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Rethink the Couch

Into the Bedrooms and Boardrooms of Asia with an Expat Therapist

Allison Heiliczer
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In more than a decade as a psychotherapist to some of Asia’s most powerful couples and businesspeople, expat New Yorker Allison Heiliczer has seen it all.

In Rethink The Couch: Into the Bedrooms and Boardrooms of Asia with an Expat Therapist, Heiliczer brings readers into her therapy room and engagements with such clients: the Singaporean maneater with a portfolio comparing the endowments-physical and financial-of her expat lovers; the wealthy Chinese litigator in thrall to a feng shui master; the entrepreneur trying to treat his own ADHD; the Indonesian-Chinese businessman who faced a reckoning when his multiple unzipperings were exposed, and many others.

But, this is no exposé. Part East-meets-West expat journey, part self-help deliberation, this collection of personal narratives explores the influence cultural backgrounds have on work and relationships and sheds light on stigmas that still surround divorce, therapy, mental health, and more today in Asia. Asia may lag the West in this regard – for now – but there is a quiet revolution afoot and Heiliczer is at the vanguard.

From toxic offices and complex relationships, boardroom power and bedroom failure, doomed marriages and ill-advised affairs, workaholism, loneliness, lies; these are struggles more common than many of us care to admit. Heiliczer lays them all bare through the prism of culture and is expert in understanding what makes those embroiled in them tick.

Published: Oct/2023

ISBN: 9789815144062

Length: 256 Pages

Rethink the Couch

Into the Bedrooms and Boardrooms of Asia with an Expat Therapist

Allison Heiliczer

In more than a decade as a psychotherapist to some of Asia’s most powerful couples and businesspeople, expat New Yorker Allison Heiliczer has seen it all.

In Rethink The Couch: Into the Bedrooms and Boardrooms of Asia with an Expat Therapist, Heiliczer brings readers into her therapy room and engagements with such clients: the Singaporean maneater with a portfolio comparing the endowments-physical and financial-of her expat lovers; the wealthy Chinese litigator in thrall to a feng shui master; the entrepreneur trying to treat his own ADHD; the Indonesian-Chinese businessman who faced a reckoning when his multiple unzipperings were exposed, and many others.

But, this is no exposé. Part East-meets-West expat journey, part self-help deliberation, this collection of personal narratives explores the influence cultural backgrounds have on work and relationships and sheds light on stigmas that still surround divorce, therapy, mental health, and more today in Asia. Asia may lag the West in this regard – for now – but there is a quiet revolution afoot and Heiliczer is at the vanguard.

From toxic offices and complex relationships, boardroom power and bedroom failure, doomed marriages and ill-advised affairs, workaholism, loneliness, lies; these are struggles more common than many of us care to admit. Heiliczer lays them all bare through the prism of culture and is expert in understanding what makes those embroiled in them tick.

Buying Options
Paperback / Hardback

Allison Heiliczer

Allison Heiliczer is an American psychotherapist who has been living in Asia for over a decade. She is the founder of Rethink the Couch and works with adult individuals and couples in Singapore and around the world. Heiliczer was the former Head of Corporate Psychology at OT&P’s clinics in Hong Kong.
While the hundreds of individuals and couples she has supported in clinical and private practice settings face various challenges, the common thread is they are navigating relationship and work issues.
She graduated summa cum laude from New York University (NYU) with a Bachelor of Science, a master’s also from NYU, and a second Master’s in Counselling from Monash University (Australia). Heiliczer is the first therapist in Asia to be certified in Relational Life Therapy (RLT), a transformative form of couple’s therapy, pioneered by New York Times bestselling author
Terry Real. In addition, she is an ICF-certified coach and has offered extensive coach trainings with executives and at leading multinational corporations.