Expat Teens Talk: Peers, Parents and Professionals offer support, advice and solutions in response to Expat Life challenges as shared by Expat Teens
Diana Smit and Lisa Pittman
Life as an Expatriate can be full of rich, exciting, unique, and adventurous opportunities! It can also be challenging as a result of being constantly confronted by change and having to adapt to new cultural norms, languages, foods, religions, and day-to-day ways of life. This can be made more complicated by consistently feeling like a guest within the host country, which makes it difficult to access supports and services with the same ease as non-Expats. When you combine an Expat lifestyle with the complicated challenges of being a teenager, it can feel like a double whammy!
Expat Teens Talk recognizes the challenges that teens are faced with when growing up as Expats, and is a “must read” for Expat Teens, Expat Parents, and Expat Professionals (including teachers, principals, and counselors within International Schools). This book provides a unique platform where Expat Teens, worldwide, have been given the opportunity to share their personal stories, experiences, challenges, issues, and questions related to the impact of a transient lifestyle on life as a teenager. In return, they receive advice, solutions, and support from the three groups that are most important to them: their fellow Expat Peers, other Expat Parents, and Expat Professionals.
Sharon Racine, Roots4Legacy, Crossing Cultures wrote:A great new resource for expat teens and fills a gap in the resource market for this unique population … I like the fact that this book goes right to the target audience and sources real questions and answers from the teens who are currently experiencing the expat lifestyle … This book will hopefully help the teens find the good and wonderful experiences involved in this lifestyle, while helping them navigate some of the more difficult times they may go through on this journey.
I love the little blurbs throughout (‘Expat Teens say’) and the information at the end (related to statistics and resources and the mind map) is really, really great! I find the direct links in the comments helpful and timely for the reader. Great work!
About the Authors
Dr. Lisa Pittman is a practising psychologist, who has worked in monocultural and expatriate settings. She counsels children, adolescents, and their families on a wide range of social, emotional, behavioural, and psychological issues.
Diana Smit is an educational therapist who supports the academic needs of international students as a result of their specific learning difficulties. She is the mother of three Expat Teens who only know expat life.