For expats and international couples

Therapy for relationship crisis abroad

You know something needs to change. You may not know what.

Repeated arguments, distance, betrayal or uncertainty about staying together can feel heavier far from home. Start with the part that is hardest. We can consider which kind of support fits your situation.

Book a free consultation Explore your options

Online in English with Kita Tabachka, BACP registered.
We check your location and suitability before arranging therapy.

Illustration of two partners sitting apart on a sofa, turned away from one another. — You do not need the perfect words to begin.

Start with what feels familiar

Which part is hardest right now?

Tap a card to explore a possible starting point. You do not need to choose before enquiring.

We keep having the same argument.

You might want to understand the pattern together and try a different way of talking. Couples appointments are £100 for 70 minutes. Both partners attend the free introductory consultation.

Explore couples therapy

Trust has been broken.

You can seek support for yourself without deciding the future of the relationship first. Individual appointments are £70 for 50 minutes. Joint work is considered separately.

Support after an affair

I need space to find my own words.

Individual therapy is £70 for 50 minutes. If writing suits you better, written counselling is £50 per week for one personal reply through Carepatron, where suitable.

Explore written counselling

01When life abroad puts pressure on the relationship

Relocation removes the scaffolding a relationship quietly relied on: friends, family, routines, two incomes, two separate worlds to come home from. Abroad, the couple becomes everything to each other, and everything is a heavy job description. Pressure that was easy to manage at home starts to show: recurring conflict, emotional distance, resentment that arrives on schedule every evening.

02When betrayal changes everything

Sometimes the crisis has a sharp edge: an affair discovered, a secret found, trust broken in a way that cannot be unknown. If that is where you are, I work specifically with infidelity for expats and international couples and with betrayal trauma abroad. You do not need to have decided anything to begin.

03When you do not know whether to stay or leave

Not knowing whether to stay can be exhausting. Advice from friends may point in different directions, while practical worries make every option feel complicated. Therapy gives you space to understand your own concerns and choices. If separation is already in view, explore support with separation abroad.

04When one partner wants repair and the other is unsure

You may want different things from therapy, or one of you may be unsure about attending. The introductory couples meeting is a place to explain those differences. If you want support on your own, individual therapy can focus on your experience and decisions. It does not depend on changing your partner.

05When moving abroad has changed the power balance

One career led the move, one visa depends on the marriage, one person earns and one rebuilds from zero. Nobody planned for love to acquire an exchange rate, but it did, and pretending otherwise makes the resentment grow in the dark. Naming the new power balance honestly is often the turning point. There is more on this in trailing partner support and relationship problems after moving.

06When culture, family or money complicates the decision

In international and cross-cultural relationships, a crisis is rarely private. Families have opinions across borders, cultures disagree about what is forgivable, and money or immigration status can make the honest conversation feel dangerous. These layers are not obstacles to the work. They are the work.

07How online therapy can help

We start by understanding what is happening, how it affects you and what you want help with. We may explore repeated conflict, trust, choices about the relationship or the pressures around it. Sessions are online in English, subject to location and suitability checks. This is a scheduled therapy service, not immediate crisis support. If you are in danger or need urgent mental health help, use emergency or crisis services where you are.

Questions

Common questions

I cannot name what is wrong. Can I still book?

Yes. Not having the words is one of the most common starting points. The consultation is where we begin to find them.

Should I come alone or with my partner?

If you want support for your own experience, enquire about individual therapy. If both of you want to explore the relationship together, you both attend the introductory couples consultation. We agree the format and confidentiality before starting. Changing formats later is a separate decision, not an automatic next step.

Is this couples therapy or individual therapy?

Both are available where suitable. Individual sessions cost £70 for 50 minutes; couples sessions cost £100 for 70 minutes. The free consultation helps us consider which agreement fits your needs.

How are secrets handled in couples therapy?

Ongoing secrecy can affect the purpose and suitability of couples work. Before starting, we discuss the couples agreement, confidentiality and how information shared in individual background meetings is handled. You can ask about these boundaries during the introductory consultation.

Everything is falling apart and we are far from home. Where do we start?

For planned therapy, you can begin with a free consultation and a brief outline of what is happening. If there is immediate danger, abuse or an urgent mental health crisis, seek appropriate local support first. This service does not provide emergency or same-day crisis care.

Is it the relationship that is wrong, or the pressure of being abroad?

Often it is worth separating three things: your own history, your partner's behaviour, and the pressure of building a life somewhere new. Untangling them is part of the work, and it changes what you decide to do next.

Reading for men

What men search for at 2am, answered by a therapist.

Short, honest pieces for the week everything changed: a divorce, an affair, a marriage gone quiet, a breakup, the empty weekends after separating.

My wife wants a divorce. What do I do?Read →My wife cheated on me. What now?Read →Sexless marriageRead →Should I leave, or stay for the kids?Read →Why is my wife always angry at me?Read →Saving your marriage on your ownRead →Getting over a breakup as a manRead →Coping with separation as a dadRead →Why men shut down in argumentsRead →Controlling anger in a relationshipRead →What depression looks like in a manRead →Anxiety in men over 40Read →Low self-esteem in menRead →No friends as a manRead →My wife is abusiveRead →

All reading and therapy for men →

Reading for women

What women ask at the kitchen table, answered by a therapist.

For the marriage which went quiet, the load nobody sees, the affair, the baby years, and the question of whether to stay.

My husband does not love me any moreRead →Lonely in my marriageRead →The mental load: why I do everythingRead →My husband cheated. How do I move forward?Read →Should I divorce my husband?Read →My husband does not want sexRead →Marriage problems after a babyRead →Why you resent your partnerRead →Why we love people who pull awayRead →Supporting a husband with depressionRead →

Therapy for you, online →

A workbook for this exact moment

Stay, Pause or Leave

You found out. Now everyone has an opinion and you have a decision. This workbook takes you through the weeks after betrayal in order: steady yourself first, get the facts straight, then decide. Written from my practice.

£29, instant PDF download

Get the workbookA companion to therapy, not a substitute for it.

A clear next step

You do not need the right words to begin.

A free consultation is enough to start working out what is happening and what would help.

Book a free consultation