Many people who have fled their home countries are heavily affected by traumatic experiences both in their country of origin and during their escape. Refugio München offers therapy and counselling to refugees who have been traumatized or have developed mental problems after enduring war, persecution, torture and flight.
Around 30-40 percent of refugees in Germany suffer from a trauma-related mental illness. Among children and adolescents, even every second person can be affected. However, very few of them receive adequate treatment. Refugio Munich is a counseling and treatment center for traumatized refugees. With a wide range of psychosocial, therapeutic and educational offers and cooperation with interpreters, we are one of few contact points for traumatized refugees in Bavaria. Since 1994 we have been helping people who have fled war, persecution and torture and who have experienced terrible things while fleeing. Every year we help around 2,000 refugee children, young people and adults to cope with traumatic experiences and the challenges of a new life situation in Germany. The success of the work of Refugio Munich is based on the high level of professionalism of the employees, the extraordinary commitment of many volunteers and the interdisciplinary networking in the local, national and European area.
We work with different therapeutic approaches like behaviour therapy, depth psychology, systemic therapy and talking therapy. Especially when working with children and teenagers we implement creative methods such as art and music therapy. If possible, conversations are held in our client’s native language, and we organize an interpreter if required. The sessions are offered for free to refugees.
Admission criteria
As our capacities for treatment are limited, we primarily accept refugees speaking neither German nor English who do not have any access to regular psychotherapeutic care offered by health insurances.
No prescription or medication
We cannot prescribe pharmaceuticals. However, if medication is required, we consult a psychiatrist for a prescription. In some specific cases it is possible and reasonable to combine psychotherapeutic treatment and medication.
Information and application
Please note: Currently the number of people signed up for therapy at our institution exceeds the places we can offer for treatment. Unfortunately, this means that even in cases of high necessity, it is possible that we cannot accept applications. We regret this and we are constantly working to extend our capacities.
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Social counselling
For refugees being in therapy or in psychological counselling at Refugio, we also offer social counselling and/or asylum counselling. Our social pedagogues closely cooperate with the respective colleagues from the departments of psychotherapy and psychological counselling. This enables us to offer individual social support. Our team especially focuses on questions of residence, work permits, housing and other topics related to the refugees’ lives in Germany. This further includes integration, schooling, vocational training, German courses and other assistance measures. If required, interpreters can be organized to help this exchange.
more offers
Group sessions for the improvement of sleep for young Afghans (Dari)
Insomnia represents a common and very stressful problem for many refugees. It is often accompanied by other mental health issues and can persist even if these are treated successfully. Refugio München offers a culturally sensitive group therapy to learn how to deal with insomnia. The goal is to create an easily accessible and practical/real life related approach in order to confront the whole range of sleeping related issues.
Group to boost emotion regulation:
STARK (German for „strong“) Skills-training of affect regulation – a culturally sensitive approach
People with traumatic experiences often have to cope with very intense emotions in their everyday life and frequently, they lack strategies how to deal with them. This may lead to impulsive or self-destructive behaviour (self-injury, alcohol abuse, etc.). In our STARK group we try to convey specific skills to regain a sense of security and control and to find a better way of dealing with stressful situations in the future.
Migration counselling
We offer social counselling regarding integration and in situations of social emergency to people with a migration background and/or experience of displacement with a secured residence permit. We actively support our clients on an individual basis during the first steps towards a full engagement in our society. This includes questions of education such as German and integration courses or vocational training but also social issues like housing, social care and family reunification.
Therapeutic counselling for women
The therapeutic counselling for women was created especially for women with a migration background who show trauma sequelae due to experiences of gender specific violence. We especially concentrate on women who have become victims of politically motivated sexualized violence or human trafficking – in particular forced prostitution.
Specialist medical reports
As part of a medial assessment we examine questions of traumatization and trauma sequelae. Usually, we can only accept cases with pre-existing reports which have been considered insufficient for the asylum process or residence permit procedure by the authorities.
For further information please contact us during counselling hours:
Monday 10 a.m. – 12 a.m.
Thursday 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.
Phone: 089/ 98 29 57 0