WattsYourPathway

This course was accessible and easy to follow as well as being very informative. I liked how you could do each section at your own pace and how the worksheets give time and space for personal reflections.

I found this course raised many of the important issues of transition from life overseas to returning "home". Unfortunately, I processed this information in a third country, as due to COVID-19 my family were unable to return to our host country to say farewell and pack. We will move on to our "home" country to take on a new role soon. Packing, farewells and closure will have to wait until our host country opens their borders again.

Helen's new online course 'From Apprehensive to quietly confident' gives a clear and balanced idea of what transition might look like. The tools she gives are practical and help in sorting out expectations and feelings, to make transition less chaotic and overwhelming. Because it concerns an online course it also has the benefit of making this information available worldwide!

This course has helped me immensely in processing my re-entry in ways I had not addressed before. While I have returned from my post abroad years ago, it has still helped me in my re-entry, and can be useful for many others who have lived, worked, traveled, or volunteered abroad for an extended period of time. Thank you for creating this!

I’m very thankful for a course like this, which I can thoroughly recommend to those preparing to return to the UK. There is a lot of helpful advice gathered here, from well-respected authors in this field, as well as from Helen’s own personal experience. The worksheets provide a good framework for reflection and personal application of the topics covered. There are also some very practical ideas, along the way, as to how to prepare and to negotiate this major transition. I think that for some people it will be much easier to engage with this course than with reading a book, and if they are able to interact with the worksheets there will also be more benefit. I believe this course will be a valuable resource for our organisation, and definitely well worth the cost!

I found the course really useful as I prepare to head back to my passport country after eight years away. I smiled at the title of the course, as I am living amongst many Americans for whom ‘From Apprehensive to Quietly Confident‘ may seem a little understated. So, even that observation makes me realise I may not be so British anymore. I really appreciated the opportunity to intentionally set aside time to think through my experiences and what I have learned. I am aware that I will need to use my cross cultural skills as I return to the U.K. as I and my friends, family and country have changed a lot in the last few years. I liked Helen’s gentle yet direct style and the questions and worksheets which enabled me to take things deeper. I am feeling a little less apprehensive and slightly more quietly confident than I might otherwise have been.

It took a while to get into the way the course was set up. Lots of printing pages and filling in spaces which ion top of my packing and preparing left me a bit disheartened at times. It was all necessary though and I can see that now I have been through leaving a place I love and have experienced reverse culture shock and just the process of trying to settle in again. It was good to have me think about the things I would miss and my concerns for what I would find as I am a bit of a one to just face things when they happen and not plan for how I would do that. It has taken me about 10 months to finish the course but it has been well worth it. I am getting through the transition and have no doubts now that it will take me quite a time but that is ok because it is a big change in my life and it is ok to feel how I do sometimes.