In our field of Sport Psychology, when it comes to migration, we often think about the support and resources that athletes and performers will need in those special times of transnational moves and as practitioners, we obviously focus on how to help them navigate through these stressful times. We observe the cultural transition and adaptation required to positively adapt to the new professional and personal living standards of the guest country, and session after session we make sure the process becomes the smoothest for our clients so they can live up to the level of performance excellence they are accustomed to. In May 2021, we had covered a very interesting study* with Dr. Tatiana Ryba, a study that presented through the Cultural Transition Model the different adaptation phases met when a career takes the transnational turn. This was a study that presented, in a certain way, the bread and butter of such situations, from each individual stage of the process to the cumulative effect of the possible struggles experienced.

Last summer, my family and I learned that after years of living in Ohio, we would be localized back to Europe. Years before, we had moved to the USA as expatriates through my wife’s employer and knew that someday this time would come – the day when we would be sent back to our home country. Even though we knew that this moment would happen sooner or later, we didn’t know it would happen in such a short timeframe of only 6 weeks. Back in Ohio, my occupation was split between being a hockey coach and program leader in a local youth hockey program, a mental preparation specialist for hockey players and a student completing a graduate degree in Sport Psychology at the University of Western States, Oregon. As you can imagine, as a family and as individuals, we had a well-established routine between both of our professional lives and our son’s school, not to mention all other community activities we were involved in.

Time and Space

If a voluntary and planned transnational move allows for a better preparation process in anticipating both issues and excitement of the new norms to be met, a short rather impromptu move can be highly destabilizing and create a certain sense of emergency with all the associated stress. This was our situation. First of all, if a short timing can be seen as a curse, it could become a blessing in terms of what is in our control and what is not, in other words what is essential to make it happen in the best conditions. For instance, knowing your new location is the first determinant, even if not knowing the exact town or house; when moving from one state to another, we all know we need to comply with the state laws regulating our profession.

The same applies to international moves, with the slight difference of the international recognition of either studies, certifications and even affiliation to professional associations. Our best friends and first go to are the local – national – associations of either psychology or, if existing, of sport psychology. They will provide all the information and support, guiding you in the unknown of how your recognized professional status can find its equivalency in your new location. Starting that process early enough is key as you might need documents (and their official translation) from you current workplace, state authorities and university.

From work certificates to official academic records, from state tax details to letters of recommendation from employers, mentors and depending on how it is differently recognized and regulated across the world, our experiences will be valued differently according to each national standard. In my case, I could collect all documents early enough so that, thanks to modern technology (not every country accepts emails and scans), I could apply to the local Sport Psychology Association before our physical move so that I would have the legal recognition of my status and restart my professional activity soon enough within the official framework. As a side note on this, we often see in our profession people not having acquired an academic qualification in Sport and Performance Psychology and still work as consultants under other names; indeed a mix of more or less independent and experienced (or not) individuals provide mental coaching to athletes, influencing the perception that people have about our profession and discipline. If we face such in the USA, the same is applicable in other countries, and therefore it is crucial that despite being affiliated to AASP and being educated, certified and experienced in our field, waiting before being newly affiliated to start your activity in your new location matters, as not only will you benefit from the local network of professionals, but it will also set up your credibility and positively connect with your new local partners and peers.

In my case the Swiss Association of Sport Psychology (SASP) has provided the best possible support and just as AASP, they stand as a caring family with a common understanding and defense of what our profession is about. They help, as well, to understand the legal status of our profession; are you planning to have your own consultancy business or will you be working for an organization? Do you already have a plan or a work contract? What does it mean for legal and tax purposes or budgeting? What insurance do you need to have? For instance, in Switzerland professional liability insurance is preferable if not mandatory to complete your professional legal status. It is also a great way to foresee and have a glimpse of the next challenge: the cultural adaptation.

Acute Sociocultural Adaptation

Within those same 6 weeks of preparation, it was crucial for me to understand how things would technically unfold as soon as I would land in Europe. Pragmatically, we prepared to our possible best, which meant for me having already set foot virtually in the local Sport and Performance community and being in contact with both National Hockey Federation and local pro teams and for my wife to have an understanding of the continuity of her work plan with her employer. It also meant enrolling our son in his new school and connecting with his and our local friends and finding a place to live that would allow pets – yes we have a cat and we all know we live in their place. Despite all of this pragmatism, nothing did prepare us, despite coming back to our home country, to the cultural challenge ahead of us. If just like the Cultural Transition Model states it we were done with the preparation phase, the actual move and acute cultural adaptation was indeed an intense time where pieces of information were permanently communicated to us in what seemed a less known, disruptive and unusual way. It was also key to understand how unique every culture is when it comes to what stands behind Sport Psychology and Athletic Identity and Performance, not to mention what a major change language can be. With experience we tend to sometimes be too efficient and have all developed a sort of personal workbook where semi automated angles and possible solutions exist, both personally and professionally; after all humans beings in a stable and familiar environment tend to naturally optimize process and interactions. Be prepared to challenge your way to work and to interact with your new population of athletes and stakeholders, and allow yourself the time to feel capacitated again. This is one of the key pieces of learning from my last 7 months: it is a full do over moment and even if you move back to a familiar place, time has passed and so changes have occurred locally and for you too. Rather than thinking you have to start from scratch all over, it is important to understand you might just have to rearrange the building blocks of your previous construction into a new pattern that will be revealed to you over time. Patience, self-care and focusing on your own mental wellness emerge as unique opportunities that won’t be offered to you again. Be ready to humbly reassess your personal and professional methods and embrace your new reality as the possibility of a “continuous education clinic.” In a world where results are quickly expected and will be expected no matter if you and your family are facing one of the most stressful challenges in life, make sure you continue to meet your quality standards but that you contextualize them into your new location and allow a distinct timeframe for reaching what is considered as success. The acute phase definitely provides cognitive, emotional and behavioral challenges where you will find the different keys to understand your new reality, and trying to bypass it will lead you to some immediate reward but long term failures.

Acculturation vs. Assimilation

We all know how important the cultural context is for a human being and in our everyday practice we all make sure to understand, respect and validate the cultural background of our patients, families and other social groups we get in touch with and have the privilege to work with. When a transnational move occurs as a practitioner, we might be in the seat where assimilation is expected from us rather than acculturation. We might be the ones requested to make the efforts to fit in rather than to provide a complementary perspective to the group that seemingly conditionally welcomes us. This can be surprising to us even more in the case when we come from a perceived mature environment where Sport Psychology is an established actor in the sports realm.

The temptation is great to assimilate in order to be able to work faster, to be accepted faster, to blend faster to regain a sense of control and complete short-term successes. However our very own path and experience is what makes our science and discipline evolve, and our role abroad will change and will evolve compared to the one we used to have in our home country. It is important in those moments to connect back and stay in touch with our former peers and associations to remember where we are coming from and what we now provide to our new professional family and peers. We become liaison officers. It all comes down to the very peculiar nature of a cultural transition that is based on the relationship we established with others and with ourselves; from our previous peers, colleagues, associations and clients to our new ones, from our “past-self” to our “new-self,” it is a science of continuity and modulation if not reinvention of our identity.

My current journey through all this is only 7 months old and I can see how we now slowly and excitedly enter, with my family, into the long-term sociocultural adaptation. We all understand what was under our control and what was not, how it changed us and how we are changing our surroundings and slowly finding our balance, our homeostasis as individuals and as a family, in our professional and personal lives.

We truly became the connectors between two universes and, in my case, the link between populations that seek the same with slightly different approaches but with the same ethical standards and motivation to improve, question and adapt our discipline to our contemporary times. The strangest in this adventure is that somehow, with my family, we do already look forward to our next transnational move in a couple of years from now, knowing how rich and fruitful such experience can be, when we keep the connection between our past, our present and the future to be, and embrace our liaison roles.