Knowing Your Relational, Emotional and Psychological issues

The first edition of the Expats event focused on the emotional impact of moving abroad.
This second edition goes deeper, into what often emerges later, when daily life stabilizes and the real inner consequences begin to surface.
Many expats discover that the hardest part is not adapting to a new country, but living with what the move activates inside them.
In this second edition, we will explore themes that were not addressed before, including:
• Why the expat experience often amplifies pre existing emotional patterns
• How loneliness can exist even when life “looks fine” from the outside
• The silent grief of losing your language, social role, identity, or sense of competence
• Why many expats feel more insecure, dependent, or emotionally younger than before
• The pressure to justify the move and the shame of admitting doubts or regret
• How emotional needs change when familiar relational anchors disappear
• Why strong self reliance abroad can slowly turn into emotional isolation
• The difference between real adaptation and emotional disconnection
• How schemas such as emotional deprivation, abandonment, defectiveness, and failure are often reactivated after relocation
• What truly creates a sense of belonging, beyond social integration
As in all CloseByYou events, the structure is intentional and protective.
The first part is a recorded lecture, focused on understanding the internal psychological and relational processes activated by the expat experience.
The second part is a live, unrecorded group space, where participants can share freely, feel seen, and discover that many of their private struggles are deeply shared by others.
This is not a practical expat guide.
It is not about visas, jobs, or positive thinking.
It is a psychological and relational space to slow down, stop blaming yourself, and reconnect with your emotional needs while living far from home.
The full video recording of the event is available for free by registering to the CloseByYou community at the following link:
https://closebyyou.com/landing-page-community/

Parenting is one of the most meaningful roles in life, yet it is also one of the most overwhelming. Many parents feel lost, exhausted or unsure, even when they love their children deeply. The problem is not a lack of love. It is that children communicate their needs through emotions and behaviours that are often difficult to understand.
This webinar is a clear and compassionate guide for parents who are struggling. Through the lens of Schema Therapy and attachment, we explore what children truly need to feel safe, confident and connected. We decode behaviours that seem irrational, stubborn or aggressive and reveal the emotional signals hidden behind them.
You will learn how to respond to your child in a way that calms the nervous system, strengthens the connection and reduces conflict. We also explore how your own emotional patterns, stress and childhood experiences shape the way you parent today. With grounded tools, practical examples and gentle mirror-based reflections, this session gives parents clarity, confidence and a renewed sense of direction.
And remember, all video recordings can be watched for free by registering at www.closebyyou.com.

***

# Programme

### 1. Understanding what children really need

• The core emotional needs of every child
• How needs change with age
• Why children express needs through behaviours, not words
• The difference between misbehaviour and emotional overwhelm

### 2. Schema Therapy and children’s emotional world

• Abandonment and fear of separation
• Emotional Deprivation and feeling unseen
• Defectiveness and early shame
• Subjugation and the “too good” child
• Approval Seeking and the pressure to please others

### 3. How parents’ schemas shape parenting

• When your child activates your own vulnerabilities
• Overreacting, shutting down or becoming too controlling
• Why guilt makes everything harder
• How to calm your emotional brain before responding

### 4. Reading the hidden message behind behaviours

• What anger really means in children
• Understanding avoidance, silence and withdrawal
• Anxiety, clinginess and fear
• Impulsivity and the need for co-regulation

### 5. Creating emotional safety

• How to soothe a child in distress
• The power of connection before correction
• Predictable routines as a form of stability
• Speaking to your child in a way that reduces fear

### 6. Repairing after conflict

• What to do when you lose patience
• Apologising without losing authority
• Helping your child express feelings they cannot name
• Rebuilding trust and emotional closeness

### 7. Supporting healthy development

• Building emotional regulation skills
• Encouraging autonomy without pressure
• Supporting confidence, identity and boundaries
• Modelling the Healthy Adult in daily life

### 8. Mirror-based practices for parents

• Seeing your child’s vulnerable self with compassion
• Understanding your own reactions through reflection
• Exercises inspired by Mindful Interbeing Mirror Therapy
• Building presence and emotional attunement

### 9. Final guided practice and Q&A

• A short grounding exercise for parents
• Unrecorded Zoom space for sharing and questions

Most people wait for the perfect moment to change their lives. They wait for motivation, clarity or a breakthrough. Yet fundamental transformation rarely happens in big, dramatic moments. It happens through small, consistent shifts. A 1% change, repeated day after day, reshapes your emotional world, your habits, and your sense of identity.
This webinar explores the science and psychology behind micro change. Through the lens of Schema Therapy, we uncover why people struggle to maintain progress, why they collapse into old patterns and why they underestimate the power of small steps. You will learn how emotional schemas, such as failure, unrelenting standards and deprivation, sabotage long-term change and how tiny, manageable adjustments can bypass resistance and build stability.
With grounding practices, daily structure strategies and mirror-based exercises, this session shows you how to create change that lasts. One per cent at a time. Slow, gentle and powerful.
And remember, all video recordings are free to watch with a free registration at www.closebyyou.com.

***

# Programme

### 1. The truth about change

• Why do people wait for significant breakthroughs
• Why most change fails before it begins
• The neuroscience of small, consistent actions
• How 1% builds identity, not just habits

### 2. Schema Therapy and resistance to change

• Failure schema and the belief that progress will collapse
• Unrelenting Standards and the pressure to do everything perfectly
• Emotional Deprivation and the fear that nothing will ever work
• Subjugation and pleasing others instead of caring for yourself

### 3. The psychology of micro change

• Why the brain prefers small steps
• How consistency rewires emotional patterns
• The difference between motivation and momentum
• How repetition creates safety inside the nervous system

### 4. Identifying your one percent

• The smallest possible action that still creates movement
• How to choose a step that your emotional system will accept
• Shifting from intensity to continuity
• Examples for emotional, relational and behavioural areas

### 5. Building a 1 % Daily Routine

• Five-minute grounding practices
• Simple routines that stabilise the emotional brain
• Using micro change to reduce anxiety, anger or avoidance
• The emotional benefit of predictable actions

### 6. Overcoming the schemas that sabotage progress

• How perfectionism kills consistency
• How fear of failure prevents starting
• How avoidance steals momentum
• How to respond when your schema gets triggered

### 7. Mirror-based work for identity change

• Seeing the part of you that is afraid to grow
• Reassuring the vulnerable self through reflection
• Reinforcing small wins with compassion
• Exercises inspired by Mindful Interbeing Mirror Therapy

### 8. Long-term transformation

• How 1% becomes 10% and then 100
• How to recover after a setback without collapse
• Building a Healthy Adult identity through micro decisions
• Why small beginnings create lifelong direction

### 9. Final guided practice and Q&A

• A grounding exercise to integrate your 1% shift
• Unrecorded Zoom space for sharing and questions