Information for our english speaking patients 

Dear patients,

 

welcome on our website. We offer cognitive behavioural therapy sessions for English-speaking patients in our Psychotherapy practice. We mainly treat disorders such as anxiety, depression, compulsion and adjustment disorders. The therapy sessions may take place individually (max 24 sessions) respectivly as a combination of individual and group therapy.

The requirements for starting a therapy are good to very good English language skills and an insurance card from a German health insurance company. If you dont have a german health insurance you have to pay for the psychotherapy privatly.

Additionally, it is important to notice that we are an academic teaching practice. This means that interns (bachelor's students of psychology) accompany and do the documentation of the sessions. However, just like the therapist, they are bound to strict confidentiality. For more information, please see our detailed information for patients below.

If you consume drugs regularly please inform us at our first appointment. Only if the consumption is moderat we can offer you a total of 12 sessions max. The goal of this short term period is to stop the drug abuse. After these 12 sessions you have to undertake a drug test to insure that the consumption has stopped. It is only possible to continue the therapy under these cicrumstances. Thank you for your understanding.  

We have a waiting list for initial consultations. Each patient remains on our waiting list for three months, after that your personal data will be automatically deleted. Once you are on the waiting list we will try to offer you an appointment for an initial consultation as soon as possible. If we are unable to offer you an appointment during these three months and you are still interested in an initial consultation please contact us by telephone to keep your place on our waiting list safe. Thank you for your understanding.

For a smooth process in our practice, we ask for your assistance.


1. appointments

Appointments are urgently needed. Please call us at the following telephone number +49 521 5247755 during our office hours.

If you are unable to keep an appointment, please cancel it at least 24 hours in advance. Otherwise a cancellation fee of 90€ will be charged, unless you have a medical emergency or a new appointment can be made in the same week.

Initial appointments must be confirmed at least 4 days in advance, otherwise the appointment will be assigned elsewhere.

 

 2. psychotherapy

German health insurance companies will usually cover the costs of outpatient psychotherapy with licensed psychological psychotherapists.

Therefore, please bring your insurance card with you to the initial consultation and to the first appointment of the new quarter (1.01., 1.04., 1.07. & 1.10.).

 

3. data protection

Each patient must sign a data protection declaration in accordance with the Basic Data Protection Regulation on your first consultation.

 

4. some specific aspects concering our practice

 

therapy dog "Lisbeth"

In our practice we are supported by "Lisbeth". She is a Labradoodle, hypoallergenic and friendly. If you have any concerns regarding the animal please contact us. Together we will find a solution.

 

Interns

In addition, at regular intervals we are supported by interns (psychology students in the bachelor's program) who are present during the therapy session and to document the session. Of course, the interns - just like us therapists - are bound by the duty of confidentiality. However, if you should have any concerns regarding individual topics in the context of therapy, please do not hesitate to contact us.

 

If you have not already done so, please also read our instructions for active participation below.

 

Active participation

Our concern - the restoration of your mental health

Your contribution - active and committed participation

 

Dear patients,

 

our modern, very fast-paced everyday life is often exhausting and characterized by stress. Therefore, we understand that you do not want to exhaust yourself in your psychotherapy. However, we would like to concentrate together with you on bringing on desired or necessary changes that will enable you to lead a future life that is not or significantly less characterized by mental illness. The success of such a project depends on the therapeutic competence and also strongly on your commitment.

We would also like to utilize the capacities of our practice at the optimum. This shortens waiting times and ensures the continuity of this treatment option. For this reason, we depend on your active cooperation during treatment and can only offer a permanent therapy spot to those patients who are willing to cooperate in the following way:

 

You have your current insurance card ready, at the beginning of therapy and at the beginning of each quarter. Since your psychotherapy, if you have statutory health insurance, is financed through the public health insurance system, treatment without an insurance card is not possible.

 

Keep regular appointments, cancel early, and return emails or phone calls promptly, especially if you are guaranteed and kept a fixed, regular date on a weekly schedule. Irregular therapy contacts (especially at the beginning) jeopardize the progress of therapy. In addition, they block free capacities, since usually no substitute can be called in at short notice.

 

Formulate objectives and goals: What specific changes do I have in mind? What do I suffer from/what bothers me? How would this be recognized? What do I want to use the therapy/session for?

It may happen that in your psychotherapy issues will arise that are uncomfortable for you and will require you to leave your personal comfort zone. We are aware that this work of change is often the most difficult and may quite possibly be even painful. But this is also what pychotherapy is about. During the therapy sessions you may come across questions that are difficult for you to answer. Maybe you need to reflect upon an answer, which needs time. On such instances a spontaneous "I don't know" is very human but doesn’t help us here. Please keep in mind that a therapist only knows that much about you than you let them know. Your are the expert of yourself.  We just sort the information differently and know some general associations behind what you are saying and describing. So whenever you answer a question with "I don't know" (or skip that part in the life history questionnaire), it leads us temporarily to a dead end. This happens now and then and does not call into question the success of the therapy yet. Should it happen repeatedly we lack the necessary information to be able to understand your situation and to stimulate or initiate changes.

 

Complete therapy tasks for the next session. These "homework assignments" are mainly for self-observation, i.e. they provide important information for the treatment or help to apply and establish in everyday life what you have learned in the sessions. As difficult as it is sometimes to fit this into everyday life it is nontheless essential for the improvement of your symptoms.

Your wishes and the active implementation of your goals by means of suitable therapy tasks are what guides the course of your treatment. In addition, your goals provide us with a point of reference towards which therapy can move. We can "measure" by them if we are on the right track.

 

We look forward to working together and thank you in advance for your engaged cooperation.