Counseling Psychology

Counseling skills are basic tools for future psychologists - next to diagnostics and therapy - and characterize the work profile of many practical working psychologists. Generally it can be said, that the counselor provides his knowledge and competences to another person, a group, or even an organization, so that this person (group, or organization), can successfully cope with her/his fears and problems. Also, counseling aims to place the person looking for help into a position, where she/he is able to find solutions for her/his problems by herself/himself. In order for this to happen, counseling offers detailed information for specific problems, as well as solutions, or strengthens the self-regulating potential of the person looking for help.

Hidden underneath the word 'counseling' are many different ways of working, as well as very specific goals and approaches, depending on the area of application. Nevertheless, the basic aspects of counseling are used in various areas: in the clinical-psychological sector, working with relatives of people with psychological disorders; in the educational-psychological area like in school counseling or educational counseling; in the field of organizational and personnel counseling, or lately also in the medical context (e.g. patient counseling and training concepts). The same basic skills are used every time, specified for the certain demands of each area of counseling.

The Counseling Group is concerned with research approaches in counseling psychology. How do problems appear? Which models of change relevant for counseling are being named? Additionally, basic skills in the work with patients are being imparted, mainly the ability of how to lead a conversation: How do I start a conversation with patients or clients? How do I deal with difficult situations (e.g. a lack of cooperation between two parties)? How can I as a psychologist, contribute to finding solutions to problems? The particular demands in the different work fields of counseling and the specifics of counseling are being developed by means of selected fields of counseling (school, educational counseling, and working with the chronically physical ill).

• Patienten-Trainings- und Beratungszentrum (PTZ)  
• Graduate School of Developmental Psychopathology and Evidence-based Intervention