A Roadside Revelation: From alone to Fully Human
We were six Americans thrown together in a missionary’s lottery, eager and hopeful in a city of 1.5 million - not a tourist in sight. We didn’t know each other’s favorite color, let alone the deeper stories that shaped us. Together, we shared all the emotions and isolation of our halfway-around-the-world mission. And this is the pretext for GCN: not a grand vision, strategic plan, or boardroom, but a genuine tapestry of human needs and feelings.
We thought we’d arrived ready - we’d raised money, packed bags, learned phrases in a language we barely understood, and set out to do good. The culture, the food, the rhythm of the city - each detail was as exhilarating as it was alien. But beneath the surface, the reality of our relocation gnawed at us as though our original vision was gradually fading.
There wasn’t a single point of failure in our journey, it was a thousand little cracks in a system that couldn’t care for us. Not because it was broken, it just wasn’t designed for people like us, lost in the liminal space between home and wherever we were. We discovered firsthand, that the challenge of the mission was far greater than the resources available to support it. We were adults being cared for with child-like resources. So, we suffered quietly, and sometimes not so quietly, knowing we were suffering, knowing we shouldn’t be.
We found ourselves asking the same questions: “Why isn’t anyone doing anything? Why does HR double as our counselor? How come I can video chat with friends back home, but not get real help?” Online therapy wasn’t a thing - yet. For ten years now, GCN has helped make that possible for thousands. But back then, there was nothing.
We were six strangers in a sea of faces, each carrying the weight of a story, each convinced we could make a diMerence - or at least make a dent. But our ambitions crashed against the hard realities of our relocation: isolation, doubt, and a parade of undiagnosed mental health struggles. The soundtrack to our story? “What have we done…”
Fast forward a decade. Technology caught up; younger people started talking about mental health; the stigma began to thaw. No one had built what we needed, but things were shifting. My father always said, “If you see a problem, you can do something about it.” So we did.
We started Global Counseling Network not just to build something useful, but with a purpose: to make sure anyone, anywhere could get high-quality counseling. Over ten years, we’ve made caring for our counselors our North Star, knowing that healthy counselors make for healing communities. What’s grown is a network of people you’d trust with your family, your friends, your kids. GCN is a gift we have received; our commitment is to steward it well.
