expat and a repat lost in reverse culture shock and fragmented identity.

I’ve been struggling to get my marriage out of the destructive loop, lost and divorced. A raw experience fueling a decade of studies and research into couples work. I am the mother of 3 Third Culture Kids - one diagnosed with autism. I’m also a daughter, granddaughter, sister, niece and sister in law with all the entanglement that exists in all families.

I have been lost and found my way back. I know from personal experience the power of getting support and companionship to develop and grow. That is why I became a couple therapist. So you can benefit and take the shortcut to a stronger, more loving and connected relationship.

You can read more about my professional and academic background here