Throughout Germany, refugees can benefit from psychosocial support offers. Some contact points are, for example, municipal psychosocial information centers that can be found on the website of the municipality in question. For further medical aid in the fields of psychiatry and psychotherapy, please turn to the regional information services of the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (Kassenärztliche Vereinigungen). With the help of these services, you can look for doctors and psychotherapists with specific language skills. The search system “Arztsuche“, initiated by the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, offers an overview over all regional search services. The Center for European Economic Research (Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung, ZEW) provides a nationwide overview over all psychotherapists with Ukrainian and Russian language skills as well as an overview over all psychosocial centers
There is a very wide variety of psychosocial support offers in Germany, for example:
- Consultation online or by telephone
- Consultation in the (emergency)shelters of the federal states
- Consultation offers in cities, towns or municipalities, for instance in psychosocial centers
- Consultation and treatment by psychotherapists and doctors for psychiatry and psychotherapy or for psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy
- Consultation and treatment in psychiatric clinics
Please, find a list of telephone advice services for critical life situations, with, for instance, psychological counselling centers being listed, here:
The free and confidential telephonic counselling service provided by Helpline Ukraine offers support in Ukrainian and Russian for people fleeing from Ukraine to Germany – Mondays to Fridays from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at: 0800 500 225 0
Charité provides video consultation free of charge and without obligation for people who have fled Ukraine and need psychological support. The video consultation is offered in Ukrainian, Russian, English and German.
As of 1st June 2022, Ukrainian refugees in need are entitled to benefits in accordance with the second or the twelfth Code of Social Law (Sozialgesetzbuch, SGB II or SGB XII). In this way, they gain access to statutory health insurance (GKV) and therefore have access to the GKV’s full scope of service. Psychotherapeutic counselling and therapy is also included in the GKV’s scope of services.
In case of mental illness, those insured in the GKV can claim a registered psychotherapist without prior consultation of a doctor. Here, they can choose from psychotherapeutic doctors and psychotherapists. Child and youth psychotherapists as well as future specialized psychotherapists trained in accordance with the reformed initial and continuing training regulations treat children and juveniles up to the age of 21.
In 2017, the introduction of psychotherapeutic consultation hours enabled easier access to out-patient psychotherapy. The consultation hours can be followed by acute treatment and so-called probatory sessions. These are conversations intended for the further clarification of pathology, further indication as well as for the further determination of the patient’s suitability for a specific psychotherapy. Additional psychotherapy sessions, using the appropriate features, need to be applied for at the health insurance in charge. The applications are usually made by the psychotherapists in agreement with the patients.
The patient chooses the psychotherapist or doctor for psychiatry and psychotherapy or for psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy autonomously. An appointment can be connected to a longer waiting period.
If you witnessed or experienced war crimes in Ukraine, you can report them to any police station. Your information helps to punish crimes.
You can find more information on dealing with mental stress here PDF, 221 KB, not barrier-free .