How I founded a new field in 2009

There is a particular kind of loneliness that no one prepares you for — the kind that arrives not in the dark of night, but in the middle of an ordinary afternoon in a foreign city. You are surrounded by people, by noise, by life — and yet you feel utterly invisible. You do not speak the language of your grief in this new country. You do not know where to turn. And when you search for a psychologist who understands your world, you find nothing.

That was my experience. And in 2009, when I set out to find a solution — not just for myself, but for the millions of people living this same silent struggle — I discovered that the professional field I needed simply did not exist. There were no expat psychologists. There was no framework, no directory, no recognised discipline dedicated to the mental health of people who live between cultures. So I built one.

A world without borders — and without support

By 2009, globalization had transformed the way millions of people lived and worked. International assignments, trailing spouses, diplomatic families, global entrepreneurs — an entire population was on the move, crossing borders, adapting to new cultures, rebuilding lives from scratch. The world had become borderless in many ways. But mental healthcare had not kept pace.

The challenges faced by expats are profoundly unique. Relocation grief. Identity disruption. The stress of cultural adaptation. The collapse of social networks. The burden placed on relationships when one partner gives up their career to follow the other. The vulnerability of children raised across multiple cultures — Third Culture Kids — who belong everywhere and nowhere. These were not conditions meaningfully addressed in standard psychological training or practice.

And yet, when I searched for a psychologist who could speak to these experiences — someone who would not simply ask ‘why don’t you just go home?’ — I found nothing. I was an expat myself. I understood firsthand the disorientation of building a life in a country that is not your own, the exhaustion of constant adaptation, and the strange grief of leaving places and people behind. I knew this pain was real. I knew it deserved professional attention.

Coining a new field: 2009

In 2009, I began using the term Expat Psychologist — not merely as a job title, but as a declaration. A declaration that expats deserved dedicated, specialised psychological support. That their experiences were not trivial inconveniences, but genuine mental health challenges worthy of a professional discipline.

At the time, a search for ‘expat psychologist’ returned nothing. The term did not exist in any professional directory, academic paper, or online resource. I was, quite literally, defining something new. I built my first website under this name, began writing and publishing on expat mental health, and started seeing clients whose relief at finally being understood was, at times, overwhelming.

Word spread quickly — because the need was immense and unmet. Expats are not a small or marginal population. There are over 280 million people living outside their country of birth. Behind every one of those statistics is a human being navigating a world not designed with their psychological needs in mind. I had found my life’s work.

Building the Practice: Netherlands and Switzerland

What began as a single practice grew, over the following years, into a recognised presence across two countries. Expat Psychologist Netherlands and Expat Psychologist Switzerland now serve communities in some of Europe’s most internationally diverse cities — places where tens of thousands of expats from every corner of the world have settled, each carrying their own story of displacement, adaptation, and reinvention.

The work has never been just about treating symptoms. It has been about witnessing people. About creating a space where an expat can walk in and not have to explain what it feels like to live between two worlds. Where the particular grief of leaving a country you love — or the complicated relief of finally returning to one you left — is treated as the profound human experience it truly is.

Over the years, I have worked with executives and trailing spouses, with children who have attended six schools in five countries, with couples whose relationships fractured under the weight of relocation, and with individuals quietly rebuilding their sense of self in a foreign land. Each of them reminded me why this field needed to exist.

Why This Founding Matters

The landscape has changed significantly since 2009. Today, the term ‘expat psychologist’ is used widely — by practitioners, platforms, and directories that did not exist when I first coined it. I welcome the growth of this field. It means more people are getting the help they need.

But founding a field carries responsibility — and deserves recognition. The principles I established in 2009 have shaped how expat psychology is understood and practised today. The recognition of expat-specific mental health challenges as a legitimate clinical focus; the importance of cultural competence in therapeutic settings; the need for accessible, English-speaking psychological services in internationally diverse cities — these were not givens. They were arguments I made, early and often, at a time when few were listening.

I continue to make them today. Because the world is still moving. People are still arriving in new countries, searching for themselves, and searching for help. And I want every one of them to find it.

About the Author

Taisia Slobodjaniuk is the founder of the Expat Psychologist, a pioneering psychological practice established in 2009 — the first of its kind dedicated exclusively to the mental health of expats and internationally mobile individuals. She operates Expat Psychologist Netherlands and Expat Psychologist Switzerland, and has spent over fifteen years developing expat psychology as a recognised clinical discipline.