Die Arche (advice center)

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Entrance to the advice center in Saarstrasse. 5 in Munich

Die Arche is a counseling center for young people and adults on suicide prevention in Munich and was founded in December 1969. Every year around 1400 people seeking help are looked after. The advice center is operated independently under the umbrella of the “ Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband ” and is a founding member of the “ German Society for Suicide Prevention ”.

The sponsoring association of the advice center is “DIE ARCHE Suizidprävention und Hilfe in Lebenskrisen e. V. ". He is a member not only of the aforementioned umbrella organizations, but also of the “International Association for Suicide Prevention” and the “Munich Alliance against Depression”. Hans Doll was the managing director of the association until October 31, 2019. Heidi Graf has been running the association since November 1, 2019.

history

The Arche sponsoring association was founded on December 3, 1969 under the name “Center for Suicide Prevention and Help in Life”. Founding members were Rolf Schellack, at that time head of the medical department of the state insurance institute, Max von Clarmann, the then head doctor in toxicology at the Klinikum rechts der Isar , Christoph Angermann, psychologist and graphologist, Maria Helmrich, doctor and psychoanalyst, Wolfdieter Rupp, attorney at law , Franz Rieger, then director of the Munich Adult Education Center , Hanna Pischel, nursing assistant, Hermann Helmrich, doctor and Eline Angermann, graphologist. The background to this was the previous experience of several doctors, therapists and other professional helpers that in their view the care for people in suicidal crises was inadequate. At the end of the 1960s, after receiving medical care as a result of a suicide attempt, there was only the alternative of psychiatric admission or discharge without referral to follow-up assistance. Closing this gap in care and offering targeted outpatient help in this area was the main goal of the association when it was founded. The only model known to the founders was Erwin Ringel's “life-weary care” in Vienna. They had visited this facility for study purposes. At the time, literature on outpatient suicide prevention was almost non-existent, and there were no comparable institutions in the Federal Republic of Germany. Many concepts of the work were only developed during the early years as part of the consultations.

One of the foundations of the work was the conviction that the clients should be cared for medically, therapeutically, legally and socio-educationally by an equal, professional team in order to be able to give them the most comprehensive support possible. Because of this and other new approaches in counseling work, the Ark was named as a model institution in the 1975 Psychiatry Enquête .

The work of the Arche began in 1969, initially with volunteers. As early as 1971, employees of the advice center could be permanently employed for the first time. In the following years, the staff was slowly increased. Since around 1975 the workforce has remained largely stable with three psychologists, three social pedagogues, two psychiatric specialists and a lawyer, as well as administration and management.

The club name was later changed to "Suicide prevention and help in life crises".

Since 1995, the Arche has also been supported by a support association, the non-profit “Association for the Promotion of Suicide Prevention and Crisis Aid”. V. “, financially supported. The aim of this association is to raise funds for the Arche as well as to promote and support suicide prevention and help in life crises.

activity

The Arche's offers are not only aimed at those affected, but also at relatives, survivors and professional helpers. Most of those cared for come from the city of Munich itself, but also from the Munich area.

The Arche offers a wide range of counseling services: In addition to individual counseling in crises, there are couples and family counseling, telephone counseling, therapy groups, counseling services for relatives and surviving dependents, as well as support in the search for therapy places and bridging discussions until the start of therapy. In addition, the Arche offers information on its website and conducts public relations work for suicide prevention. Furthermore, professional helpers can take advantage of further training and supervision on the subject of suicide via the Arche.

An interdisciplinary team of part-time employees works at the Arche advice center. Some of the groups and additional offers are carried out by freelance workers (mostly psychologists). In addition to their basic training, all Arche employees who work as consultants have additional consulting or therapeutic qualifications.

Today, the Arche works closely with many other crisis relief institutions , such as telephone counseling , the Munich Psychiatry Crisis Service , the crisis intervention in the rescue service (KIT), the central psychological service of the police , the Munich island and many others. Arche employees are available to all interested institutions as organizers of training courses. In 2013, among other things, advanced training courses were given on request for the educational center of the Association of Bavarian Districts , for the Federal Conference of Telephone Counselors in Germany, for the Munich Railway Station Mission , the University of Applied Sciences for Public Administration and Justice - Police Section - and the Munich Inner Mission . The Arche has been recommended for years by various institutions, including schools, as the first point of contact for all questions about suicide and suicide prophylaxis.

The Arche receives its funds from a mixed financing. She receives lump sums from the district of Upper Bavaria , the state capital Munich, the Bavarian statutory health insurances and the Catholic and Protestant churches. In addition, own funds must be provided according to the specifications of the support providers. These consist of service fees and donations.

statistics

In 2013 more than 1000 clients registered for advice in der Arche for the first time; almost half of them were suicidal themselves, around 13% reported suicide attempts in the past and over 80% were in an acute crisis. Around 12% of those seeking help were the survivors of suicide victims and around 17% were relatives of those at risk of suicide. The percentages of over 100% result from the fact that survivors and relatives are also often in acute crises and sometimes develop suicidal thoughts themselves.

In 2013, more women (around 63%) than men (around 37%) contacted the counseling center. Around 11% of those in care had a migration background. Children and adolescents in the Arche were mainly cared for through family counseling as part of family discussions; they made up around 7% of the clientele. The age distribution among adults was very even up to the age of 60. Only about 11% of the clients were over 60 years of age, although this age group is much more represented in the number of completed suicides. The relatively low acceptance of the offer of help in this age group may be due to the restricted mobility of the clientele with an existing comm structure, but also to a greater reluctance to seek professional help for psychological problems in general.

While in the early years only around five to ten percent of those seeking help made contact with the Arche on their own initiative, around two thirds of the clients reported themselves in 2013. People keep getting in touch with the Arche who are looking for help in a crisis situation again after a long break from counseling (in individual cases after several decades).

meaning

The Arche played a pioneering role in outpatient suicide prevention in Germany, which can be seen, among other things, from its mention in the psychiatry enquête . It is mentioned in the specialist literature as a model project. The pioneering role of the Arche was recognized when the German Society for Suicide Prevention (DGS) was founded by choosing Munich as the place of foundation.

In 1989 the Arche received the Hans Rost Prize of the DGS for its work for people at risk of suicide. In the reason for the award it says:

“The 'Arche' was founded 20 years ago (1969) as the first specialized counseling center for people at risk of suicide in Germany. This facility has set standards in the field of secondary and tertiary prevention and has provided pacemaker services in many respects: interdisciplinary cooperation from the start, close cooperation with clinics, constant readiness and rapid availability of meetings, differentiated therapeutic strategies for those at risk of suicide, etc. v. a. m. The facility showed that it was able to take up new developments and trends in the psychotherapeutic sector and apply them to its own clientele (e.g. group work, tea room contacts). Finally, the 'Arche' has also done pioneering work with regard to the financing modalities of corresponding institutions and advocated public responsibility for the cause of suicide prevention at a very early stage. A special feature raises the 'Arche' above the level of many other counseling and therapy facilities for those at risk of suicide: During the entire 20 years of its existence, both the institution and its individual employees have continuously sought and found a critical discussion of their work with experts. The 'Arche' was present at almost all DGS events. It invited renowned scientists to its own scientific events - especially in the first few years of its existence. The 'Arche' has repeatedly subjected itself to scientific controls, most recently in the extensive research project by Prof. Möller and colleagues at the Technical University of Munich. Finally, it should be emphasized that the “Arche” contributed significantly to informing the public about the suicide issue and thus to removing taboos from the suicide problem. The DGS owes its own establishment to a large extent to the activities of the Arche. "

- HL Wedler : Suizidprophylaxe-online

Publications

  • School suicides - a contribution to public discussion . In: Die Arche (Ed.): Suizidprophylaxe . No. 38 . Regensburg 1984.
  • Die Arche (Ed.): 20 years of suicide prophylaxis. Development and way of working . Profil Verlag, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-89019-239-4 .
  • Die Arche (Ed.): 25 years of outpatient suicide prevention . Munich 1994.
  • Die Arche (Ed.): 30 years of outpatient suicide prevention . Munich 1999.
  • Die Arche (Ed.): Outpatient suicide prevention and help in life crises . Munich 2004.

literature

  • Christoph Angermann: Psychological treatment of suicidality . In: Michael Hockel, Franz-Josef Feldhege (Hrsg.): Handbuch der Angewandte Psychologie . tape 2 . Munich 1981, p. 503-519 .
  • WJ Lehman: Treatment of those at risk of suicide in the multidisciplinary specialist outpatient clinic “Die Arche” . In: PA Fiedler et al. (Ed.): Challenges and limits of clinical psychology . Munich 1982.
  • Christoph Angermann, Hans Doll: Use the crisis as an opportunity - The therapy model "THE ARCHE" . In: Michael Haller (Ed.): Die Freiwillig - voluntarily? Reinbek near Hamburg 1986.
  • Thomas Giernalczyk: Tired of life - help with suicide risk . 2, Tübingen 2003.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Monika Maier-Albang: The last stop. Care of those at risk of suicide. Sueddeutsche.de, May 17, 2010, accessed May 8, 2014 .
  2. ^ A b Hans Doll: 35 years of outpatient suicide prevention - developments and experiences of the ARCHE. (PDF) Suizidprophylaxe-online, 2005, accessed on May 10, 2014 (PDF).
  3. ↑ Münchner Bündnis gegen Depression eV. Accessed on March 26, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Alina Schadwinkel: Social pedagogue Doll: "It helps to know that suicide is not a light-hearted decision". Die Zeit, November 13, 2009, accessed on May 10, 2014 .
  5. ^ German Bundestag (ed.): Report on the situation of psychiatry in the Federal Republic . Psychiatry Enquête (=  printed matter . No. 7/4200 ). 1975, p. 279 ff., especially p. 281 .
  6. ↑ Hans Doll: 20 years of suicide prophylaxis - The development and working method of ARCHE Munich. (PDF) Suizidprophylaxe-online, 1990, accessed on May 10, 2014 (PDF).
  7. ↑ Die Arche Suicide Prevention and Help in Life Crises e. V. (Ed.): Annual report 2013 . Munich 2013, p. 7 .
  8. ↑ Die Arche: Suicide prevention and help in life crises e. V. (No longer available online.) Notfallseelsorge-muenchen.de, archived from the original on October 15, 2017 ; accessed on February 10, 2018 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.notfallseelsorge-muenchen.de
  9. ↑ Important regional dates and events for counseling teachers and school psychologists. State school advice in Bavaria, accessed on May 10, 2014 .
  10. ↑ Financing. The ark, accessed May 10, 2014 .
  11. ↑ Annual Report 2013 (PDF) Die Arche, accessed on May 28, 2014 .
  12. ^ W. Rupp: The Ark . A Munich model institute for suicide prevention (=  advances in medicine . No. 18 ). June 20, 1974, p. 755 .
  13. ↑ A. Torhorst, HJ Möller, F. Bürk, A. Kurz, C. Wächtler, H. Lauter: Outpatient aftercare after suicide attempts - first results of an experimental study. (PDF) Suizidprophylaxe-online, 1984, accessed on May 10, 2014 .
  14. ↑ The German Society for Suicide Prevention Help in Life Crises e. V. In: Suizidprophylaxe - Theory and Practice . 1st special issue, 4th edition. 1990, p. 5-6 .
  15. ^ HL Wedler: Hans Rost Prize 1989. (PDF) Suizidprophylaxe-online, accessed on May 25, 2014 .