People who live outside the UK and want to work with a therapist here ask the same handful of questions. They are practical questions, and they are rarely answered anywhere, so they get asked at the point of enquiry, or worse, go unasked and prevent someone from starting at all.
This page answers them.
Why people abroad choose a therapist elsewhere
Three reasons come up repeatedly, and only one of them is about availability.
There is nobody suitable locally. In much of the Gulf, Asia and Africa, finding a psychotherapist who works in your first language, at a level of training you would recognise, in a specialism like eating disorders or addiction, is not a matter of shopping around. There may be no one.
The local community is too small. In an expatriate community, the therapist who is available is often also at the same dinner, the same school gate, the same company. For anyone in a senior or public-facing role, that is not a minor discomfort. It is a reason not to go.
You will move again. Therapy that has to restart every posting is not therapy, it is a series of beginnings. When the therapist is the fixed point, the relocation stops being a rupture.
Registration, and what it does and does not cover
Dr Jacquet is registered with the UK Council for Psychotherapy and the Health and Care Professions Council. That registration governs his training, conduct, supervision and accountability. It is about the practitioner, not about where the client happens to be sitting.
There is no general bar on a UK-registered psychotherapist working with someone who lives elsewhere. A small number of countries do regulate who may practise psychotherapy with their residents. If you are somewhere that might apply, it is worth raising when you first write, so it is settled before anything begins.
International insurance
The practice issues an invoice suitable for a global insurance claim. It gives the practitioner’s name and professional registration, the date, the duration and the fee, which is what insurers normally require. You submit it to your insurer and claim directly.
Whether the claim is paid is your insurer’s decision rather than the practice’s, and it depends on your particular policy rather than on the company. Many international and global policies cover psychotherapy; some cover it only with a prior referral, and some not at all.
So the only reliable answer is in your own policy documents. Check before the first session rather than after. It is a five-minute question that occasionally saves a considerable amount.
Time zones, honestly
Sessions are set in UK time and converted, and the slot stays where it is rather than drifting each week.
Early morning and evening UK slots work for most of the world. In British Summer Time the UK is two hours behind Nairobi, three behind Dubai and the wider Gulf, six behind Bangkok, and seven behind Singapore and Hong Kong. In winter, add an hour to each.
In practice that means an early-morning UK session falls in the working afternoon across Asia, and an early-evening UK session falls late evening in the Gulf. Your own time is confirmed in writing before the first session, and confirmed again whenever the clocks change at either end, because that is where these arrangements usually go wrong.
The real constraint is rarely arithmetic. It is whether you have an uninterrupted hour, somewhere private, at the time that works. That is worth thinking about before choosing a slot, because a session taken in a car or a spare office with someone likely to walk in is not the same session.
Confidentiality when your world is small
This is the question people ask last and worry about first.
Your therapist is not in your city. He does not know your employer, your colleagues, your children’s school or the people at your club. There is no professional overlap and no social one. Nothing discussed is shared with an employer, an insurer, a family member or anyone else without your consent, subject only to the narrow legal and safeguarding limits that bind every registered practitioner, and those are explained at the outset, not buried.
For clients in regulated industries, diplomatic postings or senior corporate roles, that separation is often the deciding factor.
What this practice works with online
The same work done in the room: addiction, eating disorders including male eating disorders, trauma and EMDR, depression and anxiety, midlife and questions of meaning, and executive coaching.
EMDR in particular is delivered online to the same protocol as in person.
Where this is the wrong answer
It would be dishonest to present online work as suitable for everything.
If you need medical detoxification, inpatient care, or a level of psychiatric support that requires someone physically present, that has to come first and locally. If you are in acute crisis, you need a service that can reach you tonight, not a weekly appointment in another time zone.
Where that applies, it is said plainly at the first contact rather than discovered three sessions in.
Language
Dr Jacquet works in English and French. Sessions with the practice’s associates are in English only.
Starting
Write to the practice with where you are, what has brought you, and roughly when you could meet. The first reply will tell you whether this is the right place, and if it is not, will say so.
Common questions
Can a UK-registered psychotherapist see me if I live in another country?
In most cases, yes. UKCP and HCPC registration governs the practitioner's standards and accountability, not the client's location, and there is no general prohibition on seeing someone who lives elsewhere. A small number of countries restrict the practice of psychotherapy by practitioners registered outside them. Where that applies, it is better established before the first session than after, and it is a question worth raising at the point of enquiry.
Will my international health insurance cover online therapy with a UK therapist?
Many international and global policies do cover it, but the decision is your insurer's, not the practice's. What the practice does is issue an invoice suitable for a global insurance claim: a numbered invoice giving the practitioner's name and professional registration, the date, the duration and the fee, which is what insurers normally ask for. You submit it and claim directly. Check what your own policy covers before the first session rather than after.
How do time zones work in practice?
Sessions are arranged in UK time and converted to yours, and the slot stays fixed rather than moving each week. Early morning and evening UK slots suit clients in the Gulf, East Africa and Asia. The UK sits two hours behind Nairobi, three behind the Gulf, six behind Bangkok and seven behind Singapore and Hong Kong in summer, one hour more in winter, so an early-evening UK appointment lands late evening in the Gulf and an early-morning UK one lands in the working afternoon across Asia. Your exact time is confirmed in writing before the first session, and again after each clock change. The practical limit is not the arithmetic but whether you have a private hour at that time.
Is it confidential if I live in a small expatriate community?
That is one of the strongest reasons people abroad choose a therapist outside their country. Your therapist does not live in your city, does not attend the same schools, clubs or company events, and has no professional or social overlap with your employer. Nothing is disclosed to any employer, insurer or family member without your consent, subject only to the narrow legal and safeguarding limits explained at the outset.
What happens to my therapy if I move country again?
Nothing. The work continues, which for people who relocate every few years is the central argument for it. Continuity of therapy is difficult to maintain when the therapist is local and you are not; it is straightforward when the therapist is the fixed point and geography is the variable.
Can sessions be in French?
With Dr Jacquet, yes. He practises in English and French. Sessions with the practice's associates are in English only.