New Moon Coaching for Expat Women

My Story… not what I expected

When in 2010 the prospect of spending a couple of years abroad presented itself, I was thrilled. I was in maternity leave from my art therapist position, and it seemed like the perfect time to experience living in different countries. My husband was offered a one-year project in Nice, France, and a year in Colorado, USA. I was going to e a fulltime mom to our one-year-old child, while learning languages and be exposed to new cultures. Life in Southern France was good, and I didn’t mind too much that it felt a bit solitary: my days were shaped by child rearing, long walks along the shore, and the comfort of knowing Italy was close enough that I could visit often.

Twelve months later we were packing for Colorado, originally planning to stay just for a year. Having a toddler entailed getting outdoors, going to playgrounds, and meeting other parents. Everything around me looked different and new and exciting compared to Europe.

But when also this year was over, our plans to go back to our jobs and lives in the old continent didn’t pan out, and returning home to Italy all of a sudden was not the best option for our young family. Being somehow forced to change our initial plans, my idea of ‘home’ started to shift as well.

The exciting adventure that until that moment had felt like a vacation, started feeling more like a trap, and I was stuck. Time felt suspended for a very long time. My visa didn’t allow me to work, and I found myself deprived of a big piece of my identity as therapist. Furthermore, the lack of family around weighted all at once upon me as a mom.

I needed to build a new sense of identity and a caring community to recreate a sort of chosen family that we could rely on.

It wasn’t easy

It took me years to feel at home in my surroundings and in my own skin again. Living in a different culture hasn’t just been an experience: it has been a lesson in resilience, losing identity and finding it again, building community, raising a child in a society shaped by values so unlike the ones I grew up with, navigating homesickness, guilt, aging parents far away, and grief.

Your journey to feeling like you truly belong doesn’t have to be so hard.

What I bring to the table.

My approach to coaching is rooted in my Psychology studies, almost two decades of work as a psychotherapist and 16 years of lived experience as an expat.

Psychological Foundation:

With a MA in Clinical Psychology (Università degli Studi di Padova, 1999), and a MA in Expressive Psychotherapy applied to Art Therapy (Art Therapy Italiana, Bologna, 2013), and 18 years of therapy practice, I bring the deep listening skills, empathy, non-judgemental approach and insight that are the marks of a great life coach.

Lived Experience:

My approach is built on a unique bridge between clinical expertise and 16 years of lived experience as an expat woman. Having built a life in both France and the United States, I don’t just observe the challenges of living abroad from a professional distance—I have lived them. I understand the disorientation that comes when an “exciting adventure” turns into a struggle for identity, and I know the specific weight of navigating life’s major milestones far from your roots. This duality allows me to offer more than just coaching; I provide a space where your transition is met with both psychological insight and the deep, intuitive empathy of someone who has successfully navigated the same terrain.