Registration for adults

How do I register with Hemayat?

1. Registration: Affected persons can register personally or by telephone during office hours (Mon/Wed/Friday 08:00-13:00, Tue/Thursday 13:00-17:00) or by e-mail (anmeldung@hemayat.org). Please use our data sheet for registration: ANMELDUNG

2. Clearing: After registration, we will contact you within a few weeks for an appointment for a clarification meeting. The appointment will be communicated via telephone. The clarification interview lasts approximately 50 minutes. If desired, an interpreter will be present for you. Please bring any psychiatric findings and your current list of medications with you to the interview. During the interview, we will clarify whether Hemayat is the right place for your request and what we can recommend or offer in individual cases. 

3. Waiting time: Unfortunately, there are longer waiting times for individual psychotherapy. However, during the waiting period, other services are available, such as movement- and psychotherapy groups or clinical psychological counselling. Individual appointments are available in case of crisis. These can be arranged via the office. For psychiatric treatment, appointments are usually scheduled within two to eight weeks. If your telephone number or address changes, please let us know!

4. Start of therapy/start of treatment: HEMAYAT will contact you by phone as soon as treatment can start. Psychotherapy usually takes place once a week. The duration of psychotherapy varies individually. Psychiatric appointments take place in longer intervals of two to eight weeks.

How can Hemayat help?

1. Psychotherapy: The main goal of psychotherapy is to alleviate or eliminate symptoms, to help overcome life crises and to promote health. The treatment consists primarily of conversations. Depending on the psychotherapeutic method, the treatment can be supported and promoted by physical exercises and creative work.

Psychotherapy usually takes place once a week and lasts 50 minutes. The duration of therapy is a professional decision made by the therapist together with the client. If necessary, the psychotherapeutic conversations are interpreted by specially trained interpreters. Both the therapists and the interpreters are bound by a duty of confidentiality and treat all contents of the therapy as confidential.

2. Psychiatric treatment: Certain medications can relieve symptoms such as insomnia or listlessness. Psychiatric treatment either precedes psychotherapy or is used in parallel as a supportive measure. Hemayat assigns the patients to a psychiatric specialist or informs them where they can seek appropriate help.

 

3. Therapeutic sports and movement group: The groups are conducted separately for women and men. Each group is led by a trainer and a therapist. Exercise promotes health and well-being in general; special exercises can help to improve sleep, relieve pain or anxiety. In this way, the participants learn what is good for them and how they can help themselves.

4. Art therapy: Sometimes it is not possible to talk about what has happened. Art therapy offers the possibility to express inner feelings in a different way: With materials such as clay, wood or colors, pictures and sculptures are created. The process of creating something yourself strengthens one's own resources and self-esteem. 

5. Shiatsu: Shiatsu is a body therapy offered by Hemayat in combination with psychotherapy. In contrast to a classic massage, the client remains clothed during a Shiatsu treatment. Shiatsu has proven to be helpful in painful conditions, tension and sleep disorders and supports the positive perception of one's own body.

What can HEMAYAT not help with?

Hemayat does not employ any legal advisors or social workers. Therefore, we cannot help with finding a place to live or work, with questions regarding family reunification or the asylum procedure. In such cases we refer to other counseling centres that specialize in these topics. Due to our waiting times, we unfortunately cannot be immediately available for acute problems or crises. In this case, we refer to the addresses for emergencies (see below).

Emergency addresses

We are sorry that we are unable to provide help immediately in the event of a crisis.

In case of an emergency, we refer to the following addresses:

Sozialpsychiatrischer Notdienst

Akutpsychiatrien

What is trauma?

Uncontrollable, (life-)threatening experiences are referred to as psychological "trauma", i. e. a mental injury, and can lead to so-called posttraumatic disorders: Nothing's the same anymore. Affected people may feel changed, suffer from anxiety, sleep disorders, nightmares or physical discomfort. Some are irritable, aggressive or have difficulty concentrating. It is normal for such complaints and problems to appear (much) later – often when those affected are already in Austria.

The most common post-traumatic disorders are post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorder and depression.

Trauma can lead to various reactions and symptoms. Common symptoms and complaints are described below. If several of the listed symptoms occur repeatedly, it is likely that the person is affected by post-traumatic disorders. In this case, it is recommended to seek professional advice:

  • Recurrent, distressing memories of the traumatic experiences: These can take the form of nightmares, intrusive memories, or flashbacks. Sometimes it feels as if the terrible situation is happening again, and they can no longer distinguish what is real.
  • Places, thoughts, feelings, and situations that remind them of the trauma are avoided.
  • Affected persons can no longer fall asleep or sleep through the night; they are jumpy, anxious, easily irritable and have trouble calming down. They find it difficult to take in new information and to concentrate and orientate themselves.
  • People who are affected often retreat and suffer from feelings of hopelessness, emptiness, and joylessness. Feelings of guilt and shame may also occur.
  • Sometimes unexplained pain, dizziness or nausea, for which there is no medical explanation. Increased feelings of hunger or loss of appetite are also possible. 
  • The distressing symptoms lead some individuals to increased consumption of harmful substances such as alcohol, nicotine, or illegal substances.