Healing trauma and promoting prevention
From trauma therapy for war survivors to suicide prevention: German organisations are actively committed to improving mental health worldwide.
vivo international: combining memories into stories
Sleep disorders and flashbacks: many people who have experienced traumatic events repeatedly relive the threat they were exposed to. Narrative exposure therapy (NET) can be used to reconnect the fragments of their memories to create an entire story. Based in Konstanz, the German association vivo international trains specialists in this short-term procedure in 17 countries, thereby helping sufferers to process painful emotions . From Afghanistan to Brazil and Uganda, this healing method also focuses on the family, the community and the ethical and cultural situation.
Irrsinnig menschlich: prevention programmes for mental health in schools
Mental illnesses often emerge gradually at an early ge – 80 per cent of them in childhood, adolescence or young adulthood. For this reason, the Leipzig-based association Irrsinnig menschlich offers prevention programmes for primary schools. Implemented in Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the programmes sensitise teachers so that sufferers receive support more quickly, while student peers learn to overcome prejudices. Other programmes are aimed at schools, universities, vocational colleges and sports clubs. Another focus is how to strengthen and maintain mental health.
Stiftung Deutsche Depressionshilfe: intervention approach to suicide prevention
One of the most common diagnoses of mental illness is depression: wherever it is unrecognised and not adequately treated, it is responsible for the majority of suicides. The foundation Stiftung Deutsche Depressionshilfe based in Leipzig has developed a four-level intervention approach that is helping to reduce the number of suicides and suicide attempts in Germany as well as in ten other European countries, Canada, Chile, Australia and New Zealand. In addition to public events to raise awareness, training courses for multipliers such as priests, teachers and police officers, and cooperation with general practitioners, another successful method has been to offer self-help programmes for sufferers. The multilingual online programme iFightDepression can be used to bridge the waiting time before starting therapy, for example.
