Therapy for Missionaries and Aid Workers.

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.

What the field does

Field work wears on people in ways that are slow and hard to name. The chronic low-grade stress of operating where systems do not, the steady exposure to other people's suffering and the numbness that grows to manage it, the distance from anyone back home who understands. There is the gap between what the mission or the mandate expects of you and what is actually happening inside you, and in security-sensitive postings there is often no one local you can be candid with. For missionaries there is the particular loneliness of carrying doubt; for aid and development workers, the quieter doubt about whether any of it is working.

What people in the field bring

Burnout that looks identical to dedication, right up until it stops. Secondary and vicarious trauma from the things you witness. Moral injury and compassion fatigue. Faith crises that you cannot raise with your sending organisation. Relationships strained across distance and time zones. And the disorientation of re-entry, when a posting ends and home no longer fits the person the field has made you.

The arrangement

I work online and privately, across time zones, and audio-only when bandwidth is poor, so the field is not a barrier. You pay directly. Many sending organisations and larger NGOs provide member care or an employee assistance line at no cost, and I will point you to yours. What I offer is something different from in-house care: independent, confidential depth work that does not report to your organisation, sending agency, or board.

Questions people in the field 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.