You chose this work because it matters. Going in, you knew it would be hard. You prepared for that. What you didn't prepare for was this: the images that won't leave, and the exhaustion that a week off doesn't touch. Or the guilt of struggling when the people around you have it so much worse. As an international therapist and coach offering international therapy and coaching for expats and aid workers, I see this all the time. And I want you to know something important: what you're carrying has a name, it's not your fault, and it's a lot more healable than you think.

This Isn't Just Tiredness. It's Something Else Entirely.

Aid worker burnout isn't garden-variety exhaustion. It's exhaustion on every level: physical, emotional, and spiritual. It's vicarious trauma from witnessing suffering on a scale most people never encounter.

Then There's the Expat Loneliness.

The particular kind that comes from being constantly surrounded by people while still feeling profoundly alone. Believing this is your calling makes it almost impossible to put down, even when you desperately need to.

Most of the Aid Workers I Work with are Extraordinarily Self-Critical.

They believe they should be able to handle it. They've done everything right. They don't understand why they feel so bad. That's not a weakness. It's what happens when remarkable people carry too much for too long without enough support.

Let's Talk About Moral Injury (Because Nobody Else Is)

Burnout gets talked about. But moral injury doesn't, and it should. Moral injury is what happens when your worldview gets shattered. It's the loss of belief in the goodness of humanity.

The system you were loyal to turns out to have hurt or abandoned the very people it was supposed to help. You feel used, disillusioned, and left questioning the calling that brought you into this work in the first place.

It's not the same as burnout, and it doesn't respond to the same fixes. A holiday won't touch it. Neither will a week of self-care. Moral injury needs real, targeted support from someone who understands what it actually is.

Here's What's Actually Happening in Your Body

When you've been running on high alert for too long, your cortisol receptors burn out. Your nervous system loses its ability to reset.

Rest stops feeling restful. Safety stops feeling safe. And the only way to stay ahead of the intrusive thoughts, images, and feelings that threaten to overwhelm you is to keep moving.

That's not a character flaw, that's biology. And it's fixable.

About That Guilt (And Why It Makes No Sense)

Here's the thing about guilt: witnessing someone else's suffering is actually harder than going through it yourself, because of the powerlessness involved.

You can't fix it. All you can do is witness it.

And yet most aid workers don't believe they're allowed to struggle, because the people they're serving have it so much worse.

There's Also a Strange "Balancing the Scales" Dynamic that Happens.

If I'm suffering as much as they are, at least it feels fair. Which is, of course, completely illogical.

Here's the reframe I offer my clients: if your purpose is to alleviate suffering, then you get to alleviate yours too.

Processing your trauma doesn't take anything away from the people you're serving. It makes you more effective, more present, and a lot less likely to burn out entirely.

You Don't Have to Talk About It. I Mean It.

You don't have to describe what you saw, what happened, or any of the details. Just give it a distress score on a scale of zero to ten and tell me where you feel it in your body.

That's Enough For Me to Work With.

Using tapping and EMDR, I can desensitize even the most distressing imagery quickly and gently. Nightmares and flashbacks, which feel so permanent and overwhelming, are actually among the easiest trauma symptoms to treat.

Most clients feel significantly better after a single international therapy and coaching session.

Don't Just Read This and Move On. Here's What You Should Actually Do With It.

First, Name It.

What you're experiencing isn't weakness, a lack of resilience, or proof that you're not cut out for this work. It's burnout. It's vicarious trauma. It's moral injury. It has a name, and naming it matters more than you might think.

Second, Give It a Number.

Right now, on a scale of zero to ten, how distressed are you? That number is your starting point. In my experience, it can come down faster than you'd believe possible.

Third, Reach Out.

As a therapist and coach for expats working entirely online from my practice base in British Columbia, I work with aid workers and humanitarian professionals from wherever they are in the world. You don't need to be between missions, back home, or in crisis.

Just be ready to put some of it down.

It's that healable.

And honestly? You've carried it long enough.

Ready to Put Some of It Down? Work With an International Therapist and Coach for Expats

If this landed, it's because something in here is true for you. And if something in here is true for you, you don't have to keep carrying it alone. Therapy for expats and aid workers doesn't have to be complicated or hard to access. 

As an international therapist and coach for expats at therapyjane, I work entirely online with clients around the world. No commute, no waiting room, no having to be in the right country. Just you, me, and the thing you can't shake.

When you're ready, here's how we begin:

• Book a One-Time Healing Session: One issue, 55 minutes, and a chance to experience how I work before committing to anything longer. You’ll leave feeling lighter for the first time in years. And that intrusive imagery? If you really want to go looking for it, you might be able to find it, but it won’t be the first thing you wake up with or the last thing you see before you go to sleep.
• Book Your Discovery Session: If you’re ready to invest in long-term healing, get started with international therapy and coaching. Ninety minutes to map your history, understand what's been driving the patterns, and figure out where we're going together. 
• Get to Know Me First: Not quite ready to commit? Fair enough. Have a look at my about page, read a few more posts, and get a feel for who I am and how I work. I'll still be here when you're ready.
• Show Up From Wherever You Are: A hotel room in Nairobi, a flat in London, a furlough couch somewhere in the Midwest. All you need is an internet connection and a private space. I'll handle everything else.

Other Ways to Work With Me

Aid worker burnout rarely travels alone. For most of the expats and humanitarian professionals I work with, the exhaustion and moral injury are tangled up with relational patterns, a loss of meaning, or a sense that the life they've built doesn't quite fit anymore. That's why I offer more than just therapy and coaching for expats. Whether you're looking for a single focused session, a deeper therapeutic coaching process, or professional training, there's a way in that fits where you are right now.

Other ways we can work together include One-Time Healing Sessions for targeted, single-session work on one specific issue; Therapeutic Coaching for a deeper, structured healing process; Healing the Birth Story for those exploring early developmental and ancestral patterns; Consulting and Mentoring for therapists, coaches, and healers looking for guidance; and Live and On-Demand Courses for professionals who want to deepen their trauma-informed practice. Whatever you're carrying and however you'd like to work, there's likely something here that fits.

About the Author

Jane McCampbell Stuart is a Registered Clinical Counsellor, Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist, Certified EMDR Therapist, and Certified Professional Co-active Coach based on an island in British Columbia, though her clients are scattered across the globe. With over 20 years of experience as a trauma therapist and having lived in four countries on two continents herself, she has a particular soft spot for the expats, aid workers, executives, and globally mobile humans who are brilliant at everything except sitting still. Her approach is deeply relational, clinically precise, and just a little bit magical. She gets in, gets to the root, and gets to work. And then she teaches you how to do it too.