I’m delighted to share a recent conversation I had with Lauren Wells, the TCK specialist. Pour a cup of something hot or cold and join in!

The last few months have seen the birth of TCK Training out of CultureBound, you’ve written a book, and recorded two workshops for Global Trellis. First of all, what has helped you tend to your soul and yet still get done what you need to get done for each of these endeavors?

I have been a part of a weekly women’s small group. For the past two years, the five of us women have shared so much life together. Our time each week to process life with each other and pray for each other has been critical to my soul care – especially during this busy season. Also, lots of good coffee. 

Tell us a bit about TCK Training and your hope for future TCKs.

I began TCK Training about 3 years ago, and it grew to the point that it needed to become its own organization. It was clearly filling a gap and meeting a need in the TCK care world. The mission of TCK Training is to proactively and preventively care for Third Culture Kids and in doing so, maximize the benefits and decrease negative effects of the challenges of the globally mobile life. I strongly believe that we can raise up a generation of healthy TCKs and by doing so, we are enabling them to contribute to our globalizing world in incredible ways!

Your book Raising Healthy Third Culture Kids is available for preorder and will come out at the end of this month. As I told you, I love it because readers will be able to implement ideas you have immediately, yet this book was written with an eye to the future adults current TCKs will be. Anything that helps with the here-and-now and the future is my kind of book! As a fellow author, I’m curious about the writing process. What surprised you about writing a book? What did you learn about yourself in the editing process? What is your hope for RHTCKs?

I began writing the book exactly one year ago and I have honestly been surprised by how natural it felt to write. While an exorbitant amount of work went into it, the concepts were things I’ve been teaching for years, so I knew exactly what I was going to say and just had to put it into book format. During the editing process, I learned two things about myself: 

1: I am horrible at endnotes despite my valiant efforts. I said to my husband at one point, “If this book never gets published, it’s because I gave up at the endnotes!” 

2: I learned that I don’t value my own story and the impact it has nearly as much as I should. The resounding suggestions I was getting from multiple sources was to add more stories of my own TCK experience. I had thought that would take away from the professionalism of the book, but it has turned out to be quite the opposite. 

3: My hope is that Raising Healthy TCKs fills a gap in TCK literature. There are many great resources that talk about TCKs and their experience, but I felt a strong need to create something that was a practical guide to applying all of that knowledge. My hope is that this is an encouragement to anyone who loves and supports TCKs by giving them actionable information for TCK care.

You also have an upcoming live workshop. What can participants expect? When is it? How can people register?

Yes! It is on May 2nd, from 9 am – 12 pm PST, and is on sale for 50% off until April 1st! The workshop will look at the elements of preventive care and how those apply to 4 common TCK challenges. It includes discussion, giveaways, and PDFs of the information covered. It is a great time of learning about preventive TCK care in community with others who love and support TCKs! People can register at TCKTraining.com/workshops. Those who register will have access to the recording, so no worries if you can’t make it live!

Not that you need more to do, ha! But what might be on the horizon for you?

Well, the biggest thing at the moment is that we are moving from Oregon to S. Carolina next month! It is bittersweet, but we are very excited for a new adventure! 

I also just launched TCK Training Seminars which will be posted monthly. They are under one hour and go in-depth on one preventive TCK care topic. The February seminar is on Preventing and Resolving Unresolved Grief and the March seminar will be on Meeting the Emotional Needs of TCKs.

Don’t miss out on these two time-sensitive opportunities: 1. Get 20% off the Velvet Ashes Retreat by using the coupon “VelvetAshesRetreatCoupon” by March 5th, midnight EST. Register here. 2. In this month’s workshop, Lauren uses the Enneagram to help you understand your TCK, how to understand their response to stress and transition, and common TCK struggles by number. Access the workshop here while it is still 50% off.