In view of the experiences during the corona pandemic, the telephone counseling service has expanded its range of services. If the long-term consultations had taken place on site before the pandemic, the advice centers now also adhered to video accompaniment and other formats, as the telephone counseling service Germany (TSD) announced on Monday. Two-thirds of the clients still wanted online or telephone advice.
Long-term advisory services supplement telephone services
Accordingly, long-term counseling offers supplement the all-day telephone offer for crisis intervention. The concept of so-called blended counseling is now increasingly being used for such advice.
The properties of the various media are used consciously depending on the concerns, circumstances and progress in the consultation process. For example, it could make sense to “first advise a highly contentious couple from different locations together via video, arrange one-on-one calls with both of them over the phone and later advise both of them personally on site.”
Trained volunteers in telephone pastoral care
According to their own statements, around 7,700 trained volunteers are currently working in telephone counseling. They are available on the phone 24 hours a day, all year round. At 25 locations, there is also on-site advice from full-time staff with relevant professional experience, who are available to support longer-term processes. All counseling offers are anonymous and free of charge.
On World Suicide Prevention Day, the telephone counseling service urges people to deal sensitively with the risk of suicide. On the homepage www.telefonseelsorge.de a blog parade on the subject of “suicide prevention” is to take place, as the telephone counseling service announced on Thursday in Bonn. Bloggers have until September 17th to submit a thematically appropriate contribution “and in this way contribute to raising awareness”.
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