Expat Reflection Circles | Support Group for Expats in Düsseldorf & Online

## Support Group for Expats

### Meaning-Making, Emotional Connection, and Resilience

New English-speaking Groups forming in September 2025

#### When & Where:

Tuesdays, 18:00–19:30

• 1st Tuesday of each month: in-person in Düsseldorf-Urdenbach: Bücherstraße 6, 40593 Düsseldorf
• 3rd Tuesday of each month: online via Zoom

#### Commitment:

Participants commit to attending at least one session per month for six months (flexible choice of location/format each time). The group is not drop-in.
You’re welcome to join both in-person and online sessions as your schedule allows.

#### Suggested donation:

20 € per session

#### About the Group

Moving to a new country can be exhilarating—and disorienting, whether one has lived here for 1 month or 20 years. The Expat Reflection Circle offers a stable, compassionate space to reflect on life transitions, loss of identity anchors, relationship shifts, and the challenge of building a meaningful life away from familiar ground.
Grounded in the curative factors of group therapy developed by Irvin Yalom, this group emphasizes emotional honesty, interpersonal learning, and the development of trust over time. While not a substitute for individual psychotherapy, the circle draws from best practices in therapeutic group work and is guided with care and professional integrity.

#### Themes we may explore include:

• Finding belonging in unfamiliar landscapes
• Cultural grief and identity reconstruction
• Navigating relationships in intercultural contexts
• Burnout, perfectionism, and pressure to “thrive” abroad
• Creativity, stagnation, and renewal
• Making meaning from displacement and change

#### Group Agreements

• Commit to 6 months (attend at least once per month; welcome to come more often)
• Honor confidentiality and mutual respect
• Attend a short intake conversation (free of charge and non-binding) to ensure group fit
• Reflect a willingness to engage emotionally, to witness and grow together

#### How to Join

Please email with a few lines about yourself, your expat background, and what draws you to the group. Also let me know if you’d like to be present in the Düsseldorf group and/or online. New groups are starting in September 2025. Further information and contact: https://www.heatherodonnell.info/expat-reflecting-circles

#### Facilitated by Heather O’Donnell

Heather O’Donnell is a psychologist (M.Sc.), certified artistic-systemic therapist (DGSF), and the founding director of TGR The Green Room, a center for counseling, creative development, and psychological support for performing artists.
She offers therapy and psychological support for people navigating personal change, emotional challenges, or periods of illness and recovery. Her approach combines systemic therapy, trauma-informed and creative methods, and mindfulness-based tools to help clients develop greater self-awareness, resilience, and psychological flexibility.