For assistance, problems or questions, please email us.
Page History
The stress and difficulty of living overseas takes a toll on all international workers. We desire for every worker to work toward maintaining spiritual, mental, and emotional health. Therefore we want to provide clear pathways to access regular care, whether in response to a major life event or for keeping routine stressors in check. We are striving to make quality care as accessible as possible in the following ways.
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How to get started
If you are interested in utilizing these benefits, start by filling out the Counseling Subsidy Request Form. We'll get back to you as soon as we can to answer any questions that you have. In the meantime, you are welcome to go ahead and pursue your first session.
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Types of Care
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General Counseling or Coaching for a Global Worker can be for routine health maintenance or in response to a particular struggle. It may be self-initiated or required by a supervisor. When working with one of our preferred providers, the provider will bill Reliant directly. Reliant covers 25% of the first 12 sessions every year. For these sessions, 25% will be paid from the Reliant Member Care Fund and the remaining 75% will be charged to the MTD account. Any additional sessions in the calendar year will be charged 100% to the MTD account. |
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When an international worker experiences a Level 4 or 5 crisis or trauma on the field as a result of their work, Reliant will cover 100% of the cost of counseling for up to 6 sessions. Please contact the Crisis Management team at icmt@reliant.org to initiate that process. After six sessions, Reliant Workers can follow the process for General Care for a Global Worker. |
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Before moving overseas, we recommend 6 sessions of self-awareness training with a counselor for the purpose of understanding how one’s life history effects their personality, gifting, and emotional health. This can be reimbursed using the Expense Submission Form. This can be found at: https://www.restory.life/prefield-preparation. |
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If you have a medically-diagnosed condition and receive counseling as part of your treatment, you may be able to utilize insurance for those payments. We can help you make sure your salary is sufficient to cover any personal responsibility for those costs. You can reach out to international@reliant.org with any questions. |
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We would recommend doing a full debrief with CIT or MTI, but if you would like to do counseling sessions, you can also utilize this subsidy and pathway for re-entry counseling sessions as well. |
Providers
Below are some recommended providers that other Reliant workers have utilized and that we believe will offer quality, gospel-based care. You can find more about the services that each offers on their websites. This is not one-size-fits-all, so if you try one provider and it is not a good fit, don't worry! That is normal! It may take a couple of tries to find the best relationship for you. Of course, you are welcome to use any counselor or coach of your choice.
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ReStory Counseling is located in Northern Colorado, but also works with clients virtually. Their founder and CEO is a former international worker in Central Asia with Cru. They are able to offer licensed counseling if you are in the state of Colorado due to licensure, but are able to offer Storywork virtually anywhere in the world! They believe that every one of us has significant and shaping narratives that deeply impact our beliefs and interpretations about ourselves, relationships, God, and the world. These stories from the past inform how we engage in the present, and many times we find ourselves stuck in narratives not our own. Storywork Coaching invites you to enter those stories from a posture of honesty, honor, and kindness, and reclaim those parts of you that were lost or stolen. Storywork is not therapy, as it does not address issues of mental health or diagnoses. Storywork Coaches have obtained a variety of degrees, certificates, and endorsements and they have also gone through our ReStory® Institute Level One. Cost for sessions is around $110 per session depending on the counselor. Contact their ReStory Client Care Coordinator at info@restory.life if you have questions or go to https://www.restory.life/contact to fill out a quick form to get started. |
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https://www.gospelcarecollective.com The Gospel Care Collective is located Temecula, California, but has experience with online counseling. GCC has their roots in the Austin Stone and was birthed out of caring for pastors and overseas workers. Their focus is Biblical counseling. They also offer retreats for married couples. Cost of counseling ranges from $80-$150 depending on the counselor. Contact Jason Kovacs | jason@gospelcarecollective.org to get started with GCC. |
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https://www.restorecounselingservices.org Restore Counseling is located in Columbia, MO, but has extensive experience working with international workers online. Restore has worked with many Reliant members since 2018. Contact the Restore admin at: admin@restorecounseling.org to get started with Restore. |
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The Well is located in Chiang Mai Thailand. The Well offers counselling by masters-trained therapists who maintain professional credentials (licensure or similar) in their home countries. We take a client-centered approach and, although our providers are informed by different theories and have different styles, each is committed to collaborating with their clients to make sure the therapy fits and actually helps. All of our counselors are committed Christ-followers with personal experience as cross-cultural workers. Cost is $50/hour and pro-rated for times that last longer than that. To start, go to: https://www.thewellintl.org/make-an-appointment. As well, check out: |
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Barnabas International has counselors located around the world. They do not have a fee for their services, but a recommended donation. Due to billing challenges and lower costs, we will not be giving the Reliant subsidy for Barnabas. You will donate directly to the counselor. If utilizing Barnabas we would recommend adding the costs of counseling to your ME Bonus on your Support Goal Worksheet. If needed you are allowed to utilize the Hardship Expense Allowance for counseling. Contact Barnabas at: https://www.barnabas.org/contact-us to get started with Barnabas. |
How it Works
The invoices from the counselors will come in to the Reliant team. We will bill 100% of that to your MTD account. We will then transfer 25% of the cost of those counseling sessions from the Reliant Member Care fund on a monthly basis. You will see some taxes added for this benefit on your following paycheck as you would with a normal expense allowance. After 12 sessions, the full portion of the bill will come from the account you are responsible for.
If you are using a counselor of your choice, and we do not have direct bill set-up with your provider, you can utilize the Expense Allowance form to recover funding. We will not be doing the 25% transfer for counselors that are not a part of our approved list.
FAQs
What if I have completed 12 sessions?
When 12 sessions are completed, we will discontinue the subsidy. You’re MTD account will be billed for 100% of the costs.
What if my counseling provider is not listed as one of the vetted counseling providers?
We will only be providing the subsidy to vetted counselors. So for counselors not listed you can turn in counseling costs through the International Expense Allowance as a Hardship Allowance up to one time per month.
What is the process for vetting new counselors?
As we continue to grow we will be looking for new counselors. Therefore if you have a counseling provider that is not on our list of vetted counselors, we would love to connect with them. Send an email to international@reliant.org if you have a counseling provider you’d like to suggest. We will vet new counseling providers each new calendar year.
What if counseling is required by my supervisor?
Follow the General Counseling for a International Worker subsidy and payment plan.
Are there any courses or intensives for counseling?
Re-Story counseling is offering a 6 session course on the idea of looking back through your story. View it at: https://www.restory.life/restory-course. It is offered for $50 to Reliant personnel. Use the code "RELIANT" to join the course.
