Melissa Parks, PhD - Coach for Globally Mobile & Writer

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Seattle, WA
Melissa Parks, PhD - Coach for Globally Mobile & Writer

I've been working in the field of mental health and wellness for almost 20 years now, in the USA, Spain, and the Netherlands.

🌍 Helping women find home in themselves, wherever in the world they are | 🧠 Former therapist & self-compassion advocate | 📖 Author, A Compassionate Mess (June 23, 2026) | 💻 Co-founder, Location Independent Therapists (LIT) Community I have my PhD in Clinical and Health Psychology and worked as a therapist for many years. These days I provide coaching to expats and entrepreneurs. I primarily suppor

t my clients through transitions, helping them to cultivate resilience, coping skills, and a better understanding and appreciation of themselves and their values. I'm also the co-founder of “Location Independent Therapists," an online community made up of mental health professionals around the globe who are living and working across country lines. We support them in growing their private practice and finding ways to combine their career in mental health with international living. I'm currently writing a memoir that's primarily focused on the decade I lived abroad in Europe. I share about my journey to pursuing therapy myself, and becoming a therapist, making peace with my highly sensitive side, and discovering the power of self-compassion. I'm also the mom to an energetic preschooler who keeps me on my toes so I have a lot of empathy for my clients who are parents themselves. I'm married to a global nomad who I met while living abroad and we speak a version of Spanglish in our house, and keep our love for international living alive with as much travel as we can, staying in touch with friends and family around the globe, and enjoying international foods.

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If you’re interested in discussing how we could work together, I invite you to set up a free consultation call at https://melissaparks.com/free-consultation-call/ or email me at melissa@melissaparks.com

04/20/2026

Something is shifting. 💫

When I finished writing my memoir, I felt mostly nervous. In fact, when I couldn't find an agent to help me with traditional publishing, I let the manuscript sit on my computer for 16 months rather than figuring out a plan B for publishing it.

(yes, it was also because I had a baby, but it's hard to know where the true time/energy constraints ended and the avoidance began)

When I decided to self-publish, set a launch date, and began taking the first steps to send this book out into the world, I was more than nervous. I was terrified. For people to read it, to know all my "dirt," and more than anything - to discover that my hope it would resonate with people might not be true at all.

But as early readers start sharing their reactions — the messages, the moments of recognition, the tears — I can feel something changing inside of me. The nervousness is still there, but excitement is starting to outpace it. Knowing the story is having an impact makes me braver about sharing it with the world.

A colleague reminded me today that while publication might feel like an ending to me, for my book it's actually the beginning.

I've been living with this story for years. In 64 days, it gets to start living in the world. 💖

"A Compassionate Mess" — June 23, 2026. Sign up here to stay up to date on the launch - https://melissaparks.com/memoir/

04/18/2026

It was 2am. I was staring at a hospital ceiling while my daughter slept next to me covered in wires.

And somewhere in that quiet, I realized that what I'd been calling "resilience" for five years was actually my inner critic in disguise. 🌙

Next week I'm sharing something in my newsletter I've kept off my business social media accounts. Something that's been going on behind the scenes of my life and my work for a long time.

It's about motherhood. Self-compassion. And what it actually means to take care of yourself when you're in the middle of something hard — not after.

Subscribe here --> https://melissaparks.com/newsletter/

04/17/2026

This photo is me at 20, on an unforgettable study abroad trip through Europe — the first time I started thinking that maybe my future lay outside the US. 🌍

Last week I read my manuscript front to back for the final time. I kept stopping — not just for typos, but because I kept meeting her.

The younger version of me who said yes to Madrid before she had it figured out. Who packed up everything and said goodbye to the familiar because something in her knew she had to go. ✈️

One of the things that helped me take that leap was leaning on my older self and trusting that she knew where I (we) needed to go.

A practice I still use with clients — and share in my book — is this letter-writing exercise from Julia Cameron's "The Artist's Way" -

✨ Write a letter from your 80-year-old self to your present self. ✨

Not advice necessarily. A message of encouragement from someone who has already lived through what you're afraid of.

Whenever I connect with her, she has the same message: trust yourself more. You already know. It all works out. Not without pain — but worth it. 💖

My memoir A Compassionate Mess comes out June 23. It's a story, but it's full of practices like this one — things that quietly helped me find my way back to myself across years and continents.

If you're in a moment of uncertainty right now, try it. 20 minutes. What does your older (hopefully wiser!) self want you to know? 💌

04/14/2026

Something I've noticed, both in my own life and with my clients, is that moving abroad rarely gives us the happiness we imagined would be waiting for us there. 🌍

I lived this firsthand when I first moved to Spain. The excitement was real, but so was the loneliness, the disorientation, the eventual realization that my problems had made their way into my suitcase.

And slowly, I started to understand something that captures beautifully:

💬 "True happiness may not be at all far away, but it requires a radical change of view as to where to find it."
— Sharon Salzberg, "Loving Kindness" 📖

True happiness isn't the absence of sadness or loneliness. It's not a feeling that you're going to find in a particular city or country.

It's something closer to living a meaningful life aligned with your values — learning to feel at home in yourself, wherever you are. 🌍

This idea is at the heart of my upcoming memoir, "A Compassionate Mess" ❤️

I'd love to hear your experience - did you find the happiness you were looking for when you moved abroad? or did you find something different instead? Share in the comments or send me a message 💌

04/03/2026

Something I keep coming back to: self-compassion isn't a destination. It's a journey. A lifelong journey. 💖

I know this. I tell my clients this. I wrote an entire memoir about it. And yet a couple weeks ago I got really upset because I realized my inner critic had been quietly present for months before I even noticed it.

That's what happens once you've done some of this work. The critic doesn't disappear — it shapeshifts. It disguises itself as something reasonable. A high standard. A legitimate concern. A voice that just wants what's best for you.

My memoir, "A Compassionate Mess," isn't called that because I was a mess and then I got better. It's because the mess is ongoing. This is what it means to be an imperfect human. Self-compassion is what you bring to that humanness — over and over again, on the days you remember and the days you forget.

I find that both humbling and oddly reassuring. You don't have to have caught it sooner. You don't have to be further along. You just notice, and then you try again.

"A Compassionate Mess," out June 23, 2026. 📖

04/01/2026

It's hard to believe, but it's been seven years since I said goodbye to my life in Europe and moved back to the U.S. 🌍

Somehow those seven years have gone by faster than the ten I spent abroad. Maybe because it was a different season of my life? Maybe because life abroad is so picturesque that the memories just feel more vibrant?

My life abroad was about adventure, growth, beauty, excitement, and independence.

These past seven years have been about different core values — connection with family and lifelong friends, self-compassion, gratitude, fun, and growth as a mom.

The decade abroad was an outer and inner journey. These past seven years have been much more focused on the inner one. I feel lucky though that I've still had outer adventures too — local trips and several visits to Costa Rica and Spain.

And yet I can't say I feel completely settled here in Seattle. I still have dreams where Seattle and Madrid are just a short drive from one another.

I'd give anything to stroll along Alki in the afternoon and step out into Puerta del Sol in the evening.

On hard days I worry we made the wrong decision. Thankfully those days are few and far between.

I write honestly about all of this — the stay-or-go dilemma, preparing for repatriation, the dreams — in my memoir, A Compassionate Mess, out June 23, 2026. ❤️

For those of you who have your heart in more than one place - where do you wish you could visit all in one day?

03/30/2026

I need your help! 🎙️

I'm publishing my debut memoir on June 23rd and as part of the launch I'm pitching podcasts. The problem? Most of my podcast listening these days revolves around parenting — which has nothing to do with the book! 😅

A Compassionate Mess: A Therapist, Her Monsters, and a Journey to Self-Acceptance is a memoir about the decade I spent living and working abroad — across Spain and the Netherlands — navigating expat life, building a therapy practice, and dealing with some of the same struggles my clients were bringing to therapy. It's the story of my own healing journey: as a therapy client myself, and ultimately through discovering the transformative power of mindful self-compassion.

Topics I can speak to:
🧠 Self-compassion and the inner critic
🌍 Expat life, repatriation, the stay or go dilemma
✍️ The process of writing and self-publishing a debut memoir
🦁 Living a life of courage instead of fear
🌱 Life after recovering from an eating disorder
💔 Rebuilding your life after it takes an unexpected turn
♾️ How writing about my childhood led me to a deeper understanding of my high sensitivity and neurodivergence

What are your favorite podcasts on mental health, globally mobile life, or the intersection of the two? Shows you love, shows you've been on, or shows you think would be a good fit — drop them in the comments or send me a message! Thank you! 💖

03/27/2026

Do I let the fear make the decision? Or do I let my values? 🤔

This is something I come back to constantly, both in my own life and in my work with clients.

Our feelings are rarely the best compass. Fear, self-doubt, the voice that says who do you think you are? — these are real, and they deserve to be acknowledged. But they don't deserve to be part of our inner compass.

Our values do. 🧭

My work with globally mobile clients often centers on navigating big, complicated decisions. The "stay or go" dilemma - do I stay abroad, or move back home? Stay home or go abroad?

Or maybe it's the dilemma of whether or not to continue a relationship, change careers, grow their family... these decisions become even messier when you've got a life that spans countries.

It can be so difficult to know what you truly want when you have different people in different parts of the world giving you different advice. Different futures, sometimes on different continents, that you could imagine. I often tell my clients I wish I had a crystal ball that could help them make these decisions easier. 🔮

Since we don't have a way to predict the future, we have to settle for the next best thing - clarifying their values. Untangling feelings from values allows us to ask the questions we need to answer in these difficult dilemmas - "What matters most to you when you strip everything else away?" and "What would you want most of all if fear wasn't getting in the way?"

✨ So here's my question for you as we head into the weekend -

Is there something you've been putting off? Not because it isn't important to you, but because it scares you? Something your gut, your values, keep coming back to?
And would it look like to let your values make that decision, instead of your fear? 💖

Wishing you a wonderful weekend, wherever in the world you are 🌎

03/24/2026

"I wished someone had warned me that when you went out to explore the world there was a risk that you'd never feel entirely at home again.

Then again, had I really felt 'at home' before moving abroad? I'd moved to Spain precisely because I'd always felt out of place in Seattle. Spain was supposed to be my chance to find out who I was when all the familiar fell away. But what if the familiar was the very thing that made a place feel like home?"

This is a passage from my upcoming memoir, A Compassionate Mess: A Therapist, Her Monsters, and a Journey to Self-Acceptance 📖

If you've ever felt caught between two places — or wondered if you'll ever feel truly at home anywhere — this book was written for you. 💖

I'm still looking for a few early readers to get a copy before it's published June 23rd. Sign up via the link below or message me your email ✨

03/19/2026

I knew writing a memoir would be vulnerable, but it turns out the whole process of publishing is one hurdle of vulnerability after another 😅

This week's vulnerability challenge is asking people to read my book before it's published.

My debut memoir, "A Compassionate Mess: A Therapist, Her Monsters, and a Journey to Self-Acceptance," comes out June 23rd. And I'm looking for a small group of early readers to get a copy before anyone else.

If any of this sounds like you:

✨ You've ever felt like you should be more grateful for your life abroad
✨ You've had your heart in more than one place and didn't know what to do with that
✨ You've spent years trying to fix yourself — and are ready to try a different way
..then this book might be for you.

Here's all it involves to be an early reader -

📖 I'll send you a digital copy in late March
✅ You read it before June 23rd
⭐ Ideally, you'll leave an honest review during launch week — wherever you show up online (Amazon, goodreads, social media, etc.)

Sign up here - https://efficacious-helmet-348.notion.site/321a2011e3eb807284c7f4283fb280c1?pvs=105

(or send me a message with your email)

07/28/2025

Really excited about this! For years my co-founder, Sonia Jaeger and I have been offering these one off consultations to other mental health professionals interested in becoming location independent therapists. But it was never something we advertised, just something we offered when people emailed us about it. We recently decided it was time to change that and we’re now spreading the word about this offer for mental health professionals who are curious about location independence, but might not want (or be ready) for the entire LIT Community experience.

Please spread the word to anyone you know who could benefit from this - https://locationindependenttherapists.com/consultation-with-co-founder/?fbclid=PAQ0xDSwL0jhhleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABp2clfZvaSj66eX2XRoU0iUEWb3RwrtxHKudRr8_9az6-BirzTZ1o9rMetkwh_aem_zMatZCL3qS5f0w7Kc9VSCg

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Seattle, WA
98109

Website

http://www.melissaparks.com/

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Welcome to My page!

Hi there! My name is Melissa Parks and I have my PhD in Clinical and Health Psychology and I’ve been running this page since 2014 providing information and resources to support the expat and international community.

I provide coaching to expats and other international clients living around the globe to help them live joyful and fulfilling lives, wherever in the world life takes them. I lived abroad myself for 10 years in Madrid, Spain, and Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and repatriated back to my hometown of Seattle (USA) last year. However, because I’m in an intercultural marriage, speak Spanish in my home, and interact with clients, colleagues, friends, and family around the world on a daily basis, I still consider myself a global nomad. I also am fond of saying “once a global nomad, always a global nomad,” because living abroad changes your worldview and identity.

My coaching clients include expats, English teachers teaching abroad, international NGO employees, immigrants, adult Third Culture Kids (TCKs), location independent professionals, digital nomads, diplomats, accompanying spouses, and other internationals whose lives span cultures, countries, languages, and times zones.

In addition to coaching, I also co-facilitate a community for location independent therapists and coaches and teach the evidence-based Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) program in the Seattle area. I really think mindfulness and self-compassion are essential skills for navigating the emotional rollercoaster that comes with living a globally mobile life. The MSC program is designed to help you cultivate these resources and learn to treat yourself in the same way you’d treat a loved one.