The work
The work I do is relational and pattern-focused. I do not run intake checklists or hand out exercises between sessions. I pay attention to what happens in the conversation: what you are saying, what you are not saying, the places where something shifts or goes flat. That is the material we work with, and most people find it gets underneath the problem faster than advice does.
I work with individuals and couples. Individual work is usually about finding the pattern underneath the presenting problem. Couples work is about finding what the argument is actually about, which is rarely what it appears to be. Both come down to seeing what has been hard to see, and being able to do something different from there.
Why independent matters here
International organisations look after their staff. The UN, the EU institutions, the World Bank, the IMF, and the rest run staff counsellors, ombuds offices, and medical services, and for many people those are enough. But they sit inside the institution that employs you, and a lot of staff hesitate to use a service run by their own organisation, especially when the problem is performance, a conflict with management, or anything that could touch a reputation or a contract. Private work sits entirely outside that structure. There is no internal file and no colleague two corridors away.
What international civil servants bring
The isolation of repeated duty-station moves and the expat bubble that forms around each one. The gap between a mandate you believe in and the bureaucracy of the daily job. Conflict with management that you cannot take to anyone internal without it becoming political. Secondary exposure for those working humanitarian, peacekeeping, or protection files. And an identity so fused with the institution that a posting or a contract feels like the whole of who you are.
The arrangement
I work online and privately, across duty stations and time zones, around the schedule the job actually allows. You pay directly. Your organisation's staff counselling and medical insurance may well cover in-house or local care, and I will point you there. What I offer is depth and complete independence from the institution: a room that has nothing to do with your employer.
Questions international civil servants ask
What people bring to online therapy
The people I work with in English come for a wide range of reasons: anxiety, depression, stress and burnout, anger management, grief and loss, relationship difficulties, loneliness, self-esteem issues, procrastination, sleep problems, attachment patterns, self-sabotage, perfectionism, identity questions, and existential concerns. Online counseling makes this work possible from wherever you are, whether you need an English-speaking therapist, a virtual counselor, or simply someone who can work in your language at a depth that matters.
How it works
Sessions are online via secure video call. I work with individuals and couples (60 minutes). Before your first session, we have a free 15-minute call to see if this feels like the right fit for you.
Selected research on this approach
My work is psychodynamic and depth-oriented. These are some of the studies on the effectiveness of that kind of therapy. They describe research on the method in general, and are not claims about any individual outcome.
- Shedler, J. (2010). The efficacy of psychodynamic psychotherapy. American Psychologist, 65(2), 98-109. doi:10.1037/a0018378
- Steinert, C., Munder, T., Rabung, S., Hoyer, J., & Leichsenring, F. (2017). Psychodynamic therapy: as efficacious as other empirically supported treatments? A meta-analysis testing equivalence of outcomes. American Journal of Psychiatry, 174(10), 943-953. PMID 28541091
- Leichsenring, F., Abbass, A., Heim, N., Keefe, J. R., Kisely, S., Luyten, P., Rabung, S., & Steinert, C. (2023). The status of psychodynamic psychotherapy as an empirically supported treatment for common mental disorders: an umbrella review based on updated criteria. World Psychiatry, 22(2), 286-304. PMC10168167