Attached & Abroad
Attachment Style Course for Expats
Heal your core wounds, learn to regulate your nervous system, and reprogramme your attachment style for better, safer, and healthier connections - anywhere in the world.
Are you yearning for safer and more meaningful relationships? A stronger sense of self and identity? This online attachment style course is for you! Theory and exercises designed specifically for expats will help you stand stronger in yourself and gain a more secure attachment style.
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Ditch your insecure attachment style and embrace emotional safety in relationships and expat life.
When we think about expat life, we often dream of a different lifestyle, exciting adventures, better educational and career opportunities, as well as making friends with people from different cultures.
For many, the reality turns out to be quite different.
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It can prove difficult to make and sustain friendships. You may experience isolation, loneliness, homesickness, and struggle to find a sense of belonging. Your sense of self and identity can be rattled, leading to increased risk of stress, anxiety, and depression.
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If you grapple with these issues, it is likely that you have a predominately disorganised and/or insecure attachment style - in which case, you will benefit from working towards earning a more secure way of being attached.
This course is for you who wish to…
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Understand your emotional baggage and how this affects your relationships.
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Break unhealthy relational patterns and achieve a healthy attachment style.
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Create and maintain safer, more meaningful friendships in expat life.
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Have a stronger, deeper connection in your romantic relationship.
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Identify your emotional triggers and learn to regulate yourself when triggered.
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Build more capacity in your nervous system.
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Understand your emotional needs and how to have them met in relationships.
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Learn how to repair and reestablish safe connection after conflicts.
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Gain a stronger sense of self and stand stronger in your identity.
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And finally, show up more authentically in your relationships.
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Attachment style in relationships
For couples with primarily insecure attachment styles, the emotional strain of expat life can take a toll on their relationship. Old, unhealed traumas, previous breaches in trust, and general relational issues can resurface with renewed strength – and emotional safety in your relationship is easily lost.
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You may begin to argue, drift apart, and lose the once so strong foundation. Whilst abroad and without your usual support network, this often hits with much stronger force than a crisis back home – and it is not at all unusual for expat couples to either break up or terminate their expat experience due to marital issues or spousal unhappiness.
Gain a healthy attachment style
This course will help you heal your core wounds and gain a more secure attachment style. It will enable you to better deal with disagreements and conflicts in your relationships. You will experience a deeper connection to yourself and your partner, and you will finally be able to form those longed for friendships in expat life.
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What is an attachment style and how does it affect your life?
Founded in childhood, attachment style is a set of relational skills that we subconsciously use to have our emotional needs for safety, care, and connection met. Your attachment style depends on the level of emotional security that you have experienced with your parents or other primary caregiver.
Secure vs. insecure attachment style
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If you are securely attached, you will walk through life with a sense of relational safety and trust. You will be able to calmly and constructively discuss emotionally challenges with your partner. You probably make friends easily, and the impacts of expat life won’t affect you much. You rest in knowing that your sense of worth and self isn’t related to the challenges of expat life.
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However, if you are disorganised or insecurely attached, your sense of self and identity isn’t as well-founded. You may find it difficult to establish and maintain emotionally safe and meaningful relationships – as well as to regulate yourself in challenging situations.
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In expat life, this can lead to social isolation, loneliness, and homesickness. There’s an enhanced risk of suffering from stress, anxiety, depression, and relationship difficulties. Expat life becomes a risk to your mental health as well as your relationships – in particular your romantic relationship. Old, unhealed traumas will have a field day if you aren’t able to emotionally self-regulate when triggered.
Healing your anxious or avoidant attachment style
Thankfully, you are able to change your attachment style and gain a more secure attachment style. You can stand stronger in yourself, your identity, and your relational skills.
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Besides learning about the different attachment styles, in this course, you will explore your core wounds, confirmation biases, and your nervous system. You will be healing your attachment wounds. You will learn how to regulate your nervous system when life throws you curveballs, and how to repair after conflicts with your partner. Not only will this enhance the emotional connection and quality of your closest relationship, it will also help you make those crucial friendships whilst abroad.
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I have done the work myself! I have been a highly insecurely and disorganised attached expat struggling with all sorts – and now I am reaping the plentiful relational benefits from being predominately securely attached.
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As a three-times former expat, I have first-hand experience of the relational challenges that expat life can serve when insecurely or disorganised attached. My expat experiences and my extensive experience from client work combined with my continuous training as a qualified counsellor, psychotherapist, and couples therapist allow me to put together a course that can change your life – for the better!
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I have created this attachment style course to give you the very best chance of healing your core wounds and work towards a more secure attachment style, better nervous system regulation, as well as a stronger sense of self and identity. This not only allows you to show up more authentically in the world, it also ensures a greater sense of belonging – to yourself, and in your relationships. Including the ones that you are yet to form in expat life!
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If you are interested, you are welcome to read more about my expat experiences in some of my blogposts. Also, you can read about my values and how I work here.
Your attachment style guide: Psychotherapist Henriette Johnsen
What my clients say about me
Not only was Henriette respectfully and non-judgmentally curious about our cultural differences, she is also empathic and validating, appropriately challenging, and very knowledgeable of life abroad. I give her my best recommendations and wouldn’t hesitate contacting her again should I need further support.
We came to see Henriette (online) when our marriage started falling apart after the birth of our twin boys. With her extensive knowledge of the pressure nomad life puts on a relationship and her eye for recognizing the dysfunctional patterns we had created between us over the years, she helped us gain more emotional contact to ourselves and each other as well as a greater understanding of how to help each other with the twins. Today, we are grateful for being able to solve our conflicts in a more respectful manner and for having regained our intimacy.
Henriette has helped me gain more empathy for myself and others, and I strongly recommend her services.
What to expect from the attachment style course
Intro
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First, an introduction to and overview of what you will gain from the attachment style course.
Module
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Understand the connection between belonging, identity, authenticity, and attachment style.
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02
How identity relates to attachment style and expat life influences identity crisis. Build further awareness of your sense of self and identity.
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03
An introduction to attachment theory and the different attachment styles.
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04
What fosters attachment styles, and how they manifest in adulthood and relationships. Plus, find your own attachment style!
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05
Core wounds, beliefs, and confirmation biases: What they are and how they relate to your attachment style. Begin to heal core wounds and stop your tendency for confirmation bias.
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06
Introduction to the nervous system – in particular, the autonomic nervous system and its connection to attachment style.
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07
Stress responses: How fight, flight, and freeze are connected to the various attachment styles. Build more capacity in your nervous system and learn to regulate your stress responses.
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08
How your attachment style, your core wounds, and your nervous system play out in your closest relationships.
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09
In this wrap-up-module, you will begin to put things together to learn how to take charge of your emotional life and empower yourself in your relationships
All of this for only DKK 2.995 // approx. 400€
Extra bonus: attachment worksheets & nervous system audio guide
The 10 modules of the attachment style course are available as both audio files and video (audio + slideshow). This gives you the freedom to take the audio with you on your whereabouts, listen to the course in the car, on your walk/commute, or whilst doing the dishes. Or you can sit down and watch the accompanying slideshow.
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Most modules have exercises at the end to support your personal development towards a more secure attachment style and a stronger sense of self. With these, you will be able to answer questions like “What is my attachment style?”.
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The attachment style exercises are presented throughout the course – and, as a bonus, I have created an attachment style workbook for you to download, so you can continue your personal growth journey. Furthermore, I have used my own experiences to enhance your understanding of the theory and exercises as well as to showcase how doing the work can enhance the quality of your life.
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As an extra bonus, you will receive a separate audio guide for calming your nervous system through grounding and orienting. This audio file enables you to calm down and regulate your nervous system anytime and anywhere.
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FAQ about attachment styles and the attachment style course
What is an attachment style?
Attachment style is a set of relational resources, skills, and competences that we subconsciously use in an attempt to have our emotional needs for safety, care, and connection met.
Are attachment styles real?
Yes, attachment styles are real! They have been and continue to be highly researched within the field of psychology.
How many attachment styles are there?
Within attachment style theory, we operate with 4 types of attachment style: secure attachment, the insecure attachment styles avoidant and anxious-ambivalent, and the disorganised attachment style.
What is my attachment style?
The course will provide you with the knowledge and tools to figure out your own attachment style which likely consists of a combination of the different attachment styles.
When do attachment styles develop?
Attachment styles are formed in our childhood, but can develop and change throughout our lives – also, it’s not uncommon to have different ways of attaching to different people in our lives.
Where do attachment issues come from?
Attachment styles are founded in our early years and depend on the level of emotional safety that you have experienced with your parents or other primary caregiver.
Can attachment style change?
Yes, attachment style can change. Due to plasticity, you can work towards gaining a more secure attachment style.
How to fix an anxious attachment style?
By working on your core wounds and confirmation biases, learning to regulate and building capacity in your nervous system, as well as acquiring certain relational skills/tools, it’s possible to work towards a more secure attachment style. It’s not an easy fix; and though it’s perfectly possible to make significant and sustainable changes, for some, it’s an ongoing task.
How to heal avoidant attachment style?
You can work towards a more secure attachment style by building certain relational skills and tools, learning to regulate your nervous system and working with your core wounds and confirmation biases. It is not an easy fix, but it is possible to heal and make changes. It’s an ongoing task that this course will help you with.
How long does this course take?
The course contains about 3.5 hours of video material, a 10 minute audio guide, and 10 exercises in total - but how long you spend on it is up to you. I strongly recommend that you take your time, let the learnings sink in, and don't rush the exercises. There's no time limit to the course, and you can watch the videos again and again! By coming back to the modules and exercises over time and continuously working with your nervous system regulation, core wounds, and confirmation bias, you will experience the healing and changing of your attachment style that you seek.
Can I take this course at my own pace?
Yes, you can work at your own pace as well as revisit the modules that you may want to work with again.
Will my access to the course expire?
No, once you purchase the course, you’ll have ongoing access to all materials, including videos, downloads, and any future updates.
What is the price of the course
The attachment style course is priced at DKK 2.995 which is approximately 400€ or 470$ (depending on the current exchange rate).
Will doing this course make me overwhelmed by my past?
What will be overwhelming for one person might not be for the next, so it’s difficult to say how you will react to the learning and the exercises. If you notice an increased level of anxiety, severe mood swings, or feel overwhelmed with old trauma whilst working through the course, I suggest you go at a slower pace – and perhaps seek the support of a good counsellor or therapist to help you process your learning further.
Can the course be considered a substitute for personal therapy?
No, the course is not intended to be or to replace therapy. It can have therapeutic effects and help you create a more secure attachment style, a stronger sense of self and identity, as well as better your relationships. On its own – or alongside therapy.
Can anybody take this course?
If you suffer from addiction, substance abuse, have a diagnosed severe and longstanding psychiatric disorder, or experience suicidal ideation or have attempted to take your own life, this course may not be appropriate for you – I suggest that you drop me an email on henriette@thegoodexpatlife.com or talk with your current therapist to discuss its appropriateness before enrolment.
Is this course only for expats?
Although developed for expats, the learning and personal development are universal and can be useful for everybody, as well as applied to all relationships.