Living abroad was supposed to be the adventure of a lifetime. Nobody warned you it would feel this complicated
You can love your life and still feel like something’s missing
Whether you’re navigating globally mobile life, building a career as a mental health professional that spans borders, or just looking for a good book – Welcome!
1:1 Coaching
You didn’t think living abroad would feel this hard. I help expats and globally mobile women navigate life’s biggest transitions – the moving abroad, the stay or go dilemma, repatriation, grief, and the quiet question of who you actually are underneath it all.
For Therapists & Coaches
Through 1:1 consultations and the Location Independent Therapists (LIT) Community, I support fellow mental health professionals building sustainable, location-independent careers.
My Memoir:
“A Compassionate Mess”
A memoir about reinvention, belonging, and the radical act of self-acceptance. For anyone who has spent years trying to fix thmselves and is ready to be kind to themselves in the middle of the mess, not after.
Hi, I’m Melissa
If you’ve ever caught yourself thinking “I chose this life, so why am I struggling?” you’re in the right place.
I work with expats and globally mobile women who are in the middle of a big transition – moving abroad, repatriating, navigating the stay or go dilemma, or simply trying to figure out who they are when their life spans borders. They come to me because something feels off, and they can’t quite name it yet. What we usually find is that what’s going on is more layered than it first appears, and that they’re being much too hard on themselves.
I understand this from the inside. I grew up in the U.S., spent a decade living in Spain and the Netherlands, and then made the difficult – and right – decision to repatriate. Although I’m now back home in Seattle (U.S.), I’ll always have a piece of my heart in the places I’ve called home. Both my professional and personal life still span borders, time zones, and languages. I’m in a bilingual, intercultural marriage and we’re raising two kids to be global citizens themselves.
As a former therapist and current coach, I bring both clinical depth and lived experience to our work together. I also support therapist and coach colleagues through 1:1 consultations and as co-founder of the Location Independent Therapists (LIT) Community.
And one more thing — I recently published my debut memoir, A Compassionate Mess: A Therapist, Her Monsters, and a Journey to Self-Acceptance. It’s the story of that decade abroad, and everything I learned about finding home inside yourself.
Free Meditation Series for Anyone Living Abroad
From Self-Criticism to Self-Compassion
What my clients say
“Melissa is a warm, kind and caring coach. She’s a great listener and truly sees, hears, and understands her clients. If you’re looking for a compassionate coach, I highly recommend connecting with Melissa Parks.”
Former client
“Melissa is professional, organized, and very well tapped into helpful informational resources. I appreciated that when we talked, she was often able to offer insight into how the brain works, human psychological tendencies, and especially useful strategies for navigating situations.
Former client
“I can’t say enough about Melissa. Her sessions are full of compassion, patience, understanding, and growth. She gave me just the right tools to gently guide me as I overcame stressful moments in my life and worked on being my best self. I learned so much from working with her that I still use to this day, which is so empowering. I really recommend working with her!”
Former client
“I like having all the tools you shared with me that I still get to fall back on and think about from time to time. I enjoyed having you to speak with and the way you helped me to accept my feelings and know that sometimes it’s ok to be mad, frustrated, sad, all that stuff but mostly you helped me to identify my stressful triggers with my work and my family so that I could control my emotions more, be more accepting of myself, and live life in a more even manner with my emotions and reactions with my team.”
Former client