The life of a Third Culture Kid therapist
Psychology & Relationships
About
Rachel is, amongst many other things, a Third Culture Kid therapist specialising in Life Story Interview and Accompaniment, an approach she developed from her Sociological doctorial research into TCK identity, belonging and relationship to place. This podcast is a place she comes to contribute her ponderings on personal growth, working with pain, and the transformative change that comes from a better understanding of our own stories. For more information about Rachel’s therapeutic work, please visit: www.explorelifestory.com or drop her a line at rachelcason@explorelifestory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes
- 183 - A Birthday Safe and Well
I'm getting reflective this week in anticipation of my birthday - and pondering especially what it means to acknowledge the degree to which I feel safe and well in this, my 41st year. As I reflect on my TCK story so far, I have been collec…
- 182 - Third Culture Kids and Decision Paralysis
Third Culture Kids and decisions - it's a topic that comes up a lot and here I work with the distinction between a decision deciding the kind of person we are versus knowing the kind of person we are making sense of our decisions. Hosted o…
- 181 - Resourcing Mobile Selves
Authenticity has become a tense word for many Third Culture Kids. It seems to invite us to choose one way of being, one part of our selves to declare as our true self, and condemns us to a kind of consistency of being that can feel claustr…
- 180 - Beyond the Map
Inspired by a client recently, I've been pondering how we work with the edges of our maps - more precisely, what do we do when we step off the maps we've walked so far, and start exploring where known self and world are uncharted? After al…
- 179 - When We Are Stuck Where We Don't Want to Be
I talk a lot about how we can process our story so far to understand better the chapters we want to write next... but what happens when we can't write those chapters where we want to? Here I walk through a process I'd invite in these chall…
- 178 - Civic Spaces and TCK Belonging
Dipping my toes into local civic processes this week - and exploring both my delight and curiosity in the 'local' given the TCK early exposure to 'global'. Join me as I ponder! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- 177 - My week of pain, bees, sunshine and 'it's okay'
A meandering episode this week - where I reflect on how I tell the story of my week, and how my narrative echoes a hesitation I hear for a lot of TCK stories, and how hard it is to let the little things take up space. Hosted on Acast. See…
- 176 - TCKs and Maslow - Self-actualised... and grumpy
Finishing up this mini-series on TCKs and Maslow with questions about what self-actualised actually looks like for us as TCKs? What does fulfilled and meeting our potential even look like? And I am, ironically and perhaps rather perfectly,…
- 175 - TCKs and Maslow - Do you think you are interesting?
This episode tackles the self-esteem tier of Maslow's Hierarchy of needs. I've spoken before about self-esteem and TCKs, but here I focus on the ways in which TCKs learn they are interesting... and are those things about us, or what's happ…
- 174 - Pleased with Myself
How do we feel about the phrase, 'pleased with myself'? Very often we consider this feeling only allowed after very defined achievements - when we have done/completed/perfected something. This episode explores how this works when we've gro…
- 173 - TCKs and Maslow - Love and Belonging
So many of us orient ourselves around the question, "Where do I belong?" In this episode I ponder what flipping the script could do for us - "Where do I want to belong?" Join me and, as always, I'd love to hear your feedback so send that t…
- 172 - New Year, Old Me
Happy 2026! In this first episode of the new year, I'm pondering how the TCK experience interacts with 'new year, new me' energy! I'm also wondering how the 'old me' might feel about that... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more…
- 171 - Seasonal Traditions - or Habits?
This year I've been encountering a new awful question - not 'Where are you from?' but 'What are your Christmas traditions?' In this episode I get curious about what I find difficult about this question - how traditions can be hard when you…
- 170 - TCKs and Maslow - Safety Needs
And here we have the second instalment of our Maslow series... Safety Needs! What does safety and risk actually mean in our TCK stories? And how do we see these play out in our current chapters? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for m…
- 169 - TCKs and Maslow - Physiological Needs
This is an episode I've been pondering a while - how do TCKs perceive their own needs in terms of an internalised hierarchy? I explore where Maslow's ideas and my own observations around need-juggling and autonomy interact here - and speci…
- 168 - Incoherent
Today's episode is pondering around how hard we work to create coherence, and my own experience this week of wanting to let incoherence be. TCKs often work so hard to prune and curate their stories, and I'm exploring here the relief I feel…
- 167 - The Rules that Find Us Wanting
What if we actually listed out our expectations of ourselves? What if we really allowed ourselves to acknowledge the many and competing ideas of how we 'should' be, the ones we have collected through our cultures and places - and sat with…
- 166 - Now I Can Be Scared
I felt fear this week - fear jumping over time stamps, into my now. How do we explain feelings that show up out of space and time, dislocated within our own story? How do we understand fear when we are safe? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/…
- 165 - Art that Retrieves our Story
This weekend I went to a print fair - and found a piece of art that triggered an unexpected TCK encounter. What is it about images that can press on those tender parts of our story so well? Check out the artist at www.beicreative.co.uk or…
- 164 - Loneliness and TCKs
I had some soft slow sadness hit this week - and it took me a while to identify it as loneliness. This episode explores where and why loneliness might be a familiar part of our TCK story. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more inf…
- 163 - Dancing on Social Convention
So I've just been to a wedding - and broke a few of my own self-imposed rules. Here I talk about the moment of choice - to sit back and wait and watch before acting, the context necessary for the risk I took, and the after-effects of the c…
- 162 - Feelings as Clues
In this episode, I observe the difficulty so many TCKs have with acknowledging their feelings - especially feelings of discomfort. Why is this, and what do these feelings have to contribute to our story? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/priv…
- 161 - Birthdays, Celebrations and Getting it Right...
So, I found this episode I recorded way back in July! Excited to finally bring it to you - meandering though how TCKs might navigate birthdays and other celebrations when belonging is so often tied into the shape of those modes of celebrat…
- 160 - Sabotage... or Resistance?
Back after a long summer gap - but reflecting on the processing there and on a theme showing up a lot this week - self-sabotage! This is an exploration of what are the stories we might be in when we watch ourselves deviate from our own goa…
- 159 - I finished the to-do list... and it feels weird
Reflections on how things actually going to plan - life doing what we wanted - can actually trigger anxiety in TCKs! Even finishing my to-do list... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- 158 - TCK Creatives
Introducing a new online group for TCK creatives! If you are a TCK who loves working creatively, join us via Facebook (just search 'Third Culture Kid Creatives') and discover how many TCKs are exploring their stories creatively, using thes…
- 157 - Grief Sticks
Inspired by a conversation with another TCK, I've decided to make tangible representations of all those losses that have felt so hard to name - especially the loss of things that we never had - and invite you to do the same. Hosted on Acas…
- 156 - The Focus on Arrival
What happens with perfectionism collides with a short internal timeline? This episode I'm exploring the way in which our TCK experiences can shorten our sense of timeline, keeping our focus on achieving 'completion' even with those aspects…
- 155 - Are you allowed to be happy?
So in this episode I'm exploring the ways in which we absorb different cultural ideas about what kind of life is supposed to make us happy - aka, are we allowed to be happy with something outside of that? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/pri…
- 154 - Sit with me and be
A shorter one today - This is me just finding myself wanting to sit and be, so I thought I would do it with you - pondering what it is to be still in the midst of spinning between the different facets of self... Hosted on Acast. See acast.…
- 153 - Now that I'm 40...
I've turned 40! So cue reflections on aging, the ways in which our cultures and places contribute to our perspective on age, and a poem. Thank you so much for being with me for so long, and I'm so grateful to have arrived here, with you. H…
- 152 - Tolerating the Awkward
Good at smoothing out social glitches? Feel desperately uncomfortable being 'demanding'? Welcome to the club! I hear so many of us struggling to tolerate the awkward... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- 151 - Control and Decision-making
I hear so many TCKs characterise themselves as 'control freaks'. Here I unpack what control might mean to us, given our TCK stories, and how our experience of control impacts our confidence around decision-making... Hosted on Acast. See ac…
- 150 - Behind Our Own Eyes
As TCKs we can spend a lot of time in other people's heads - looking at ourselves from their perspectives. What happens when we get back behind our own eyes? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- 149 - The Cycle of Change, and Staying
It's that time of year I get restless... actually, more like that time every four years... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- 148 - Frustrated with myself...
This episode is born of frustration - and I know it's frustration I share with other Third Culture Kids. This is my meandering offering this week - a honest glimpse at the process of making choices from what can feel like an impossible spi…
- 147 - Holidays... there and back again
So I missed talking to you all last week - because I was away on holiday! The most wonderful time, but also a good moment to reflect on themes that come up a lot for Third Culture Kids - travel, holidays, and coming home... Hosted on Acast…
- 146 - Concentrated Identities
Do you struggle with feeling not-enough? Confused about which of your identities you are supposed to focus on and do 'properly'? We aren't alone - and I'm seeing these sensations show up for many of us. In this episode I explore the notion…
- 145 - A Space to Grieve
So many Third Culture Kids are dealing with deep reservoirs of grief. Present day loss has a habit of pressing the bruises of losses felt earlier through our story, and it can be devastating to our sense of safety. In this episode I walk t…
- 144 - TCKs and Helplessness
How big a part of your identity is 'helper'? And what happens when we find ourselves unable to help others, or even ourselves? What happens when we encounter helplessness? This episode ponders the ways in which our TCK experiences impact o…
- 143 - Is being a TCK a good thing?
How many of us have been confronted with the question, "Is being a Third Culture Kid a good thing?" It's a question that feels to me to miss the point - and in this episode I explore why, and how we can better understand our traits and ten…
- 142 - Identity by Association
As TCKs, many of us are aware of the nature of our representational or ambassador identities growing up. In this episode I explore how this early experience of identity by association could be impacting the choices around friendship or rel…
- 141 - Exceptionally Ordinary
In January, many of us are reflecting on various ways to improve ourselves. In this episode I'm exploring how often I hear TCKs struggling with the need to be extraordinary, and the fear of identities more mundane. I'll share my observatio…
- 140 - The Narrative Voice
Who is the narrator of your story? And is the voice a critical or demanding one? Or is it on the hero's side? In this episode I explore the impact and power of our narrative voices, and explore what these voices could sound like. Hosted on…
- 139 - Frivolous Identities
I loved this phrase I heard last week, "frivolous identity" - and wanted to explore it here with you. I've often pondered the way we manage an internal hierarchy of our many identities and this phrase put it's finger on a theme I see come…
- 138 - Making and Creating
How many Third Culture Kids are busy deconstructing our stories? Or working to build identities from what often feel like disparate fragments? In this episode I'm pondering my own relationship with making and creating, and what it can do f…
- 137 - Cultural Icebergs and Meaning-making
Some feedback from last episode on purpose and TCKs really brought home to me another challenge faced by many TCKs around purpose - which this episode attempts to do justice to. How do we navigate our own values when we've not been told st…
- 136 - TCKs and Purpose-Seeking
I've been avoiding this episode - partly because I'm feeling how incredibly important it is. How does the experience of being a TCK interact with our purpose-seeking? And what do we do about it? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for m…
- 135 - Look how far you've come...
Taking pause in this episode, a moment to notice, acknowledge and celebrate how far we've come! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- 134 - TCKs and Time
Time! How does the Third Culture Kid experience impact our sense of time? It's often said TCKs are somewhat allergic to the 10 year plan - but why? And what about the impact on how we do relationships? Join me in this week's ponderings - I…