The Safe PassagePodcast

Nikki is a Swiss-Filipina Presenter, Speaker and Third Culture Kid. She landed her first job at 15 years old, hosting MTV across Asia. She’s a 3-time nominee as “Best Entertainment Presenter” at the Asian Television Awards and has worked with Diane Sawyer on ABC’s Good Morning America. Nikki hosts both Asia and the World’s 50 Best Bars, and since graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Broadcast Journalism from Boston’s Emerson College, she’s covered tennis and motor sports on Fox Sports Asia, talked food science on National Geographic and moderated discussions ranging from sustainability, cryptocurrency, inclusivity in the workplace to the future of tech. Nikki is the epitome of somebody who embraces the non-linear career having spent 3 years as an international civil servant with the United Nations in between her love for television.

Her interest in supporting life transitions began in 2023 when she first discovered the SPAN community (Safe Passage Across Networks www.spanschools.org) after researching the inner lives of the millions of people, like her, who grew up highly mobile and transient. Accustomed to uprooting her life and beginning again while grieving the loss of friendships, people and places, Nikki is in the thick of her biggest life transition yet. She’s dedicating the next chapter of her journey to help others make sense of the discomfort and uncertainty that transition brings to the fore. Only then can we truly make the most out of change and uncover the rich oppportunities for growth that life transitions gift us.

Fun fact: Nikki recently moved to Switzerland; the country where she was born but has never lived in as an adult. For the first time, she is living in a country that actually matches her passport! This is also proving to be her toughest transition to date. You’ll have to dig into the podcast to find out why!

Learn more about Nikki at www.nikki-muller.com

Doug is a psychologist, author, and researcher with more than thirty years of experience in the field. He’s also a transitions expert because of life! A graduate of Princeton, Leiden, and Erasmus Universities, Doug first earned his expertise by working for fifteen years as a counselor at a high-turnover international school, where he saw firsthand the consequences of not managing mobility well. Now, next to a full-time private practice as a therapist, Doug consults with people and organizations on ways they can transform the challenges of mobility into opportunities for personal growth.

His first book, Safe Passage: How Mobility Affects People and What International Schools Should Do About It, has become the go-to handbook for international schools and organizations to better understand and address the challenges of mobility. Safe Passage led to the foundation of Safe Passage Across Networks, a non-profit organization that seeks to establish networks of schools worldwide that apply best practices in transition (SPAN; www.spanschools.org). Doug is also the host of SPAN’s The Nest podcast, based on SPAN’s free monthly gathering online to connect, equip, and refresh transitions professionals around the world (14:00CET on the first Thursday of the month; episodes available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.)

SPAN’s transitions care program is how Doug’s co-host, Nikki Muller, first connected with his work. After a challenging sabbatical year, the idea of a podcast on life transitions gave Doug an opportunity to share his rich lived experience alongiside his rigorous scientific research in an honest, intimate and accessible way. The Safe Passage Podcast is for anybody seeking guidance or perspective during some of the tougher moments of life transitions. Our episodes always end with Doc Doug’s signature grounding and reflective exercises to help you start or end your day feeling seen, heard and understood.

Learn more about Dr. Doug at www.dougota.com