Consulting
Every woman who makes it to a women's shelter receives ongoing, individualized counseling throughout her stay. However, we also offer external counseling services to women who do not move into the 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 reference counselor, whereby the children have their own counselor in order to be able to represent their needs and concerns impartially. When providing advice and support, the safety of the women's shelter residents is always the top priority, which goes hand in hand with absolute confidentiality of address and personal data.
Living together
With 47 places in the Autonomous Women's Shelter, every woman has the opportunity to experience and try out new things in the shelter in order to overcome previously unresolved problems. The removal of taboos about violence and solidarity with one another play a major role in this. Only what is said can change during the stay!
Residents of the women's shelter are encouraged and challenged to shape their own non-violent future. The counseling processes are based on the decisions and personal life plan of each individual.
To meet the diverse interests and needs of residents, it is increasingly necessary to expand cooperation and networking. Group activities primarily strengthen the social cohesion of all residents by enabling them to resolve conflicts verbally, uncover discrimination, foster tolerance, and promote solidarity. These include, for example, house meetings, theme nights, daily discussions, house organization, safety training such as fire safety drills, mothers' evenings, expert talks with speakers (e.g., gynecologists, lawyers, ...), excursions and leisure activities, holiday planning, family discussions, group conflict resolution, creative workshops, networking with former residents and cooperation partners, role-playing games, DIY and cooking; medium-term projects, such as preparing exhibitions, supporting political actions, and participating in the development of informational materials, etc.
Counseling in the women's shelter is individualized and can include various topics
A home without violence
Clarification of security issues and plans
Intercultural women's shelter
Strengthening personal responsibility and parenting skills
Support with separation anxiety
Accompaniment to institutions and authorities (housing office, court, child benefit fund, childcare, school, work, ...)
Accompanying traumatized women in the event of direct attacks and violence during their stay in the women's shelter and/or secondary traumatization
Migration and integration, tolerance and diversity of life
Development of conflict resolution and coping strategies
Health care (e.g. accompaniment to doctors, psychotherapy, clinics, ...)
Aliens law matters with hardship regulations
Resource work
Empowerment and participation projects
Precarious financial situations and debt
Apartment search
Employment, training, further education and language courses
Child education and care
Parental custody and rights of access
Children
A stay in a women's shelter is also a particularly challenging situation for children.
The empowerment of children in the women's shelter is based on participation in order to give them a say and a sense of self-efficacy. Educational work with the children in the autonomous women's shelter is just as important as counseling the women.
Children and young people are the designers and experts of their everyday lives. Of course, all mothers in the women's shelter continue to carry out their parenting responsibilities, but the children and young people are supported in their individual development and change by educational counselors.
Among other things, children have a right to:
Safety and Protection
Relief from family problems and feelings of guilt
Intimacy and privacy
Contact with family members who do not live in the house
Information on the new family constellation
Care, attention and recognition from adult caregivers
Support for the development of their personality with their own rights
Equal opportunities and social participation
Non-violent communication
Own contact persons
Helping to shape everyday life in the women's shelter, e.g. children's meetings, leisure activities, etc.
Children and young people are given the opportunity to talk about their sometimes traumatic experiences. They experience that they no longer need to be afraid in their new environment. They can calm down and learn through conversations and play that, despite the losses associated with the separation from their previous place of residence (friends, toys, pets, etc.), their feelings of powerlessness and helplessness are gradually replaced by positive feelings.
The children and young people receive impartial advice, support and encouragement from a multi-professional team, which also includes male freelancers. Gender-sensitive and gender-role-critical attitudes within the staff of the women's shelter are an important conceptual and pedagogical requirement, as are the processing of the individual history of violence, the reality of life and the specific problems of the children and young people living in the women's shelter. Participation and self-empowerment processes are further pedagogical principles of our work. These are particularly important for these children and young people, as they often had hardly any opportunities for co-determination in their families for fear of further violence.