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In this fourth episode of Second Start, I sit down with Dr Reenee Singh, one of the leading international voices on intercultural couples and systemic psychotherapy.
The conversation touches me personally: I come from an intercultural couple, and I now live in one. But the themes we explore go far beyond individual stories. Reenee reminds us that intercultural relationships shouldn't be pathologised: when partners learn to talk about their differences openly, cultural differences can become one of the deepest sources of strength and resilience in a couple.
Over the course of the conversation, we explore what actually makes a relationship "intercultural" (much broader than most people assume - it includes religion, class, region, and even generation), how class and language weave into cultural difference, how the meaning of home can shift across generations, and what happens in the therapy room when partners feel their worlds don't quite meet.
Dr Reenee Singh also shares some of the visual and clinical tools she uses in her practice: the cultural genogram, the culturegram, and emotion maps.
A note on the clinical stories in this episode: they are anonymised, and where possible, Dr Reenee Singh obtained permission from the couples she refers to.
About Dr Reenee Singh
Dr Reenee Singh is a UKCP-registered Consultant Family and Couples Systemic Psychotherapist with over thirty years of clinical experience. She is based at Hampstead Psychology in North London and at the Child and Family Practice in London, where she is the Founding Director of the London Intercultural Couples Centre. She is a former Editor of the Journal of Family Therapy and was the first CEO of the Association of Family Therapy and Systemic Practice. She is the author or editor of several books on intercultural couples, race, culture, and systemic practice, and teaches all around the world.
Find her website here: https://www.reeneesingh.com/
More info on Dr Reenee Singh's Fall 2026 course at the Ackerman Family Institute:
Title: Therapeutic Tools for Cultivating Resilience with Contemporary Couples and Families
When: Sept 17 – Dec 3, 2026 | 1–4 PM ET
Course page: https://www.ackerman.org/training/seminar-course-singh/
Course introduction video: https://youtu.be/Yu1GiggcRok
Reenee will be teaching a number of the tools and techniques we discuss in this episode, including the culturegram.
Tools mentioned in this episode
Culturegram (excerpt): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbjTSmlfx1Q&t=574s
Emotion Maps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYfvrPErRSU&t=302s
The Intercultural Exeter Model YouTube channel - more videos exploring the concepts we discuss, with examples in context: https://www.youtube.com/@interculturalexetermodel7905
