Crisis service

A crisis service is available to advise and help people in acute crises. The advice takes place in direct contact, by telephone and sometimes even in writing via letters, e-mail or chat. Personal advice is also offered anonymously in many places.

Help is offered at, among others

massive feelings of fear, restlessness, or panic
acute and seemingly hopeless arguments in the family
oppressive isolation and loneliness
Crisis intervention in the event of separation, grief and loss
Suicidal thoughts
Psychiatric crises in the case of mental illness and for relatives of the mentally ill and their friends or acquaintances who are worried about it.

Crisis services usually offer help for a specific catchment area. This offers the opportunity to establish direct contact between the person seeking help and the crisis service.

telefonic consultancy

A telephone crisis service is available to people in the event of problems and acute crises by offering help anonymously over the phone, possibly also in foreign languages. Telephone counseling is offered nationwide via the telephone counseling service and regionally via various local crisis services.

Personal visits

In addition to the main telephone contacts, many of the local crisis services also offer the possibility of visits. There is often both the option of coming to the crisis service rooms and of making home calls if necessary .

Crisis beds

In many cities there are crisis accommodation options for people in current crises who endanger themselves or cannot be alone for another reason. These usually differ from the psychiatric departments of the hospitals , as they only care for patients who come voluntarily. Forced medication does not take place. The length of stay is usually limited to a few days, but there are also crisis centers that grant longer stays.

Mother tongue advice

Migrants who find themselves in difficult situations in life are often unable to accept the assistance offered due to their lack of language skills. Possible intervention measures depend on the linguistic possibilities and the intercultural competence of the consultants. Only a few crisis services offer native-speaking crisis intervention. Migrants in crisis situations therefore often do not turn to the respective institutions.

literature

Sebastian Roth: Crisis education - training and further education of crisis intervention helpers. Publishing house Dr. Kovac, Hamburg, 2008. ISBN 978-3-8300-3537-4

Web links