Andreas Wittrahm

Andreas Wittrahm (* 1958 ) is a German psychologist and Roman Catholic theologian.

Life

education

Andreas Wittrahm studied psychology and Catholic theology at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn from 1978 to 1987 and graduated with a diploma in both subjects . Part-time doctorate he 2000 Catholic in theology at Walter Prince with a pastoral psychological work on "pastoral care, Pastoral Psychology and Postmodernism".

Professional Activities

From 1988 to 2002 Andreas Wittrahm headed the department “Church work for the elderly” of the Aachen diocese , then until 2005 the Catholic Forum for Adult and Family Education in Krefeld . From 2005 to 2008 he was managing director of the Caritas -Akademie Hohenlind in Cologne-Lindenthal. Since August 2008 he has been the head of the “Skilled Labor and Social Policy” department in the Caritas Association for the Diocese of Aachen.

In addition, he held teaching positions for gerontology at the University of Kassel , for pastoral psychology at the church universities in Paderborn and St. Augustin and for applied ethics at the Catholic University of Freiburg im Breisgau . Since 1989 he has been a lecturer in psychology at the Catholic University of North Rhine-Westphalia , Cologne department, initially in the social affairs department, and since 1996 in the health care department. Since December 2011 he has been teaching at this university as an honorary professor of psychology.

Wittrahm is a member of the German Society for Gerontology and Geriatrics , from 1990 to 2014 he was a member of the Committee for Ethical Matters and Complaints of the Society for Person-Centered Psychotherapy and Counseling .

Main focus of work and projects

• Religious Development in the Second Half of Life (1999 to 2002 in cooperation with the University of Bonn)
• "PAKT" - Preventive everyday skills training for senior citizens - practical research project, together with the German Institute for Applied Nursing Research (DIP) in the context of aging prevention and preventive home visits. (2016 to 2019)
• Ethical and pastoral psychological competence expansion in the social, health, teaching and pastoral professions (e.g. in cooperation with the Institute for Mental Hygiene at Semmelweisz University, Budapest)
• Qualification for terminal care / palliative and hospice care in elderly care.

Publications

• With Reinhard Schmitz-Scherzer and Sabine Kühnert: death support / dying care. (= KDA Forum 2) Cologne 1984.
• Orientations for holistic care for the elderly. Anthropology - Ethics - Religion. Dümmler Verlag, Bonn, 1988 (5th edition 1994).
• Pastoral care for the elderly. Patmos Verlag, Düsseldorf 1991 (published by the parish work department in the Episcopal Vicariate General Aachen, developed by Andreas Wittrahm).
• A lifetime on the move. Biblical Insights on Getting Older. Herder Verlag, Freiburg 1991.
• With Bernhard Kraus: "My hope from youth up". Workbook for senior worship services. Herder Verlag, Freiburg 1993.
• Edited with Hermann-Josef Beckers: Value change, change in ways of life and pastoral care. Kühlen Verlag, Mönchengladbach 1993.
• With Sylvia Kauffeldt and Sabine Kühnert: Psychological foundations of work with the elderly. Gerontological basics. Action skills. Current areas of tension. Dümmler Verlag, Bonn 1994.
• Getting older and shaping your life. A correspondence course. Generations study unit. Evangelical office for distance learning for church services , Hanover 1995.
• Pastoral Care, Pastoral Psychology and Postmodernism. A pastoral psychological foundation of life-enhancing encounters in the face of radical postmodern plurality. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2001 (= dissertation).
• With Walter Fürst, Ulrich Feeser-Lichterfeld, Tobias Kläden: Even the elderly are no longer the same. Practical theological contributions to a culture of aging. LIT Verlag, Münster 2003.
• With Sabine Kühnert: Psychology in geriatric care. Bildungsverlag EINS, Troisdorf 2006.
• Edited with Martina Blasberg-Kuhnke : Aging in freedom and dignity. Handbook of Christian Elderly Work. Kösel Verlag, Munich 2007.
• Care for the parents. Vier Türme Verlag, Münsterschwarzach 2007.
• With Frank Weidner : PAKT : Maintaining skills and social participation in old age through PAKT - Preventive everyday skills training. Lambertus Verlag, Freiburg March 2020.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ katho-nrw.de: Prof. Dr. Andreas Wittrahm: Academic and professional career.