In this short video, I explain how a few concentrated online sessions can help couples abroad when ordinary weekly therapy keeps falling apart.
You can also send me an email
Back-to-back couples therapy abroad is a concentrated block of online sessions for international couples, expats and people living far from where they grew up. We meet by video several times within a few days, in English, planned around flights, postings and two careers.
Some of you come from two different countries. Some of you are Danes who now live abroad and feel like the foreigner in your new home. It combines couples therapy for couples living abroad with the format of back-to-back online couples therapy.
You can ask for a free 30-minute call, book a session, read my client policy or write to me.
Back-to-back couples therapy abroad is for international couples, expats and Danes living abroad who want a concentrated block of online sessions, planned around travel, postings and two careers.
A concentrated block suits many couples abroad, but not all. If one of these fits better, follow its link.
You can also send me an email
These reviews describe clients’ experiences of working with me. They come from my wider practice and do not all relate to online sessions. Each person’s experience is their own, and a review does not promise a particular outcome.
“Looking back over my 22 years of practice, couples living abroad stand out for one thing: how much they ask of each other. Far from home, a partner becomes best friend, family and safety net at once. Underneath the stress, one of you is often asking ‘Are you still with me in this?’, and the other ‘Can I have some room without you feeling abandoned?’. Some people swing between both. A concentrated block gives you time to hear each other properly, in the few days your lives allow.”
Mark Colclough, MA, psychotherapist and EFT couples therapist
I am Mark Colclough, MA. I have practised since 2004 and offer online psychotherapy and couples therapy in English.
My training brings together your emotions, your thoughts and your relationships. My deep passion is the moment when what happens between you finally makes sense, to each of you and to each other. I have lived and worked in nine countries, so I know something of life across languages, cultures and borders.
Read about my background, or explore online psychotherapy and online couples therapy.
I meet regularly with experienced psychotherapists to reflect on my work, question my understanding and develop my skills. Supervision is part of the professional care I bring to individual and couples work, including online sessions.
My focus is thoughtful practice, integrity and responsibility.
You are welcome to ask about the kind of support you need.
Tell me where you are based and your time zone. We can then consider whether online sessions together are suitable.
Anders is Danish and Fernanda is Brazilian. They have lived in São Paulo for six years with their two children. Anders travels for work most weeks and has started to feel like a guest in his own family, while Fernanda feels she carries everything alone. Regular sessions fell apart after three attempts.
They book three sessions in a week when Anders is home. We name the pattern of blame and withdrawal, make room for his loneliness and her exhaustion, and agree how to talk when he is away. They finish with a plan and a follow-up date that fits his next trip.
I have presented this clinical example as a compound of 22 years of clinical practice.
Life abroad keeps you busy and far apart. The relationship cannot wait for a quieter year.
Couples living abroad often have the least predictable calendars and the fewest people nearby to lean on. Back-to-back couples therapy abroad uses the days you are both free, so the work keeps moving even when the rest of the month belongs to airports.
We look at the pattern between you, and at what moving countries has added to it.
Business trips, rotations and calls at strange hours can wipe out a regular appointment within weeks.
A block can be timed for the stretch when you are both in one place, or both free at the same hour.
Away from family and old friends, your partner may be your best friend, your family and your safety net all at once. That is a lot for one person to carry.
We look at how the weight is shared, and where it is too heavy.
Often one partner followed the other’s job, left a career or a language behind, and quietly grieves it. Resentment can grow without either of you naming it.
In a block, there is time to name it properly, without it becoming an attack.
Different ideas about family, money, closeness and conflict can turn a small disagreement into a clash of worlds.
We separate what is culture from what is the pattern between you, so you know which one you are fighting.
Stay, take the next posting, or move home? The question can hang over every other conversation for years.
A focused block gives it the full attention it deserves.
Some people feel like the outsider even at home: the language they cannot quite catch, the in-laws they cannot quite read, the jokes that pass them by. That loneliness often comes out as irritation with their partner.
We give it words, so it can be shared instead of fought over.
Does this sound like your life? Request a call or book a session, and we will plan back-to-back couples therapy abroad around the days that work for you both.
You can also send me an email
Tell me briefly what kind of support you are looking for.
Include your country and time zone so we can discuss whether online work together is possible and find a suitable time.
You do not need to explain your whole story in your first message.
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Distance and change are part of your story. They do not have to run your relationship.
The opening sessions map the pattern between you and what life abroad adds to it. The middle ones reach the feelings underneath, such as loss, loneliness, guilt or fear. The closing ones plan how you will look after the relationship once travel and work pull you apart again.
We pick days when you can both be present, in the same room or from two places, and I plan the times around both your clocks.
Yes. Not every fight is about culture or the move, and not every fight is about the relationship either. Telling them apart takes a lot of pressure off.
Yes. When the partner who gave up more can say it plainly, and the other can hear it without guilt taking over, something usually eases.
We look at how you can support each other and still build a life with friends, work and meaning of your own in the new country.
If a decision about where to live is coming, we give it room. I make sure both of you are heard before anything is decided.
Before the block ends, we agree how you will check in while one of you is away, how to handle hard conversations by phone, and when to book follow-up.
You can also send me an email
Back-to-back couples therapy abroad is focused, not frantic. Breaks and pace are planned for both time zones.
Back-to-back couples therapy abroad starts with a short call. We agree what you want to work on, how many sessions make sense and which days work for both of you. Then I plan the block around your calendars.
Two 2-hour sessions can sit on one day, with a long break between them. This suits couples who can clear just one day together.
Two or three days in a row work well in the weeks you are both at home.
Three or four sessions in one week leave room for work and family in between.
Weekend times can sometimes be arranged, depending on what I have free. Ask when you get in touch.
If you are in different time zones, we find hours that are reasonable for both of you, so nobody joins at three in the morning.
We plan follow-up sessions that fit the weeks you are apart, so the work does not fade when travel starts again.
Not sure this is the right format? Here are the closest options.
| Option | Choose it when | Pace |
|---|---|---|
| Back-to-back couples therapy abroad (this page) | You live abroad and want a few concentrated days. | Several 2-hour sessions close together |
| Couples therapy for couples living abroad | You prefer a regular rhythm. | 2-hour sessions every two to three weeks |
| Fly-in couples therapy in Copenhagen | You would rather come to Copenhagen in person. | Several sessions over a few days, in person |
| Back-to-back couples therapy alone, living abroad | Your partner will not join. | Several 1-hour sessions close together |
Back-to-back couples therapy abroad is a concentrated block of online couples sessions, close together, for couples living outside the country they grew up in. It suits international couples, expats and Danes living abroad whose calendars make regular therapy hard. We meet by video, in English.
Yes. In back-to-back couples therapy abroad, you can each join from where you are, and I plan the session times around both time zones.
Yes. That is what the format is for. We pick the days when you are both free and make the most of them.
Yes. Danish couples and Danish individuals living abroad are very welcome. Sessions are in English.
Yes. I was born in London, grew up partly in Denmark and have lived and worked in nine countries. I know how much a move can give a couple, and how much it can take.
No. I do not treat either background as the standard. I help each of you explain your own and understand the other’s.
For back-to-back couples therapy abroad, many couples start with three to five sessions. We agree the number beforehand and review it as we go.
If you are visiting Copenhagen anyway, yes, that is possible. See weekend couples therapy in Copenhagen or fly-in couples therapy in Copenhagen.
Each session is a 2-hour online couples session. Current fees, in US dollars, are on my prices page. Because a block involves several sessions, a therapy bundle saves you 10 per cent.
Ask for a free 30-minute call or write to me. Tell me briefly where you each live, which days you are both free and what you want to work on, and we will agree a plan before you book.
You can also send me an email
I want therapy to help you understand your experience and make choices you can use in everyday life. We pay attention to feelings, needs and the responses that happen before you have time to think.
Our online room should offer enough trust and honesty to explore what is difficult. I bring attention and professional judgement. You bring your experience, questions and the right to say when something does not fit.
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P.S. I’ll call you in a bit!
