- When should I consider Psychological Counseling?
- What issues and topics can I contact the Counseling Center with?
- What does the counseling process look like?
- What are the basic conditions of a counseling meeting?
- How can I make an appointment?
- What if I’m not able to attend my appointment?
- Will other people or institutions get knowledge about me contacting the Psychological Counseling Center?
- What can I do if I don’t feel confident enough to seek help?
- Who can contact the Psychological Counseling Center?
- When should I consider Psychological Counseling?
The Psychological Counseling Center offers (emotional) support for people in difficult situations or phases on their lives. It doesn’t matter if you experience your situation as an ongoing or acute struggle. The thought alone of wanting to contact the Psychological Counseling Center is sufficient to make an appointment.
You can contact us with any issue you might have.
To reach out to us is an important first step. Don’t hesitate to ask for help!
2. What issues and topics can I contact the Counseling Center with?
You can contact us with any university- or work-related, as well as personal issues.
Examples for possible counseling issues:
- Learning and work difficulties
- (Emotional) Overload
- Anxiety and fear
- Relationship problems
- Family issues
- Low self-esteem
- Addiction and substance abuse
- Depressive feelings
- Issues with fellow students, teachers or supervisors
3. What does the counseling process look like?
The first appointment is for orientation. Here you can give us insights about your issue and also expectations towards the psychological counseling.
We can help you understand your issue better, develop new scopes of action, get a new perspective on things, develop individual solutions and discover resources and potentials that haven’t been used yet.
Psychological counseling can help you find adequate ways out of your crisis and help you learn to notice future issues in time and cope with them.
4. What are the basic conditions of a counseling meeting?
- Counseling is voluntary and free of cost
- You don’t need a doctor’s referral
- All appointments underly a duty of confidentiality by law (§203 StGB). The only two exceptions are in case of a danger to you or others and in case of a planned criminal offense.
- Per issue you can make up to 5 appointments
- One appointment takes about 45-50 minutes
- We offer individual counseling as well as couple counseling and joint talks with supervisors, teachers, and fellow students
- IMPORTANT: psychological counseling does not substitute a psychotherapy
If needed we can help you with getting in touch with further points of contact (e.g. psychotherapy practices, other counseling centers,…)
5. How can I make an appointment?
You can contact us by email and telephone. Please leave a message on the answering machine in case you can’t reach us by phone.
All inquiries will be answered promptly.
Our contact information can be found on this website.
6. What if I’m not able to attend my appointment?
There are no consequences if you cancel an appointment.
We kindly ask you to notify us in time if you’re unable to attend an appointment. If wanted we can look for alternative appointments.
7. Will other people or institutions get knowledge about me contacting the psychological counseling center?
The answer is: NO.
The inquiry and the appointments themselves underly the duty of confidentiality by law (§203 StGB).
The only two exceptions are in case of a danger to you or others and in case of a planned criminal offense.
8. What can I do if I don’t feel confident enough to seek help?
There can be many reasons to feel unsure about psychological counseling. The feeling of being torn is not unusual.
What can you do in such a case?
- Talk to other people in your social environment (e.g. someone who already has experience with psychological counseling)
- Ask someone to help you contact us
- Ask someone to accompany you to the appointment
9. Who can contact the Psychological Counseling Center?
Everyone who is affiliated with the Helmut-Schmidt-Universität can contact us.
Letzte Änderung: 7. September 2023