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Therapy for Expats in the Netherlands

Moving to another country can open the door to new experiences, relationships and opportunities. It can also bring challenges that are difficult to explain to people who have never lived away from home.
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Psynepsis offers therapy in English and Romanian for expats and internationals living in the Netherlands. Whether you are struggling with anxiety, burnout, relationships, relocation or simply finding it harder than expected to feel settled, therapy can give you space to understand what is happening and find a way forward.

Living Abroad Can Affect
More Than You Expect

Relocating is rarely just about changing country.
You may also leave behind familiar routines, friendships, family, language, culture and the small things that previously gave you a sense of stability.
At first, much of your energy may go into practical matters: finding a home, starting a new job, navigating administration, learning how things work and building a social life. Only later can the emotional impact of the move become more noticeable.

You may find yourself feeling anxious without quite knowing why. Work may become harder to switch off from. You might feel lonely despite being surrounded by colleagues and friends. Your relationship may come under pressure, or you may start questioning where you belong and whether the life you built is really the life you want.

None of these experiences require your move to have been a mistake. You can appreciate the opportunities that brought you here and still find parts of living abroad difficult.

What We Can Help With

Anxiety

Anxiety and Overwhelm

Living in an unfamiliar environment can create a background level of stress that is easy to underestimate.

You may find yourself overthinking, worrying about the future, feeling constantly tense or struggling to relax even when there is no obvious reason to feel anxious.

Therapy can help you understand what is driving these feelings and develop healthier ways of responding to them.
Burnout

Burnout and Work Pressure

Many internationals move to the Netherlands because of work.

A new role, a demanding career, pressure to perform and the absence of your usual support network can sometimes combine into exhaustion, irritability, reduced motivation or difficulty switching off.

Therapy can provide space to look at what is contributing to the pressure and what may need to change.
LEARN MORE ABOUT BURNOUT
Therapy for Expats in the Netherlands

Relocation and Adjustment

Sometimes the practical side of a move goes well while the emotional adjustment takes much longer.

You may miss home more than you expected, struggle with cultural differences or feel caught between your old life and your new one.

For some people, the question is not simply “How do I adapt?” but “Where does home feel like home now?”
Learn more about ulysses syndrome
Relationships

Relationships

Moving abroad can place unexpected pressure on a relationship.

One partner may settle more quickly than the other. One may have moved because of the other's career. Cultural differences can become more noticeable, and having family and friends far away may leave both partners with less support.

Therapy can help couples understand what is happening beneath recurring conflicts and create space for both perspectives.
Learn more about couple therapy
Loneliness

Loneliness and Belonging

You can have colleagues, acquaintances and an active social life while still feeling deeply lonely.

Building close relationships as an adult in a new country can take time. Frequent goodbyes within international communities can make this even harder.

Therapy can help you explore feelings of isolation, connection and belonging without assuming that the solution is simply to “meet more people.”
Life Transition

Life Transitions and Identity

Living abroad often changes more than your address.

Your career, relationships, language, role within your family and even the way you see yourself may begin to shift.

You may find yourself asking questions that were not there before: Do I want to stay here? Do I want to go home? Where is home now? Am I still the same person I was before I moved?

When Life Abroad Doesn't Feel the Way You Expected

There can be a strange pressure around international life, especially when moving abroad was something you wanted or came with a better job, a relationship, greater stability or new opportunities for your family. When so much about the move seems positive, difficult feelings can be harder to acknowledge.

You can be grateful for the opportunity and still struggle. You can have a successful career and still feel exhausted, have friends and still feel lonely, or speak another language every day and feel that part of your personality gets lost when you are not speaking your own.

It is also possible to build a good life abroad while still missing the life you left behind, or to adapt to a new culture without feeling that you need to give up your own.

Therapy does not have to be about deciding whether living abroad is good or bad. It can simply offer a space to understand how the experience is affecting you, what you may be carrying with you, and what you need now.

How Therapy Can Help

Individual Therapy

A space to explore anxiety, stress, burnout, identity, relationships, difficult experiences or other personal challenges.
Find out more

Couple Therapy

Support for couples experiencing conflict, distance, communication difficulties or pressures connected with relocation and international life.
Find out more

Family Therapy

Support for families navigating change, communication difficulties and different experiences of adapting to life abroad.
Find out more

EMDR Therapy

EMDR may be helpful when difficult or traumatic experiences continue to affect how you feel and respond in the present.
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Neurofeedback

Neurofeedback is a non-invasive form of brain training that may support areas such as stress regulation, attention, sleep and emotional balance. It can be offered as a standalone approach or alongside psychotherapy when appropriate.
Find out more

Coaching

A practical, goal-focused approach for people who want support with change, decision-making, confidence, work-life balance or adapting to a new stage of life.
Find out more

Online Therapy

For those living further away or travelling regularly, psychotherapy sessions can also take place online.
Find out more

Meet Your Therapist

As an expat myself, I know that building a life in another country can be both rewarding and unexpectedly difficult.

There is often a lot happening beneath the surface. You may be adapting to a different culture, speaking another language, building new relationships and trying to create a sense of home — while also missing the people, places and parts of life that once felt familiar.

Sometimes it helps to have a space where you do not need to justify any of that — where you can simply talk about what this experience has been like for you.

Violeta Mihalache
Violeta Mihalache

Frequently Asked Questions

The challenges connected with living abroad do not always appear immediately after moving.
Sometimes they become noticeable much later, particularly around changes in relationships, work, family, identity or the question of where you want your life to be in the future.
You do not need to be newly relocated for these experiences to be relevant.

That is completely fine. Living abroad may be part of your story without being the reason you are looking for support.

You may want to work on anxiety, burnout, relationships, difficult past experiences, self-esteem, family issues, personal development, or something entirely different.

Yes. Sessions are available in English and Romanian.

You do not need to speak perfect English. Being able to communicate naturally and feel understood is much more important than finding the perfect words.

Yes. For people who live further away, therapy for expats in the Netherlands and beyond is also available online

In-person sessions are available at the practice in Oss.

Yes. Couple and family therapy can be particularly helpful when relocation, cultural differences, different expectations, or living far from your usual support network begin to affect relationships.

People within the same couple or family can also experience life abroad very differently, even when they made the move together.

The first session is mainly an opportunity to talk.

We can explore what brought you here, what has been happening in your life, and what you would like to understand or change. It is also a chance for you to experience how the conversation feels and decide whether working together feels right for you.

You do not need to arrive with a clear explanation of everything that is happening.

Therapy can help with the emotional side of living abroad, but sometimes you simply need reliable information about the practical side.

For official information about topics such as registration, residence permits, BSN numbers, healthcare, and living in the Netherlands, you can visit NetherlandsWorldwide, the Dutch government's information service.

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