Registration for children and adolescents

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. Child and adolescent psychotherapy

The main goal of psychotherapy is to alleviate or eliminate symptoms, to help overcome life crises and to promote health. An important basis of the treatment is to create a safe space in which children and young people can talk about things that are incriminating. Especially with smaller children, playing together is an important method of therapy.

Psychotherapy usually takes place once a week and lasts 50 minutes. The duration of therapy is a professional decision made by the therapist. 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 - also towards parents and caregivers. Since good cooperation is important, if necessary parents and caregivers can also be consulted.

 

2. Child psychotherapy and art therapy groups

The children and adolescents are grouped into appropriate age groups. Depending on the age and needs of the children and adolescents, a wide variety of methods are used: for example clay, wood, paint, and stone are used for creative design; children and adolescents can try out their skills in theatre, experiment with musical instruments and tell stories. The process of creating something by themselves strengthens one's own resources and self-esteem - children and young people can discover their own abilities. Cooperation is also important within the group: the children and young people enjoy playing together and exchanging experiences.

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:

Emergency departments for children and adolescents:

Univ. Klinik für Kinder- und Jugendpsychiatrie (AKH): The emergency outpatient clinic is open around the clock for acute psychiatric problems of childhood and adolescence, so especially in acute crises and suicidal risk. You do not need an appointment to present your case of emergency. Please report to the counter during the opening hours of the outpatient clinic, after 4 p. m. on: +43 (0)1 40400 - 61184.

Outpatient clinic for child and adolescent psychiatry Rosenhügel: preregistration by phone is required at: 01 880 00 - 339/ 338 on weekdays from 1.30-15.30 pm or for emergencies 24-hour acute outpatient clinic.

Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Outpatient Clinic (PSD):
Wolkersbergenstraße 1 (KH Hietzing), Pavilion 14, entrance Versorgungsheimplatz, 1130 Vienna, Telephone 0676 8118 53359, 0676 8118 53348, 0676 8118 53427

Appointment: Monday to Thursday from 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.

Boje - Outpatient clinic for children and adolescents in crisis situations
Phone: 01/406 66 02
Appointments: Monday to Friday from 9 am - 2 pm

What is a trauma and how can it manifest itself in children and adolescents?

Uncontrollable, (life-)threatening experiences are referred to as psychological "trauma", i. e. a mental injury. Minors who have had to flee from war zones have often been victims of violence or have witnessed violence. Unaccompanied minor refugees are in an exceptional situation, as they are usually left completely on their own and without protection on the run. In addition, minors can be burdened secondarily by the traumatization of their parents: Parents who have survived severe psychological injuries with traumatisation that threaten their existence are often not sufficiently able to offer their children the necessary attention and emotional care. Children witness their parent’s anxiety, nervousness, depressiveness and insomnia.

Common symptoms in children that may indicate traumatisation:

  • The children retreat, cling more tightly to their parents again.
  • They are anxious, jumpy, and cry frequently.
  • The way they play is peculiar, e.g., violent situations are repeatedly re-enacted or staged.
  • Children stop talking or develop tics; wetting and defecation may occur at night.
  • Children often complain about physical discomforts such as abdominal pain, headaches, or vomiting.
  • They have difficulty concentrating or remembering new information.

Common symptoms in adolescents that may indicate traumatisation:

  • Recurring, distressing memories of the traumatic experiences: these may take the form of nightmares, intrusive memories, or flashbacks. Sometimes it feels to the affected person as if the terrible situation is just 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 cannot fall asleep or stay asleep well; they are jumpy, anxious, easily irritable, and have trouble calming down. It is difficult to take in new information and to concentrate and orientate themselves.
  • Those affected often retreat and suffer from feelings of hopelessness, emptiness and unhappiness. Feelings of guilt and shame can also occur.
  • The distressing symptoms can lead to increased consumption of harmful substances such as alcohol, nicotine and illegal substances.
  • In addition, there are often impulse control disorders, self-injurious behavior and suicidal thoughts.