Finding self-help and advice

What this is about

I would like to share experiences with people who are in a similar situation, or I am looking for an independent body that can help me with questions about my health care. Where do I start?

Up front: for self-help groups, Berlin has Selbsthilfe-Kontaktstellen (self-help contact points) in the districts and the Berlin-wide centre SEKIS (self-help contact and information centre) [2]. For questions about health care, the State of Berlin lists independent advice and complaints services [1]. hauptstadt.net does not name individual self-help groups, only the bodies that refer people to them.

Step by step

1. Self-help: contact the contact point in your district. SEKIS Berlin writes: “Would you like advice on group offers? For this, feel free to contact the self-help contact point in your district.” [2] According to the Senatsverwaltung (Senate Department), self-help contact points cooperate with the neighbourhood centres (Stadtteilzentren) funded by the State [3].

2. Search Berlin-wide. SEKIS (Selbsthilfe Kontakt- und Informationsstelle) “provides information on self-help in Berlin, supports groups in setting up or in representing their interests” [2]. According to its own information, SEKIS offers the “Selbsthilfe Berlin” app [2].

3. Start your own group. SEKIS provides a brochure that is meant to offer “a practical guide to setting up self-help groups” [2].

4. Independent advice on health care. On its page “Patientenberatungsstellen” (patient advice centres), the State of Berlin lists, among others [1]:

• the Unabhängige Patientenberatung Deutschland (UPD, Independent Patient Advice Germany), which according to the page advises “independently and free of charge on health and health-law questions” [1]; according to the UPD, its free advice line (“Kostenfreies Beratungstelefon”) is 0800 011 77 22 [4];
• the Psychotherapeutenkammer Berlin (Berlin Chamber of Psychotherapists) with service and search facilities for finding psychotherapy [1];
• the patient advice centre of the Zahnärztekammer Berlin (Berlin Chamber of Dentists) [1];
• the Beschwerde- und Informationsstelle Psychiatrie (BIP, complaints and information office for psychiatry), which “accepts complaints free of charge and anonymously” [1].

5. In a crisis. According to the State of Berlin, you can, “in a psychosocial crisis, or in an acute emotional or psychiatric emergency … turn to the Berliner Krisendienst free of charge and 24 hours a day”; the number for your own district is on the Krisendienst's map [1].

Who is responsible?

Your next step

Find a self-help contact point — SEKIS Berlin refers you to the contact point in your district: https://www.sekis-berlin.de/ [2]

Sources

The sources are in German; quotations in the text are our translations.