If your thoughts go roundabout, be brave and look for 2 ears

Sometimes it seems as if there is no solution. In this predicament, a well-meaning listener helps you to steer your gaze in a new direction. With new impulses you can discover a different picture. You can recognise where your strengths and resources lie dormant, we inspire you, especially now, to lovingly meet yourself and encourage you to leave the shell. An open, respectful and dignified approach, the elimination of misunderstandings and a broad wealth of knowledge and experience on the subject of mental well-being make our society a little bit better every day.

This is how it all began

With the corona pandemic, people's increasing extra burdens in everyday life became more obvious and noticeable. Regardless of age and profession, whether living alone or in a family, people felt their limits more and more clearly, some slipping into personal crises. The more the virus restricted our everyday life, the more insecurity, fear and soon hopelessness grew. This movement was countered by 4 committed coaches with an initiative to help people in these difficult times free of charge, uncomplicatedly and quickly. At the same time, they stepped up to make our crisis-ridden society more open, more approachable and more empathetic.

The nut you can't crack alone opens in conversation

As trained coaches, we know about the power of talking. And time and again we are amazed at how an open ear breaks dams, how people let go more easily and how voice and facial features become softer and softer. Clearly, TALKING helps and works without restrictions even in times of isolation, via telephone or digitally with mobile phone and screen.

The initiative quickly grew out of its infancy, the founding team halved in size and also devoted itself to other tasks. On a voluntary basis, the 2 founding coaches Ute and Florian searched for and found more and more professional listeners, the energetic organisation team coordinates and communicates, a website and social media carry our offer into the world. We continue to develop and grow with our network and corporate partners. Since 2021, Redezeit FÜR DICH has been a non-profit company (gUG).

What we care about, the individual in the here and now

Long before Redezeit, Ute and Florian felt inspired by the simple and straightforward concept of the sidewalk talk initiative. A few years ago, a small group of psychologists placed chairs on the street in the middle of San Francisco. Surprisingly quickly, people took their seats to talk about their happiness and unhappiness or their worries.

Although Redezeit is still communicating via devices at the moment, we are also planning personal encounters in the future. The focus is always on the person, with his or her physical and mental state, resources and burdens. Our conversations promote the connection between the interlocutors and to oneself. Together we are better able to explore and draw boundaries. And we look at the environment so that these very boundaries can also be lived.

Currently, our speech time seekers mainly bring the following topics to us:

• Alone or in a family, how do we cope with everyday private life under increasing strain? How do we (re)come together with different opinions and views? How do we manage to be empathetic and caring for children and elderly family members?

• How do I manage crises and conflicts in the professional environment? How do I deal with bullying, problems with superiors and team conflicts? How do I manage to look beyond my pile of tasks again and not disappear behind it? Do I see a light at the end of the tunnel again professionally?

• How do I find my way in life? What do I do when I have no one to tell about my worries and the burden of my feelings? Teenagers and young adults are especially welcome to join us, call us, we know how hard you've been having it these past months

• What can we do to ensure that our silver generation (again) participates in social life at eye level without becoming lonely?

What does it mean to be healthy? Even if our head hurts after a hard day or tension temporarily limits us, many of us feel predominantly healthy. Yet this view is strongly focused on our physical well-being. But is that enough? The World Health Organisation (WHO) focuses its attention on other influencing factors. It defines health as: "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not the absence of disease or infirmity". Mental health thus also includes positive aspects such as well-being, job satisfaction, community life and individual resources. 

The question of mental health, quite honestly, almost no one dares to ask. When we feel exhausted, overwhelmed, burnt out, anxious, sad and hurt, we do everything we can to hide behind a bad day or adverse external circumstances. The longer we go underground, the more our energy reserves decrease.

Why? Because we are afraid, and there are reasons for that.

We often fear the reactions of our close environment or our personal network to a mental crisis, burn-out or depression. Feelings and thoughts are rarely or only superficially talked about. Often we have not learned to talk openly about our well-being, perceptions, mental crises and mental health in our families or at school. Many of us are trained to talk down difficulties and push away unpleasant feelings.

These fears become smaller when we extinguish the fires, learn new ways of behaving and also deliberately let positive aspects flow into our perception. In this way, we gradually move towards a happy and fulfilled life. When the balance of challenge and well-being succeeds, we are also mentally healthy.

It is inherent in us humans to fear and avoid all that we do not understand or cannot yet explain, as individuals and unfortunately also as a society. It is time to treat everyone with tolerance and dignity, to remove the stigma of (mental) otherness and to provide for a broader understanding of mental health. This is what we at REDEZEIT FÜR DICH stand for.

How we engage in the professional environment and together with companies

We are pleased to observe a growing interest in preventive and active measures to promote mental health in the professional environment. Various offers have been successfully introduced. Nevertheless, these options are still being taken up hesitantly in some cases. Honestly, would we be so brave to talk about our mental stress in our company? Either we've been at it too short or just too long, maybe the contact persons don't seem so open and we find another reason to wait and see. We understand that. And we have been looking for a way out, because enduring is not a solution.

Our offer to open our speaking time listeners as external and unbiased ears also for topics around companies was very gladly and openly accepted. We have teamed up with companies that share and support our values. We receive calls from Hermes, Otto, Jimdo or Great Place To Work as well as from many other companies. You can find out who among our listeners is an expert on working life, jobs and careers via our filter function here or via your company website. 

The cooperation with companies helps us to place our services exactly where people need us to manage their everyday lives. In return, we are able to cover our running costs for servers, domains and IT licences, and to spread our services to the world. All income flows directly into the further development of the content and structure of REDEZEIT, so that our vision of making our help available to everyone free of charge and further promoting mental health becomes reality.

With educational offers we provide for more knowledge, openness, dignity and tolerance

In addition to our core task of listening in critical situations and crises, we are committed to a broad and better understanding in the field of mental health. We are passionate about sharing insights and new information with you. How nice it would be if every family had a medicine cabinet for mental health as naturally as the small medicine cabinet with the ointments and plasters. After all, we don't go to the emergency room for every graze when a plaster will do. Our growing blog aims to provide you with entertaining and continuous new tips, because what you know and understand, you don't have to fear.

Our ever-growing community is also provided with training and exchange opportunities. Learning with and from each other is an important step towards a more open, tolerant and mentally healthy society.

Please note:

As extensive as our offer is and will be, listening is no substitute for professional coaching or therapy. But listening helps to bridge the time until therapy begins.

Our purpose, mission, vision and values.

Self-image

REDEZEIT FÜR DICH is committed to supporting the mental health of society. The platform is easy and quick to access, professional in listening, for problems and concerns that need a sympathetic ear now.

Purpose

We believe that talking helps to better perceive one's own psychological burdens and limits and to be able to talk about them more openly with others in the environment. And the best thing about it: talking connects and leads to an open, reflective, empathetic society. 

Mission

We advocate for self-care and prevention from mental challenges or impairments as a matter of course and thus make an important contribution to individual mental health. We promote and demand the maintenance of mental health as a state of well-being in which a person can realise his or her abilities and contribute to the community. 

Vision

REDEZEIT FÜR DICH is committed to making it a matter of course to confide in each other, to talk about what is bothering us or when we need help. To this end, we want to establish mental self-care as a social standard. REDEZEIT FÜR DICH is committed to preventing mental stress disorders as far as possible. 

REDEZEIT FÜR DICH sees itself as part of a large mental health support network working to destigmatise mental distress. We want to contribute to the intra- and interpersonal recognition of mental distress. 

REDEZEIT FÜR DICH offers input, support for mental self-care, perception of (stressful) emotions and (everyday) crises through its blog LESEZEIT on its own channels.

REDEZEIT FÜR DICH offers a serious alternative to company health management and other offers in the field of mental health.

Our values

We do not pursue economic, political or religious goals. All listeners at REDEZEIT hear regardless of the topic, origin, skin colour, background, identity, sexuality, religion or political views.

We are

• non-profit

• free of charge

• society oriented

• trustworthy and trusting

• empathic

• value-free