Holding the Fort Abroad Courses & Workshops

Beyond Surviving - Living and Thriving Abroad With a Partner Who Works Away From Home

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The Holding the Fort Course

You are an organisation that sends staff on Non-Family Duty Stations or have staff who travel a lot for work

Families, where one partner/parent is away for work, face the following challenges:

  • A member of the family constantly transitioning in and out of family life. Dates keep changing. Travel takes priority over family time on week-ends.
  • The travelling partner gradually gets excluded from family life because it feels like they are never home.
  • Role overload and chronic stress for the non-travelling partner.
  • The holding-the-fort partner faces emergencies alone.
  • The adult children don’t have a relationship with the parent who travelled.

Support your staff and their families.

Who is this course for? This course is suitable for the non-travelling partner. One session will be dedicated to parenting together, even at a distance.

This course follows the structure of my book, Holding the Fort Abroad.

Format: Online, once a week over 8 weeks. There will be workbooks so that participants can personalise and customise each session.

"The findings support the notion that lengthy and frequent travel and frequent changes in travel dates, which affect travel plans, all characteristics of World Bank Group missions, negatively affects many spouses and their children (particularly younger children) and that the strain on families contributes significantly to the stress staff feel about their travel."

International business travel: impact on families and travellers | Occupational & Environmental Medicine (bmj.com)

What will be included in the sessions?

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SESSION 1
Setting the Scene-A Suitcase by the Door
  • The challenges
  • The benefits
  • Why you chose this life (or did it choose you?)
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SESSION 2 & 3
The Holding the Fort Partner
  • Acknowledge your feelings
  • Take responsibility for your needs
  • Celebrate your successes
  • Know your values
  • Keep growing: I will lead the participants in a Personal Development Plan
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SESSION 4
One Couple
  • Deepening your friendship across the miles
  • Dealing with disagreements
  • Keeping the romance alive
  • Reconnecting as a couple
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SESSION 5 & 6
Parenting Together
  • Challenges of being the non-travelling parent
  • Resources and strategies when being the constant parent
  • What the travelling parent can do, even from miles away
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SESSION 7
When Storms Come
  • How to manage emergencies, illness, aging parents
  • When your partner travels to dangerous locations
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SESSION 8
Conclusion and Wrap up

Workshops

I run workshops on:

  • Living & thriving with a partner who travels for work
  • Solo parenting when your partner is away
  • Parenting at a distance when you are away
  • Dealing with emergencies when apart
  • Preparing for a Non-family Duty Station

I look forward to talking with you about how I can support you, your staff and their families. I customise these workshops to the needs of your organsation.

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