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What exactly is behind the B2gether project?
Christiane Nübel: We are a team of five social pedagogues and educational scientists and we all have further training in online counseling. Together we launched B2gether in July last year. B2gether is a free online advisory service for young people between the ages of 16 and 25 from Freiburg and the counties of Emmendingen and Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald. The project is carried out by the Catholic Association for Girls and Women’s Work IN VIA in the Archdiocese of Freiburg and financed by the Aktion Mensch. We advise on a wide range of topics. You can come to us with anything and we will try to find a solution together. It is important to us that nobody feels that they have to be alone with their problems. Hence the name of the project: “be together”.
How did the idea for an online consultation come about?
We came up with the idea of online counseling because we noticed that the inhibition threshold for personal counseling is often very high, especially among young people. With our guiding principle “write us what you can’t say” we want to encourage young people to share their problems without shame. The anonymous online consultation creates something like a safe space and it is easier to speak openly and honestly about feelings. This is very helpful for both parties.
So that means the advice is completely anonymous?
Yeah right. We advise either on our homepage via chat or via email. If an email reaches us, we will reply within three days. All employees advise under a pseudonym to ensure anonymity. We also offer that you can switch from online advice to face-to-face advice. If the person feels comfortable with their personal advisor and so desires, they can come over on site. Hence the regional limitation of the advice for the district of Freiburg and the Upper Black Forest.
What are the topics discussed?
You can really contact us with all topics. Corona and the ban on contact mean that loneliness is a big issue at the moment. Since the lockdown, there have actually been more who use our advice. The lack of contact with friends also exacerbates the problems that people have been dealing with before. We talk a lot about everyday problems, be it exam stress or relationship problems. But also issues like domestic violence or sexual abuse. If we notice that the solution to the problem cannot be achieved only through online advice, we will also refer you to other places and will continue to accompany you if requested. It is important, however, that our advice is of course not a substitute for psychotherapy.
In addition to online advice, there is also the so-called B2 meeting. What’s this?
During our consultation, we noticed that there are many young people who have great difficulty in coming into contact with others and who simply feel lonely. And so the idea arose that we offer a space outside of the internet to create real encounters. With our meeting we want to make it possible for B2 users to network offline. Joint activities and leisure events make it easier to meet new people. Unfortunately, due to Corona, this cannot happen at the moment, but you can usually find regular appointments on our website when we meet.
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