Psychological Counseling and Support
I offer psychological counseling and support for adults, either individually or together with significant others. My goal is to guide you through your current journey with empathy and professional expertise, and to support you during crises or challenges—flexibly and from anywhere via video call.
my approach
The starting point of my work is empathetic listening and understanding my clients’ concerns and experiences. It is important to me to take each person’s individual life circumstances seriously and to consider how they are embedded in social systems and structures. Building on this foundation, I offer psychologically grounded perspectives and methods for making sense of and clarifying issues, as well as for broadening perspectives and finding solutions.
trauma-informed
An important foundation of my work is a trauma-informed understanding of psychological processes and formative experiences. This can refer, on the one hand, to traumatic events such as accidents, disasters, and experiences of violence, and, on the other hand, to more subtle forms of trauma in which boundaries were crossed and needs were disregarded. These can often occur when we are in a dependent relationship with someone (e.g., as a child with adult caregivers). Even though, within the context of counseling and support, I can not offer trauma therapy an understanding of how trauma works and how it affects our nervous system, our emotions, thoughts, and social relationships is central to my work.
body-oriented
In my academic work, I have focused extensively on the topics of body relations and body image. For many people, their relationship with their own body is a challenging area that goes far beyond a trivial preoccupation with appearance. Furthermore, I am convinced that the significance of our bodily experience for psychological processes in everyday life is often underestimated. That is why I like to incorporate bodily experience into my work—for example, through methods for sensing emotions and impulses or through techniques for regulating the nervous system.
sensitive to discrimination
Humans are, by evolutionary nature, social beings—which is why our sense of community, connection, and dignity is central to our psychological well-being. Yet we live in a world where people repeatedly experience devaluation, exclusion, and violence based on social characteristics such as gender, background, appearance, and so on. In my work, it is important to me to acknowledge and take these experiences into account. In doing so, I strive to critically reflect on myself, my own social position, and my perspectives.
Key Areas of Practical Work
Psychological stress, symptoms of depression, anxiety, and trauma; difficulties with body image and eating habits; sexual orientation and gender identity; self-esteem and social difficulties; negotiating needs and communicating in close relationships; processes of finding meaning and making decisions
What is the difference from psychotherapy?
Psychotherapy is defined as a therapeutic treatment for mental illnesses; it therefore has a clear focus on mental symptoms that meet the criteria for a mental illness and their treatment. If a psychiatric diagnosis is present, the costs may be covered by health insurance. Psychological counseling and support, on the other hand, can address a variety of life situations and concerns. A diagnosis is not required for this, but health insurance companies do not cover the costs. Psychological counseling and support can be provided flexibly, either as individual sessions or as a longer-term collaborative process. Counseling services can also serve as an initial, readily available point of contact when the desire or need for psychotherapy has not yet been clarified, or when psychotherapy is not (yet) accessible due to waiting lists or other barriers.
In Germany, psychotherapy may only be provided by individuals who—in addition to a degree in psychology or medicine—have completed several years of training in a recognized psychotherapeutic approach and have passed a licensing examination.
I have been training to become a systemic psychotherapist at the Systemic Institute of the University Medical Center Freiburg since 2022, and I also provide psychotherapy as part of this training. In my freelance practice, I will not be able to offer psychotherapy until I have completed my training (expected in 2027)—but I naturally incorporate my experience and expertise into my counseling work as well.
What is the difference between this and counseling at a counseling center?
For many types of problems, there are counseling centers that specialize in specific areas (e.g., family and parenting, sexual and gender diversity, addiction, social welfare issues, etc.), and their services are often available free of charge. It makes sense to see if a counseling center can help you further. In comparison, I view my services as less tied to a specific topic and more flexible in terms of intensity and duration. I am ready to delve deeply into your situation with you and to draw on my clinical-therapeutic experience as well as my psychological expertise.