Issue 12 Is Here: What Happens When We Build a Life Between Cultures?

The October–December 2026 issue of Therapies Magazine is now available.

Living abroad changes more than our address. It changes the people around us, the rules we instinctively understand, the relationships we build and, sometimes, the way we understand ourselves.

That is where Issue 12 begins.

For this edition, we wanted to move beyond the familiar image of expatriate life—the excitement of a new country, new opportunities and new beginnings—and look at what happens underneath. Because starting again can be exciting. It can also be exhausting. And sometimes, a new country makes us question things we had never thought to question before.

When Speaking the Language Isn't Enough

One of the most personal pieces in this issue is The Unspoken: Speaking the Language Was Never Enough. At twenty-three, I arrived abroad speaking English fluently and believing that language would be enough to understand the people around me. It wasn't. Years later, that experience would shape much of my work with international communities and leave me with a lesson I still carry today: Language teaches us vocabulary. Culture teaches us meaning. Across the issue, that question of understanding takes different forms as we explore relationships abroad, motherhood, communication, cultural identity, spirituality, alternative practices and the gradual process of creating a sense of belonging.

Deep Dive: The Psychology of Culture Shock

Why can a move we genuinely wanted still leave us disoriented, exhausted or unlike ourselves? At the heart of Issue 12, our Deep Dive: The Psychology of Culture Shock explores what happens when familiar cultural reference points disappear and we begin adapting to another social world. We are also delighted to welcome Dubai-based Wellness and Mindfulness Coach Bushra Mehmood to In Conversation With.

Bushra reflects on multicultural life, mindfulness, emotional wellbeing and why lasting change may begin with understanding ourselves more deeply.

Between Leaving and Belonging

Perhaps this is what living between cultures eventually teaches us: distance changes perspective. Sometimes that distance is uncomfortable. It can challenge assumptions we did not even realise we carried. But it can also allow us to see our relationships, our cultures and ourselves differently.

Issue 12 lives in that space.

Between leaving and belonging.Between speaking and understanding.Between excitement and exhaustion. I hope you find something in these pages that makes you pause, recognise yourself or see an experience from a different perspective. Thank you for reading and for being part of the Therapies Magazine community.

Issue 12 | October–December 2026

Available now in print and digital editions.

BUY ISSUE 12 → Here