Therapy for Parenting Abroad in Oslo, English-Speaking Psychotherapist

Parenting in a new country can bring practical challenges at first. Everyday things like communication from school, routines, and expectations can feel unfamiliar, and it can take more time and effort to understand how things work. Over time, this can affect more than just logistics.

Some parents notice that things feel more effortful overall, or that there is less ease in situations that used to feel straightforward. Support can also feel different. You may not have the same network around you, or the same sense of familiarity in how things are done. For some, this adds a layer of pressure or isolation. For others, it's more subtle, a sense that things take more energy than they used to.

It can also raise questions around how you're navigating things as a parent in a setting that may feel different from what you're used to. Parenting already asks a lot. Doing it in a new environment can increase that demand in ways that aren't always easy to name. Therapy offers a space to reflect on what this experience is like for you, and to find ways of approaching it that feel more manageable.

The Work

How Therapy Helps

In our sessions, we work with the emotional and relational dimensions of parenting abroad, not just the logistical pressures.

In therapy, the focus is on your experience as a parent. We begin with what things feel like day to day, what feels manageable, what feels more difficult, and where things seem to take more energy than they used to. Many parents notice a sense of pressure or self-doubt in this context. Therapy can offer a space to step back from that and to understand what's contributing to it, without assuming that you should be coping differently.

The work is shaped around your pace. Some sessions may involve talking things through, while others focus more on how you're experiencing things in the moment. At times, we may explore patterns in how you respond under pressure, particularly in moments that feel challenging. This is always guided by what feels relevant and manageable for you.

It can also be helpful to have a space where you can speak openly, without needing to translate or adjust how you express yourself. Over time, the focus is on finding a way of relating to your situation that feels more steady, and that supports you in the role you're already in as a parent.

ABOUT ANDI

I am Andi Kerr Little. I have been working as a psychotherapist in Oslo for ten years.

I am originally from Scotland and moved to Norway, so I know some of the complexity that can come with rebuilding a life somewhere new. The cultural rules are not always visible, and language and belonging can take time to settle. At times, living abroad can leave people feeling slightly out of sync with the world around them, questioning themselves more than they normally would, or feeling pressure to adapt more quickly than feels possible.

My background is in psychology, psychotherapy, and behavioural science, and I work in an integrative way that adapts to the person and what feels most relevant to them. My approach draws from relational psychotherapy, Compassionate Inquiry, and other approaches that support reflection, emotional awareness, and self-understanding.

Therapy can offer space to better understand yourself, your relationships, and the ways you may find yourself responding to stress, uncertainty, or difficult experiences over time.

PhD Candidate (current), UiT The Arctic University of Norway BSc Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London MSc Applied Behaviour Analysis, Newcastle University Integrative Psychotherapy Training, University of South-Eastern Norway Compassionate Inquiry Professional Training Programme

More about my approach

What to Know

Understanding Parenting Abroad

These are the questions I hear most often from parents living in Scandinavia.

Why is parenting abroad harder than people expect?

Most people anticipate logistical challenges, the language barrier, the unfamiliar school system, the distance from family. What surprises people is how profoundly isolating it can be. Parenting is already demanding. Doing it without a network of people who share your cultural assumptions about what childhood should look like, who can take your child for an afternoon, or who you can call when you're struggling, makes it exponentially harder. The isolation compounds the difficulty in ways that are hard to predict before you're in it.

What is the impact of raising children without extended family nearby?

Extended family provides more than practical help. They are the people who knew you as a child, who can see your children in relation to the family history, who offer a sense of continuity and belonging. Without them nearby, many parents describe a sense of rootlessness, that their children are growing up without the stories, rituals, and relationships that shaped their own childhood. There is also the practical reality that you are doing this without the informal childcare and emotional support that grandparents often provide.

How does the language barrier affect parenting in a foreign country?

The language barrier affects parenting in two distinct ways. First, there is the practical challenge of navigating school communications, medical appointments, and social interactions in a language you don't fully command. That creates a constant cognitive load. Second, and more significant, is what happens when your child begins speaking Norwegian more fluently than English. Many parents describe moments when their child switches languages mid-conversation and they lose access to what their child is actually feeling. That linguistic gap can create a distance in the parent-child relationship that is difficult to bridge.

What happens to children raised between cultures?

Children raised between cultures often develop a fluid sense of identity. They can move between worlds in ways that their parents cannot. This is in many ways a strength. But it can also be disorienting, particularly in adolescence when questions of identity and belonging become more pressing. Some children feel they don't fully belong in either culture. Others resent being asked to choose. As a parent, your role is not to resolve this for them, but to create space for them to explore what it means without judgment. That requires sitting with your own feelings about what you want them to be.

How do I handle my children asking to move back home?

This is one of the most painful conversations parents face. When a child asks to move back, they are often expressing something broader than a literal desire to relocate. They may be feeling isolated at school, struggling with the language, missing a grandparent, or trying to make sense of why their life is so different from the one they imagine their cousins are living. The question is not whether to move, but what the child is actually asking for. Sometimes they need reassurance that they still belong to the place they came from. Sometimes they need help navigating the specific challenges they are facing here. Therapy can help you understand what is underneath the request.

What is parental burnout and how is it different from regular burnout?

Parental burnout is a state of chronic exhaustion that is specific to the demands of parenting. It is characterised by emotional detachment from your children, a sense of being overwhelmed by even small tasks, and a feeling that you have nothing left to give. It differs from regular burnout in that it is rooted in the relational demands of caregiving, not just the volume of tasks. Parenting abroad increases the risk of burnout because you are doing this without the support structures that usually make parenting sustainable. The isolation, the linguistic load, and the cultural disorientation all compound the exhaustion.

When should a parent seek therapy rather than just more support?

Practical support, childcare, help with logistics, social connections, is essential. But there are times when the difficulty runs deeper than what practical support can address. If you find yourself feeling persistently disconnected from your children, if conflicts feel unmanageable, if you are questioning whether you should have moved in the first place, or if the exhaustion has become something more like despair, therapy can help. The work is not about fixing your circumstances. It is about understanding what is happening emotionally and relationally, and finding a way to navigate it that feels more aligned with who you are.

Client Experiences

What People Say

From parents who came to therapy while living abroad in Scandinavia.

I came to Andi when my son started refusing to speak English at home and I felt like I was losing connection with him. She helped me see how much of my own stuff was wrapped up in that, my fear of him becoming someone I didn't recognise, my grief about not being the kind of mother I thought I would be. The work wasn't about fixing him. It was about understanding what was happening between us and finding a different way to be together. That was harder than I expected but also more useful.

L.M.

L.M., Bergen

Parenting abroad therapy

What helped most was just being able to talk to someone who got it. Not the practical stuff about which school to choose or how to navigate barnehage, but the deeper loneliness of doing this far from everyone who knew me before I became a parent. Andi understood the expat thing without me having to explain it, and she also understood the clinical side of what was happening, why I was so depleted, why small conflicts with my daughter felt so overwhelming. I needed both of those things.

K.T.

K.T., Stockholm

Individual therapy

I'm a father, and I wasn't sure therapy was for me, but I was struggling with how disconnected I felt from my kids. They were becoming Norwegian in ways I couldn't follow, and I felt like I was watching them from the outside. Andi helped me understand that some of what I was feeling was about my own sense of displacement, not just about them. The sessions gave me space to work through that without judgment, and it changed how I showed up at home. I'm still figuring it out, but I feel less stuck.

R.H.

R.H., Oslo

Parenting therapy

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Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. Parenting can be part of what we explore in therapy, particularly if it's something that feels difficult, demanding, or different in your current situation. The focus is on your experience as a parent, and how things are feeling for you. There's no need to separate it from other things you might want to talk about.

No. The work is centred on your experience, rather than on parenting techniques or advice. My role is to support you in understanding what's happening for you and how you're responding to it.

For some people, it's not just the practical side. Everyday things can take more effort, and support may not be as available or familiar as it once was. This can make parenting feel more demanding overall, even when nothing specific has changed. It's a common experience and worth exploring if it's affecting you.

Sometimes. When things take more energy, it can affect how you respond in everyday situations. Having space to reflect on that can make it easier to find a way of approaching things that feels more manageable.

Therapy offers a space to understand what your experience is like as a parent, and how it's affecting you. From there, we can begin to find ways of relating to it that feel steadier and more sustainable.

Sessions can take place in person or online via Zoom. Both can be effective, and many people find online sessions easier when schedules are full or energy is low.

The first session is a chance to talk through what's been going on and what feels most important to focus on. We'll begin to understand your situation and what might be helpful to work with, at a pace that feels manageable.

Sessions are 50 minutes and cost 1200 NOK in person or 1100 NOK online. Payment is via Vipps or bank transfer. If cost is a concern, we can discuss session frequency.

You can get in touch using the form on this page or by email. If you'd like, we can arrange a 20-minute call to talk through what's going on and whether working together feels like a good fit.

Therapy for parenting in a new country