Individual Therapy for English-Speaking Residents of South Korea
“On the other side of a storm is the strength that comes from having navigated through it. Raise your sail and begin.”
― Gregory S. Williams
How has your experience being an English speaker in Korea affected your life?
Do you still feel connected to the curiosity and sense of adventure that brought you here? Or do you feel lost, directionless, or disconnected from yourself and your community?
There are many reasons you may choose to experience all that Korea has to offer. For some, the choice is rooted in a passion for the culture. For others, it’s a duty within another commitment. Perhaps you have a complex relationship with Korea. It represents adventure, connecting with a portion of your identity, and a place you long to belong, but things haven’t been going as planned lately.
At Healing Together,
we support you.
We are a collective of therapists that understand the search for belonging. Through individual therapy online with a therapist from our team, we can help you navigate the intersection of identities that contribute to your understanding of yourself and the world.
We help 1.5/Second-generation Koreans and Korean adoptees find connection with their motherland, discover the culture that has perhaps long been held at a distance and find their place within it. Our online English-speaking therapists are also specially equipped to help expats living in Asia who may be feeling isolated, overwhelmed, far from home, or otherwise limited by a cultural barrier.
How We Can Help
Our multicultural therapy center specializes in delivering services that respect the unique identities and challenges of our English-speaking clients living in Asia. We combine clinical evidence with compassionate care to help you feel seen, understood, and connected to yourself and your community.
From expats acclimating to life in Asia to individuals with multicultural identities, our therapists have the life experience and training to support you in your wellness journey.
Who We Help
Expats in Asia
Including Military Personnel & Families, English teachers, and International Students and Professionals
Adjusting to life abroad
Being far from home, family, friends and experiencing homesickness
Culture shock
Isolation and exclusion
Racism
Language and cultural barrier with co-workers, friends or relationship partner that are native to your location
Feeling stuck without viable career options in your home country
Stress and burnout from a lack of balance between social life and work or career ambitions
Anxiety and depression related to unmet expectations
Korean culture is unique and so is the immersive experience of living alongside it. The international community in Seoul is diverse and vibrant, but farther away from the city center, there is less opportunity for connection. Away from what is familiar, you may find yourself confronting difficult emotions and challenged by the experience of being unsupported.
Our therapists understand that while living and working in a country that is different from your own, you may find yourself feeling alienated at times. With compassionate care tailored to your unique situation, our individual therapy for expats can help you identify the root of your distress, process the emotions associated with it, and chart a path toward greater life satisfaction and community engagement.
1.5 & Second Generation Koreans
Children of Korean immigrants returning to strengthen their connection to the land, people, and culture of Korea and solidifying their identity.
Immigration trauma and intergenerational trauma
Reverse acculturation
Tension between contradicting bicultural norms and expectations
Navigating traditional and rigid family roles and conventions
Obligation of filial piety and other Confucian family values
Family’s unrealistic expectations and pressure around success within academia and career achievements
Challenges related to racism and racial identity (internalized racism)
Challenges related to gender and sexual identity
Korean culture is markedly different from Western culture. When your upbringing is grounded in both, it can be a struggle to feel connected wholly to any one part of your identity. You may feel like you don’t belong to either culture or never fit in the boxes so neatly labeled when seeing life through a multicultural lens.
Are you ready to connect with Korean culture on your terms? If your family or your own hesitancy has held you back from connecting with the history and culture of your Korean lineage, we can help. Healing Together is here to help you bring your identity to the center of the conversation about the ways you engage with yourself, your culture, your family, and the world.
Korean Adoptees
Transracial/ Intercountry Korean adoptees that have a story of loss, trauma, identity reformation and reclamation to tell.
Adoption narrative
Relinquishment trauma
Abandonment, loss & grief
Attachment rupture
Processing your transracial/intercountry adoption as an adult
Adult attachment style and interpersonal relationships
Racial isolation
Racism and oppression (experienced and internalized)
Identity formation, intersectionality & integration
Adoption triad - navigating curiosity and loyalty
Duality of gratitude and guilt/shame
Reconnection with country, people, and culture of origin
Birth family searches & reunions
Being a transracial and cultural adoptee has a profound impact on the way you move through the world. We want to expand upon the work of networks like the KAAN by providing more direct support as you initiate contact with the culture from which you feel removed.
Transracial/Intercountry adoptees may live a life fraught with duality as they try to process the trauma of cultural disconnect or a sense of not belonging.
We are here to help you navigate your relinquishment and adoption experience in a space of safety and unconditional positive regard. We support you in understanding and processing the complexity of adoption at many levels. Whether you are navigating your painful past or looking for a connection with your birth country, culture or family, you do not have to do it alone.
While many of the challenges our clients face are tied to their identity as an expat, second generation Korean or Korean adoptee, we can help clients that are navigating challenges that don’t share an apparent link with those labels.
We help clients struggling with:
stress and overwhelm
anxiety & depression
anger
ADHD
parenting
work/life balance
school/career
interpersonal conflict
self-identity
self-esteem
insomnia
traumatic experiences
We help clients as they learn to:
identify and express a full range of emotions and thoughts
regulate their emotional, behavioral, and physical responses
use adaptive and helpful coping strategies
practice holistic self-care
challenge and change unhealthy relationships
take actionable steps towards achieving balance
process deeply-rooted trauma
Individual therapy
tailored for you.
Mental health treatment is still stigmatized in many parts of the world and the impact of this may be felt acutely when you live and work alongside an international community. There are not always English-speaking options for the services you need, and feeling disconnected from familiarity may leave you feeling isolated or lost.
For everyone who finds themselves living as an expat in Asia, we offer hope and connection to therapists who can empathize with your struggle and help you navigate what the experience of living abroad is like for you.