Psychological Counseling

Info

Psychological Counseling Center

Info

Information

If you find yourself in an acute crisis situation, you can receive free, round-the-clock support from these organizations:

Upper Franconia Crisis Hotline (0800 655 3000)

Telephone Counseling Service (0800 1110111 or 0800 1110222)

Undergraduate and graduate students can receive support from the Psychological Counseling Center to overcome academic and personal difficulties. A professional consultation can help you turn problems back into goals and find the right path forward.

We advise university and college staff on how to handle concerns regarding students.

We offer one-on-one sessions and, upon request, sessions with family members or other significant others. Sessions take place in person, by phone, or via video.

The Consultation

  • is free of charge, involves no red tape, and is subject to a duty of confidentiality
  • is provided by a team of psychologists with extensive experience in various counseling and therapy settings
  • is based on individual resources
  • helps with gathering information
  • refers individuals to appropriate specialized agencies as needed

Our counseling center provides support to:

  • University of Bayreuth (including the Kulmbach Campus and the Upper Franconia Medical Campus)
  • Bayreuth College of Protestant Church Music
  • OTH Amberg / Weiden
  • Hof / Münchberg University of Applied Sciences
  • Coburg University

Topics we frequently encounter in psychological counseling include …

Academic Topics

  • Time Management
  • Test Anxiety
  • Procrastination
  • Doubts About College

Personal Topics

  • Personal Stress, Crises, and Conflict Situations
  • Difficulties with Separation, Readjustment, and Adjustment
  • Conflicts within the family, in romantic relationships, and in other social contexts
  • Mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, or addiction
  • Counseling on Psychotherapy and Finding a Therapist
  • Caring for Others
Info

Locations

You can find our colleagues right on the University of Bayreuth campus, in the building of the Studierendenwerk Oberfranken (abbreviated as SWO on the signs).

Contacts

No contacts found.

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Dipl. Psych. Kathrin Fahsold

Universitätsstraße 30
95444 Bayreuth
Raum 159

0921 5559-15

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M. Sc. Psych. Svenja Buchner

Universitätsstraße 30
95444 Bayreuth
Raum 163

0921 5559-17

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M. Sc. Psych. Manuela Eckstein

Universitätsstraße 30
95444 Bayreuth
Raum 160

0921 5559-12

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M. Sc. Psych. Verena Gödrich

Universitätsstraße 30
95444 Bayreuth
Raum 164

0921 5559-16

In-person appointments are usually held on Wednesdays. Video and phone appointments are available on all other days of the week.

The counseling sessions take place here:

In Amberg …
“Eisberg” Student Residence
Heiner-Fleischmann-Straße

92224 Amberg

Use the main entrance to the building (near the students’ mailboxes), where the daycare center is also located. After passing through the glass door, turn right into the hallway (third door on the left).

In Weiden…

“Am Postkeller” Student Residence

Schirmitzer Weg 2b

92637 Weiden

The dormitory buildings are designated by different letters. The counseling session takes place on the ground floor of Building B (door on the right).

Contacts

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M. Sc. Psych. Verena Gödrich

Universitätsstraße 30
95444 Bayreuth
Raum 164

0921 5559-16

Undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Bayreuth can receive support from the Psychological Counseling Center to overcome academic and personal difficulties.

Psychological counseling is free of charge, involves no red tape, and is subject to confidentiality.

Your contacts in Bayreuth are Barbara Grüninger-Frost, Verena Gödrich, Manuela Eckstein, and Svenja Buchner.

Please always schedule an appointment in advance. The easiest way to do this is through our online calendar. Please book only one appointment at a time here , not multiple ones. Follow-up appointments can be arranged during your in-person meeting, if necessary. You can find the online calendar here: https://www.etermin.net/studentenwerk-oberfranken. Alternatively, you can schedule an appointment via email. Please also mention in your email that you are a student in Kulmbach. If you need to schedule a meeting on short notice (for available time slots), please contact us via email or phone. Consultations can take place in person in Bayreuth, by phone, or via a secure video connection. Unfortunately, email is not very secure. Therefore, please do not describe your symptoms or the topic you wish to discuss in detail in your email request.

Social counseling is provided by Mr. Heiko Rausch. To schedule an appointment or to ask questions by phone or in writing, you can find his contact information here.

Contacts

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Dipl. Psych. Barbara Grüninger-Frost

Universitätsstraße 30
95444 Bayreuth
Raum 162

0921 5559-52

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M. Sc. Psych. Verena Gödrich

Universitätsstraße 30
95444 Bayreuth
Raum 164

0921 5559-16

Info

Emergency

As a counseling center, we cannot guarantee immediate availability. If you are in an acute crisis situation, you can receive free, round-the-clock support from the following organizations.

  • Medical On-Call Service 116 117
  • Emergency number: 112 – for life-threatening situations
Wavy Help

FAQ

It’s best to contact them directly through the emergency contacts.

Please schedule an appointment at the Psychological Counseling Center. For the Bayreuth location, you can use the counseling calendar, which lists all currently available appointments. Students at the universities in Hof, Coburg, and Amberg-Weiden have the option of receiving counseling at their respective universities by appointment on specific days that take place on a fixed day each week. You can also find the corresponding counseling days on the Studierendenwerk Oberfranken website.

No. Whether you’re struggling with test anxiety or facing personal problems and worries, at the PBS you can discuss not only academic issues but also any personal matters that are weighing on you.

You can contact the PBS for help with both academic difficulties and personal problems and stress. Issues may include, for example, personal crises, questions about coping with stress, test anxiety, and feelings of being overwhelmed by your studies, psychosomatic symptoms, depressive symptoms, anxiety, and addiction, difficulties with separation, reorientation, and adjusting to university life, as well as conflicts within the family, in romantic relationships, and in other interpersonal relationships.

If you have experienced sexual discrimination, harassment, or violence, or if you are unsure how to interpret an experience or situation that felt “somehow strange,” you can also contact the PBS. In addition to the PBS, you can also contact the University of Bayreuth’s Women’s Affairs Officer. On their website, you’ll also find links to other external counseling services.

The University of Bayreuth has also set up an internal emergency number:
. The number 0921/55-3333 is intended as an easily accessible alternative to the police emergency line. In acute emergencies and dangerous situations, please continue to call the usual emergency numbers.

The number is available 24 hours a day. You can call it whenever,

  • If a person is harassed by others in the university buildings or on the university campus,
  • when a person on campus feels unsafe because of the presence of others.

Calls are answered by the University of Bayreuth’s security service, GSB Security. Third parties who witness such incidents can also notify the security service by calling the emergency number.

The security service patrols the campus in the evenings, at night, and on weekends with uniformed personnel and can respond to calls for help very quickly. At other times, the service can be requested via the service control center in Bindlach to respond to the campus and the University of Bayreuth’s off-campus locations.

Examples of situations when you might want to call include:

  • acute harassment (e.g., “someone is watching porn on a computer in the computer lab,” sexist remarks),
  • Stalking (e.g., “Whenever I go to class on Wednesdays, this person follows me and makes uncomfortable remarks”),
  • A feeling of insecurity in a university building or in outdoor areas (e.g., “I’m here alone at night and someone is sneaking around,” “I’m afraid to walk alone to the parking lot or the bus stop in the dark”).

The PBS offers confidential and free counseling sessions. It provides guidance, helps with decision-making and problem-solving, and, if necessary, refers students to appropriate specialized services. In addition, an introductory course on autogenic training and progressive muscle relaxation is offered each semester. The course offerings also include an 8-week mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program and an 8-week mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) program for depression.

The PBS is open to all students at the University of Bayreuth, Coburg University of Applied Sciences, OTH Amberg-Weiden, and Hof University of Applied Sciences. This includes doctoral students as well.

Mental health issues are quite common among students; according to the 2018 BARMER Report, at least 17% of students have been diagnosed with at least one mental health condition, and the actual number of cases is correspondingly higher.

In general, you can come to us with any problems that are on your mind. It can be especially helpful to seek advice when problems haven’t been around for very long or don’t yet seem too overwhelming, so that you can influence how they develop at an early stage.

No. Our consultations are free of charge.

Of course, this varies, but we do our best to offer you an appointment within three weeks whenever possible. In emergencies, we always make it possible to schedule an appointment on very short notice.

Yes, if you are interested in outpatient psychotherapy and have any questions, we would be happy to advise you on how to get in touch and the process involved in psychotherapy.

To successfully find a therapy slot, it helps to take a systematic and objective approach. First, you’ll need an overview of all therapists in your local area who are approved by health insurance providers or who run private practices with a medical license. Therapists often have only short time slots during which they can be reached by phone. In addition, there is almost always a waiting period for a therapy spot. It’s best to keep a list of when you reached whom and what the outcome of the conversation was. Don’t let yourself get frustrated, and don’t give up on your search. Keep at it. Then you’re sure to get a therapy spot.

In the following fact sheet, we have compiled some information in brief. You can find a more detailed version of this information on this website.

In addition, you can find self-assessments, diagnostic criteria, and information on the various forms of treatment at www.therapie.de.

Even then, please feel free to contact us, and we’ll work together to explore what options you might have to help that person, as well as what you need to better cope with the situation yourself.

We are bound by a legal duty of confidentiality and treat everything you discuss with us as strictly confidential. So, of course, neither the university, your insurance company, your parents, nor any government agency will find out if you contact us.

No. Counseling is a low-threshold support service provided in an academic setting and is not medical treatment. It does not need to be mentioned during the pre-employment medical examination for civil service positions.

Yes, we also provide counseling to international students. We offer counseling in German and English.

You can find an overview of all our courses on our website under “News,” or here.

There you’ll also find information about registration.

The courses are primarily funded by the Studentenwerk. In order to offer a comprehensive and high-quality selection of courses, a participation fee is charged. The amount of this fee is also listed in the course description.

No, we do not bill health insurance companies. The counseling service is funded by the Studentenwerk.

Info

Courses

The Studierendenwerk Oberfranken offers various courses and groups each semester:

  • Autogenic Training (In-person in Bayreuth or online, free of charge)
  • Progressive Muscle Relaxation (In-person in Bayreuth or online, free of charge)
  • MBSR = Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (in-person in Bayreuth, with a participation fee)
  • MBCT = Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (in-person in Bayreuth, with a participation fee).
  • Focus Call online: Overcoming Procrastination, every Monday at 9:30 a.m. (no registration required).

In the following article, you’ll find information about the mindfulness courses.

All methods have been scientifically evaluated for their effectiveness and are taught by trained instructors.

Info

Dates

Please always make an appointment in advance.

The easiest way to schedule an appointment is through our online calendar. Please book only one appointment at a time here, not multiple ones. Follow-up appointments will be scheduled during your in-person consultation, if necessary. You can find the online calendar here: https://www.etermin.net/studentenwerk-oberfranken

Note: For the Hof/Münchberg location, appointments can only be scheduled via email; they cannot be scheduled through the online calendar.

Alternatively, you can schedule an appointment by emailing . Please also indicate in this email which campus you are attending. Unfortunately, email security is not very high. Therefore, please do not yet describe the symptoms or the topic to be discussed in detail in your email requesting an appointment.

If you need to schedule a meeting on short notice and there are no available times listed in the online calendar, please contact us by email or phone.

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