# What the research says about expat challenges

- **Episode:** [118](https://agents.truthliesandwork.com/episodes/118.md) (2024-07-25)
- **Type:** interview
- **Tags:** expat challenges, research, psychological impact
- **Time:** 9:59–14:30 (start 599s)
- **Listen:** [https://truthliesandwork.com/118?t=599](https://truthliesandwork.com/118?t=599)

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[9:59] Leanne Elliott: What does the research tell us about the challenges that expats experience in terms of their psychology, their mental health, and how do people best, I guess, prepare for and then manage those if they are listening and recognising some of those challenges?
[10:16] Nathan Cornwell: Yeah, I think, you know, from the research I've done personally and just the research I've seen out there, I mean, one of the biggest predictors of expat success is having a social circle around you And that can come from family, that can come from friends, colleagues, that can come from the organisation, the HR. You know, as more— the more people supporting the expat, the more likely they are to succeed. And I think one of the interesting research areas that I did was during the pandemic, and I was out in China trying to understand how expats' wellbeing was being impacted by the lockdown of the country. And we kind of did 4 research phases, but it was clear very early on that expats were being impacted quite significantly, especially if you compared it to the locals that also did the same research. And kind of one of our conclusions was that a lot of the locals still had those social networks around them. They still had family, they still had friends, whereas expats, you know, they That option was closed off to go back home, for instance. Speaking personally, I missed out on a lot of weddings, a lot of different events that were happening back in the UK. That option was, was not there for me. And I could feel myself and people around me slowly sort of trying to be as resilient as possible, but just really struggling with the situation. And I think that really emphasizes the importance of, of these social circles that you're in. I think whilst that route back home was closed off to me, I actually got stronger connections with those around me and we were able to sort of support each other through it. And I think that's one of the big mental health struggles for a lot of expats is the loneliness aspect. It's the isolation sometimes that you face. And again, I've sort of had to go through this process more recently because I've moved to the UAE and I don't have that social network that I had in China now. So I've kind of started from scratch again. And sometimes you sort of struggle with not having lots of people to rely on for help, but also not having people to hang out with as much. You know, you're trying to go to these different networking events and meet people and see if you can connect with them as much as possible. But I think the isolation aspect is one of the biggest mental health challenges for those that are living abroad. And that was again clear in the research that I did in terms of How it impacted the wellbeing. What was quite interesting again about that research I did was, you know, organizational support was the biggest thing that kind of moderated and supported wellbeing for the individuals in the study. So that was kind of the emphasis that I placed on organizations was whilst we're going through this kind of crisis, if organizations are able to do something to kind of support expats specifically, then that will really help them to kind of cope. Yeah. Continue to perform and engage, but also protect their wellbeing. So it was kind of a way to place that onus again on organisations to really help to support expats whilst they're abroad, finding these creative ways to do that. Because I guess it's sometimes hard for organisations, especially if they're local themselves, to understand exactly what expats are facing, what they're going through, especially if they're So removed from the local culture. So yeah, I guess they have to be creative in different ways. They have to talk to the expats, understand exactly what would support them in that situation. I think certain organisations do it quite well. Certainly the schools that I've worked in previously, they were quite good at sort of finding ways that they could still benefit you, giving you perks such as time off, you know, time to Go out of the country and come back, you know, having a bit more leeway there. That's what some of the schools began to do. And I think that was good for education industry, but not necessarily for some of the other industries out there. So again, I think organizations— not that we'd ever face that situation again anytime soon, I don't know, who knows— but, you know, sort of learning from these things and trying to sort of implement them in the future would be a good Good way to implement the lessons learned