Expat Reflection Circles
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 closed-format 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
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.
Clients come to her with a wide range of concerns—including anxiety, burnout, identity questions, relationship issues, grief, and the long-term effects of trauma. Many are at a turning point—professionally, emotionally, or physically—and seek support to regain clarity, strength, and direction.
With a background in both psychology and the arts, Heather brings an integrative and empathetic perspective to her work. Originally an internationally engaged concert pianist, her career was redirected after injury—an experience that became the foundation for her later work supporting others in moments of transformation.
She completed her B.Sc. in Psychology at the Free University of Berlin and her M.Sc. in Prevention and Health Psychology at SRH University. She also holds a certificate in Musicians’ Health from the Kurt Singer Institute / University of the Arts Berlin and completed mindfulness teacher training (MTTC) with Christopher Titmuss and Ulla König.
Heather has lived in the United States, France, and Germany, and understands firsthand the complex emotional landscape of relocation and reinvention. As a member of both the Expat Therapy Hub and the International Therapists' Directory, she is dedicated to providing culturally sensitive care to international clients and communities.
Her expertise is recognized internationally. She has presented at institutions such as University College London, Weill Cornell Medical Center (New York), the European Network of Cultural Centres, and the Max Planck Institute for Human Development. She has also lectured at Columbia University, the New England Conservatory, Robert Schumann Hochschule, and Rhodes University, among others.
Whether working with individuals or groups, Heather’s practice is grounded in respect for each person’s lived experience, and oriented toward sustainable health, meaning, and growth. Her work bridges therapeutic depth, systemic thinking, and artistic intelligence, always with the aim of fostering inner resilience and cultural transformation.
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.
Irvin Yalom's Eleven Therapeutic Factors for Group Therapy (as PDF)
In his seminal book The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy, Irvin Yalom outlined 11 core "therapeutic factors" that contribute to the effectiveness of group therapy—especially in longer-term, ongoing groups. These include:
1. Instillation of Hope
Being in the group offers a sense of possibility—that change is possible, that healing can happen, and that we can find ways to endure what cannot be changed and transform what can.
2. Universality
Hearing others share familiar struggles can be deeply relieving. It reminds us that we’re not alone in our pain, and that others are willing to stand alongside us. This shared recognition can be quietly transformative.
3. Imparting of Information
Group members often learn from each other—whether through practical advice, shared experiences, or simply the clarity that comes when someone puts words to something you've been feeling. Knowledge, in this context, becomes a form of empowerment.
4. Altruism
There’s something healing about being needed. When group members support one another, it not only helps the one receiving care, but also strengthens the confidence and self-worth of the one offering it.
5. Corrective Recapitulation of the Primary Family
Many of our relational patterns have roots in early family life. In the group, old dynamics can surface—but within a new, safer environment, we can begin to respond differently. This opens up space for growth and new ways of relating.
6. Development of Social Skills
The group offers a living laboratory for learning how to connect—practicing empathy, setting boundaries, tolerating difference, and working through conflict. These skills naturally begin to carry over into life beyond the group.
7. Imitative Behavior
Sometimes we don’t know what’s possible until we see someone else model it. Watching fellow group members try new ways of handling challenges can spark change in ourselves.
8. Interpersonal Learning
The group is a space to explore how we relate to others. Through honest feedback, support, and reflection, members gain insight into their relational patterns and experiment with more open, authentic connections.
9. Group Cohesion
A sense of belonging and emotional safety is essential for healing. When members feel seen, accepted, and valued by the group, they’re more likely to take emotional risks, speak more honestly, and open up to change.
10. Catharsis
Group can be a place where long-held emotions finally find release. Naming and expressing those feelings - often in the presence of compassionate witnesses - can bring profound relief and shift internal landscapes.
11. Existential Exploration
At its core, group work invites us to reflect on what it means to live, to face limitations, and to create meaning in the face of uncertainty. Together, we learn to meet life not by avoiding it, but by walking through it - seeing the path not as obstructed by difficulty, but shaped by it.