Advice centers in and around Freiburg are alarmed: They are experiencing high demand, because the pandemic intensifies some private conflicts. Anyone looking for help currently has to accept waiting lists.
When the corona situation relaxes at some point, there will be a lot to do for everyone who works with families: “Then we have to pick up the broken pieces,” says Marc Platte, specialist service manager of the social pedagogical family aid of the Diakonisches Werk Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald in Mllheim. The situation is grueling, says Susanne Fattah, head of the psychological counseling center for marriage, family and life issues at the Catholic Church Community in Freiburg.
Some students move back home
Everyone is under a strain: Susanne Fattah and her team arrive at lonely older people as well as students who move back to their parents because they cannot stand being alone during the Corona period. But the advice center responsible for Freiburg and the districts of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald and Emmendingen usually deals with couples and families. Conflicts are increasing for them, she says. The more, the longer the situation lasts. The unclear line of politics is also increasingly affecting people. The need for advice has grown, at the same time the advice has become more time-consuming. There are currently around 50 people on the waiting list.
Fear for the job
What are the most common problems? Many are concerned about the health of themselves and others, and some are afraid of their jobs, says Fattah. Almost all strategies that could provide relief in the event of a conflict at home have been dropped: meetings with friends, clubs, sports activities. Instead, they are all at the mercy of themselves and each other, sometimes in narrow apartments. Susanne Fattah and her team try to offer relief: They listen, suggest relaxation exercises or the establishment of new routines and encourage everyone to accept what cannot currently be changed.
Unlike Fattah’s team, to which everyone comes voluntarily, Marc Platte and his colleagues from the social pedagogical family support of the Diakonie in Mllheim only deal with families sent by the youth welfare office. They are parents who had few resources even before Corona. In many families, either the parents or the children are mentally ill, says Marc Platte. Some have language barriers and are therefore even more isolated.
Tensions rise, domestic violence increases
Anyone who needs psychotherapy now has additional obstacles because most of them would have to travel to Freiburg by public transport, which scares many off in times of Corona. In the past few months the situation has clearly come to a head: “Tensions are rising, there are more loud arguments and more domestic violence.” Since the beginning of the year, Marc Platte has witnessed three cases of violence and police operations in supervised families. In one of them, a woman physically attacked her partner, otherwise physical violence is mostly perpetrated by men. Many parents had lost their already precarious jobs as a result of the corona pandemic, some were already in debt before that. Now not only is there a lack of money, but also stability through work.
Care for children who get hung up
And some children, who were already educationally disadvantaged, now slipped completely: Instead of being instructed in homeschooling by their parents, they sit in front of the television. Schools and teachers reacted very differently to such cases: “It is not possible to take care of all children who need support.” With some children who had to repeat classes even before Corona because of their school problems, he sees the risk that they will now completely lose motivation and connection. They needed specific help. Instead, it has not yet been considered to alleviate the additional gaps caused by Corona via additional “education and participation” vouchers for tutoring.
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