Beratungsstelle Frauen helfen Frauen e.V.

About us

As the women's movement was confronting the topic "violence against women" and as the tabu related to the problem lessened, the association "Women Help Women" was founded in Munster in 1977.

From the beginning, the association's work consisted of three main areas
• Protection and assistance for women and their children affected by violence
• Support in the form of advice
• public relations (to draw attention to violence against women)

In 1981 a women's shelter was established. In 1986 the counselling centre and the women's shelter split up and founded two independent associations: "Counselling Centre Women Help Women" and "Women's shelter, Women Help Women".
Our concept
• We are a contact point for women and girls (aged 16 and over) who are in difficult life situations.
• The focus of our work is the relationship between the therapist and the client, which is based on respect for each woman and her uniqueness.
• The dialogue between therapist and client deals with the relationship between feelings, conflicts, strengths and weaknesses and the respective life story as well as the current life situation.
• The individual problem or the specific illness of every woman coming to us is not considered in isolation, but understood in the web of social relationships.
• We also understand mental, psychosomatic and physical symptoms in response to conflicting role expectations, repressive and restrictive living conditions, and traumatic situations faced by women.

Our work:
• We are therapists with pedagogical and socio-scientific backgrounds and with various additional therapeutic training.
• We have many years of experience in the field of trauma therapy, therapy for eating disorders and dissociative identity disorder.
• We are resource-oriented.
• In counselling and therapy, we integrate different methods from gestalt therapy, trauma therapy, psychodrama, psychotherapy, body therapies, art therapy and sex therapy.

Gabriele Brodesser is a psychotherapist at the Advice Centre Women Help Women.

On request we can offer other net participants advice, give a presentation, and provide up-to-date information and contacts in the field of our work.