Hi - I wonder if anyone may be able to advise me. My partner and I are planning to move to Spain in 2009 and if possible I would like to take on some private Psychotherapy work with ex pat clients (as my spanish is very basic).  I specialise in working with children and teenagers, partcularly around post traumatic stress disorder, eating disorders, self harm and body image.  I realise my area of work is rather narrow but I’m just wondering if anyone has experience of gaining this kind of employment in Spain? Any advice would be welcome.

My girlfriend and I have an ongoing debate on whether western Therapists can make it in Spain… I’d love to have you settle it.

Try connecting with the following orgs and people:
http://www.counsellingmadrid.org/
http://www.therapistsspain.org/
http://barcelona.angloinfo.com/af/477/barcelona-counselling-and-therapists.html
http://www.andalucia.com/health/alternative-health/psychotherapy.htm
http://www.maggiebellpsychotherapy.com/

That is really useful - the employment agency in particular.  I will endevour to answer your debate! From your reply it sounds as though you have some knowledge of therapy in Spain?

I think the lifestyle in Spain probably does away the need for thearapy in both adults and children.

Although many expats do tend to find comfort in the form of the bottle.

Spanish culture tends to make Spanish children harder in my experience, they tend to face problems in a relaxed manner and frankly in the south most kids so relaxed there horizontal.

I could be wrong, but children of our friends and our`s seem to approach growing pressure`s differently.

But cannabis is a big problem amongst teenager’s.

As for Expats, the few we no with teenager`s haven`t any issue`s, i`m not sure if there are that many expats with kids in the age group between 9-18 yrs, it would be very irresponsible to move to any country with children that age.

Santi:

To say it’s “very irresponsible” to relocate children at that age is clearly an unwarranted generalization.

I agree that Spanish culture leaves a lot less room for the same kind of therapy we know from our English-speaking homelands. Less stress, more family time and support, less TV and media consumption… but there are other vices for which Spaniards will require tincture. Alcoholism is extremely rampant, as is drug use (however it seems to be used more responsibly). Physical abuse is another problem, particularly for the millions of immigrants from Latin America and Africa (not that they have the money for private therapy).

Bullying seems to be on the rise in teenagers.

I’d also venture to say that the Spanish (and Europeans in general) are hyper existential, leading to feelings of restlessness and unfulfillment. Luckily they travel a lot, which tends to alleviate these symptoms.

Hi Fortherespi..
From a clients point of view…
I recently had a need for a therapist of some kind.. wasn’t sure whether NLP, hypnotheraphy etc etc was best.
I looked into the matter - and sadly, if you want an English speaking person (as better in ones own language I think when it is this type of issue)... the choice is very limited.  Now there are ‘several’ therapists advertising in our local press.. but as to quality????!!
The main person people tend to go to is an (American?) lady called Gabriella Kortch (Sp?)... But she is a little too far away from me -and also I don’t know that we would ‘click’. 
I think there would be a market here (I am located in Andalucia) - but how you go about reaching your clients - I am not sure. 
I ended up going to our local English speaking clinic as I needed to see a psychotherapist - but sadly - they only had a Spanish speaking one… I did try one session with a friend as interpretur.. but for the long haul - it would have been too stressful. (I have put things on hold for now).

For another matter I did consult a professional clinical hypnotherapist (UK Qualified) - but (off the record) he told me his business is not doing too well - (He does not speak sufficent Spanish to have Spanish clients)... We chatted about marketing ideas.. but I thin we both agreed that in general, even if you have the expertise/a good product - the Brits down here are an odd bunch!

Good luck with your move/continuing your profession over here.
SJ

Hi Susanspain,

Thanks for your reply - thats really useful to know and I’m sorry to hear you havent had a good experince finding a therapist.  I understand what you’re saying about the quality of therapists, to be honest I’ve been shocked by how ofter people advertise themselve when they hold very limited qulifications.  I seems to happen in this country too though. On the upside its encouraging for me to here that there is even some demand, I had thought that this may be a completely unrealistic idea. As I’m hopeing to have a small income from the UK I’m thinking that I would just like to work part time in spain anyway and some of my desire to do that is also that I would like to continue to develop my skills, so maybe I would be able to travel somewhat - Having previously lived in Australia as a UK national and also worked with asylum seekers and people whos first language is not english I’m interested in therapy in different cultures / countries so would like to build on that further.  Thanks so much for all the feedback so far.

The Expatriator - 09 July 2008 12:38 AM

My girlfriend and I have an ongoing debate on whether western Therapists can make it in Spain… I’d love to have you settle it.

I like that contrast between “Western” and “Spain”.  Spain may be different, but it’s not Azerbaijan.  Or does “Western” mean “anglo-saxon” now?

Incidentally, Spain’s fellow Latins in Argentina are therapy-mad (unfortunate choice of phrase, but).  They have more psychologists/psychiatrists per head of the population than just about any other nation, and are busy exporting them to Iberia (where the joke therapist in a recent Spanish TV commercial is a skinny young man with trendy glasses and a Bonarense accent).  BA is the 21st century Vienna, it seems…