Consulting
Every woman who makes it to the women's shelter receives continuous and individual counseling throughout her stay. However, we also offer external counseling to women who do not move into the women's shelter. We do not counsel perpetrators and do not offer couples counseling.
At the Autonomous Women's Shelter Lübeck, all residents and their children are supported by a dedicated counselor. The children have their own counselor to ensure their needs and concerns are represented impartially. The safety of the women's shelter residents is always the top priority in counseling and support, which includes absolute confidentiality of the address and personal data.
Living together
With 47 places in the Autonomous Women's Shelter, every woman has the opportunity to experience and try new things in the house to overcome problems that have so far remained unresolved. The destigmatization of violence and solidarity with each other play a major role in this. Only what is spoken can change during the stay!
Residents of the women's shelter are encouraged and challenged to shape their non-violent future. The counseling processes are oriented towards the decisions and personal life plans of each individual.
To meet the diverse interests and needs of residents, it is increasingly necessary to expand cooperation and networking. Group offerings primarily strengthen the social interaction of all residents by resolving conflicts verbally, uncovering discrimination, fostering tolerance, and promoting solidarity. These include, for example, house meetings, topic evenings, daily discussions, house organization, safety training such as fire safety drills, mothers' evenings, expert talks with speakers (e.g., gynecologist, lawyer, etc.), excursions and leisure activities, holiday planning, family discussions, group conflict resolution, creative workshops, networking with former residents and cooperation partners, role-playing, DIY, and cooking; medium-term projects, such as preparing exhibitions, supporting political actions, participating in the development of flyers, etc.
The counseling at the women's shelter is individualized and can cover various topics.
A home without violence
Clarification of security issues and plans
Intercultural Women's Shelter
Strengthening personal responsibility and parenting skills
Support for separation anxiety
Accompanying to institutions and authorities (housing office, court, child benefit fund, childcare, school, work, ...)
Support for traumatized women during direct attacks and violence while in a women's shelter and/or with secondary traumatization.
Migration and integration, tolerance and diversity of lifestyles
Development of conflict resolution and coping strategies
Healthcare (including accompaniment to doctors, psychotherapy, clinics, etc.)
Foreign nationals law matters with hardship provisions
Resource work
Empowerment and Participation Projects
Support in precarious financial situations and debt
Housing search assistance
Support for employment, training, further education, and language courses
Child rearing and care
Custody and visitation rights
Children
Staying at a women's shelter is a particularly challenging situation for children as well.
The empowerment of children in the women's shelter is based on participation, enabling them to have a say and experience self-efficacy. The pedagogical work with the children in the autonomous women's shelter is just as important as the counseling of the women.
Children and adolescents are agents and experts in their daily lives. Of course, all mothers in the women's shelter continue to fulfill their parental responsibilities, but the children and adolescents are supported in their individual further development and change through pedagogical guidance from their case managers.
Children have a right to, among other things:
Safety and security
Relief from family problems and feelings of guilt
Intimacy and Privacy
Contact with family members who do not live in the household
Information on the new family constellation
Care, affection, and recognition from adult caregivers
Support for the development of their personality with their own rights
Equal opportunity and social participation
Nonviolent Communication
Own contacts
Co-creation in the everyday life of a women's shelter, e.g. children's council, leisure activities, etc.
Children and adolescents are given the opportunity to talk about their often traumatic experiences. They experience that they no longer need to be afraid in the new environment. They can calm down and, through conversations and play, experience that despite the losses associated with leaving their previous place of residence (friends, toys, pets, etc.), their feelings of powerlessness and helplessness are gradually replaced by positive emotions.
Children and adolescents receive non-partisan advice, support, and development from a multidisciplinary team, which also includes male honorarium staff. Gender-sensitive and gender-role critical attitudes among the women's shelter staff are an important conceptual and pedagogical aspiration, as is the consideration of the individual history of violence, the life realities, and specific problem situations of the children and adolescents living in the women's shelter. Participation and self-empowerment processes form further pedagogical principles of our work. These are of great importance especially for these children and adolescents, as they often had few opportunities for participation within their families due to fear of further violence.