Expats in Sweden - a podcast from Turning Point

Today we are talking with Christelle Pottinger who is an expat working as a career coach here in Stockholm. Also, we interviewed Samara who came here from the US with her Swedish husband and their three kids. She tells us about her struggles navigating the Swedish job market. 

Today we will mostly listen to two interviews with expats who have lived here for awhile, adapted and feel at home in Sweden. 

In this episode we discussed identity issues that can appear when we move abroad. Our colleague, Keith Monery, joins us in this discussion. We also interviewed Zayra who is an expat living in Stockholm. 

Today we will talk about how cultural differences can influence your well-being in a new environment.  What is culture? What do we bring with us when we try to adapt to a new environment? We talk about social norms and how acceptable behaviour varies from country to country. You will hear interviews with Benedetta from Italy and Shane from Ireland. They share their experience of adjusting to Sweden. 

(We do apologize for the delay with this episode which was due to Veronica getting corona twice in the last two months. ) 

In this episode,  Veronica Lax and Rossana Pettersén, two therapists from Turning Point - a Swedish International Counseling Center in Stockholm, will discuss the psychological impact of Covid-19 on the expat community . We will also hear from Mark and Crista, that are expats living in Sweden. They will share their experience during the pandemic and not being able to return home for the holidays.  (We've had some technical issues with the sound quality but it's a learning process and we hope to figure it out by the next episode). 

This episode is an introduction to who we are and what we will be covering in our podcast. Veronica Lax, a psychosynthesis therapist at Turning Point - Swedish International Counseling Center, will be the host along with her colleague Rossana Pettersén,  a psychologist and psychotherapist. We will share a little about our own expat experience and why we ended up in Sweden. We will also list some of the topics we will address in our podcast regarding the psychological aspects of being an expat. 

We work as therapists at Turning Point – Swedish International Counseling Center in Stockholm. We started this podcast to further reach out and support the international expat community in Sweden. Our aim is to discuss different topics that are of common concerns for expats with the guidance of experienced therapists and evidence-based interventions.  Our colleagues will share their insights and knowledge from their psychotherapeutic work. Our podcast will also include interviews with expats regarding their experience of living abroad in accordance with the topics we address.