In this short video, I explain why EFT suits couples who live far from home, and what our online sessions feel like.
You can also send me an email
EFT couples therapy, living abroad, is emotion-focused couples therapy online, in English, for couples who have made a life outside the countries they grew up in. EFT, emotion-focused couples therapy, treats your fights as a cycle of protective moves driven by a need for closeness. That need is the same in every language and every country.
We meet by video in your time zone. It sits between EFT online couples therapy and couples therapy for couples living abroad. If your partner will not join, EFT couples therapy alone, living abroad lets you begin by yourself.
You can ask for a free 30-minute call, book a session, read my client policy or write to me.
This page is for couples living abroad, anywhere in the world, who both want to stay together and keep getting stuck in the same emotional cycle. Both of you take part, by video.
EFT needs you both to want to stay and things to be calm enough to look at the cycle together. If that is not the case, one of these may suit you better.
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.
“Since training with the EFT Institute in Copenhagen, I have watched couples from every corner of the world fall into the very same cycle. The words differ, the food differs and the families differ. The longing does not. Far from home, one partner is often asking ‘Will you be there for me here?’, and the other is asking ‘Can I ever be enough to make up for what you left?’. When those questions can be spoken softly, two people from different places start to feel like one team.”
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.
Hana is from Japan and Lukas is from Germany. They live in Dubai, where both work long hours, and their families are thousands of kilometres away in opposite directions. Their fights are about family: who visits, how often, whose holiday comes first. Hana goes quiet and polite. Lukas raises his voice and pushes for an answer.
In our EFT sessions online, they begin to see one cycle rather than two cultures at war. Lukas is afraid that Hana is slipping away. Hana is afraid that whatever she does, it will never be enough. Once they say this out loud, the arguments about family soften.
I have presented this clinical example as a compound of 22 years of clinical practice.
Different passports, one longing: to know you matter to each other.
Far from family and old friends, couples lean on each other harder than ever. That makes the bond precious, and it makes every crack feel bigger.
EFT couples therapy, living abroad, fits when you both want to stay and the same emotional sequence keeps pulling you apart, whatever the topic of the day.
Rows about punctuality, money or in-laws may look like a clash of cultures. Often, underneath, someone is asking whether they still come first.
We look past the surface to the emotional question both of you keep circling.
One of you pushes harder for contact and reassurance. The other steps back to keep the peace. Abroad, with nobody else nearby, that loop can tighten fast.
We map it as a shared pattern, so neither of you has to carry the blame.
Saying ‘I am frightened’ or ‘I miss you’ can feel clumsy in a language you learned at school. So people fall back on safer, harder words.
On screen, I slow things down and help each of you find the softer message, in whatever words come.
The partner who followed may have lost a job, a language and a whole circle of friends. That loneliness often shows up as anger or withdrawal.
We bring it into the open, so it can be met with comfort instead of defence.
Postings end, visas change and families call you home. Couples abroad live with a lot of uncertainty.
EFT builds a bond that feels secure wherever the next move takes you.
You may have read about EFT and want a trained therapist who works in English, from wherever you live now.
That is exactly what these sessions offer.
Is this you? Request a call or book a session, and we will start mapping your cycle together.
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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Seeing the cycle is step one. Answering each other differently is where life changes.
EFT couples therapy, living abroad, moves through three stages. We calm the cycle, reach the feelings and needs beneath it, and then practise new ways of turning to each other, first in our sessions and then at home.
EFT treats most arguments as a protest at feeling disconnected. The topic, whether money, family or the next move, matters less than the fear and longing it carries.
Yes. Many couples give their cycle a nickname. Then either of you can call it out when it starts, in any language, and step out of it together.
Yes. We go beneath the anger or silence to the fear, loneliness or homesickness underneath, and practise saying it simply.
Yes. When one of you shows the softer feeling, the other can answer with comfort instead of defence. That moment is the heart of EFT.
Some couples carry a sharp hurt from the move itself: a decision made too fast, a promise about going home that slipped. We return to it carefully, so it can finally heal.
You trust that you will be there for each other wherever you live. You can disagree about culture or family without feeling the bond is at risk.
You can also send me an email
You do not need perfect words in any language. Finding them is part of what we do.
In the first sessions of EFT couples therapy, living abroad, I listen to you both, map the cycle between you and look at how life abroad feeds it. I also check that EFT suits you now. If not, I will tell you.
You join together for two hours, by video, in your time zone. I ask about your story, your move and a typical hard moment. Before we finish, I share how I see your cycle.
Culture shapes how each of you shows feelings, and I take that seriously. EFT then looks at the need underneath, which is much the same everywhere.
EFT is structured, so it unfolds over a series of sessions. How many depends on how long the cycle has run and how much hurt sits in it. We review together as we go.
We plan sessions around travel, and you can join from two places if one of you is away. If a steady rhythm is impossible, back-to-back EFT couples therapy, living abroad may suit you.
Because EFT couples therapy, living abroad, runs over several sessions, a bundle often fits. You get a plan and a lower price per session. The bundle cards further down show the options.
The cycle still appears, but you catch it early and repair quickly. Then we decide together whether to continue, space out or stop.
Not sure EFT couples therapy, living abroad, is your page? These are the closest options.
| Option | Choose it when | Pace |
|---|---|---|
| EFT couples therapy, living abroad (this page) | You live abroad and keep getting stuck in the same cycle. | A series of 2-hour sessions |
| Couples therapy for couples living abroad | You want a broader start. | 2-hour sessions every two to three weeks |
| EFT couples therapy alone, living abroad | Your partner will not join. | 1-hour sessions on your own |
| EFT online couples therapy | Life abroad is not the main strain. | A series of 2-hour sessions |
EFT couples therapy, living abroad, is EFT, emotion-focused couples therapy, offered online in English to couples living outside their home countries. It works on the emotional cycle between you, and on how life abroad feeds it.
EFT stands for emotion-focused therapy. For couples, it sees conflict as a cycle of protective reactions driven by a need for closeness, and helps partners reach each other underneath.
Yes. EFT is used by therapists across many countries and cultures. The ways people show feelings differ, but the longing to matter to each other is shared.
Yes. Homesickness and loneliness often hide inside arguments. EFT helps you share them so your partner can respond with care.
Yes. All sessions on this site are in English, which most couples abroad already use together.
I have trained with the EFT Institute in Copenhagen, and I combine EFT with 22 years of clinical practice.
You can begin alone with EFT couples therapy alone, living abroad. A change in one partner often shifts the whole cycle.
Then start with acute online couples therapy. EFT often comes next, once things are steadier.
Sessions are 2-hour online couples sessions. Current fees, in US dollars, are on my prices page, and a therapy bundle saves you 10 per cent.
Choose a time in the calendar, which shows your own time zone, or ask for a free 30-minute call first.
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!
