Adults
The general procedure is as follows:
- Contact and appointment for an initial consultation via the telephone consultation hours
(if possible, a direct appointment will be made here) - Initial consultation (psychotherapeutic consultation):
Please bring your health insurance card. Duration: 50 minutes + filling out documents (approx. 15 minutes) + further psychotherapeutic consultation appointments if necessary - Trial sessions (2-4 sessions)
- Completion of the sessions or application for long-term psychotherapy in the Psychotherapeutic University Outpatient Clinic
- After acceptance of the therapy application: implementation of psychotherapy (usually weekly)
Children and young people
The general procedure is as follows:
Contact and appointments for an initial consultation are made via the telephone consultation hours
(where possible, appointments are made directly). Important questions that we clarify directly on the phone are
- What is the reason for the call? What is the current problem?
- At what times could an appointment be made (e.g. taking into account the timetable)?
- Would (both) legal guardians agree to the treatment?
Note for adolescents: From the age of 15, you may contact a psychotherapist without first asking your parents or legal guardian(s) for permission. You can therefore register with us independently! We will then clarify together in confidence whether psychotherapy makes sense and whether, how and when adults may be involved. Important: Therapists are bound to confidentiality. As long as no one is in danger, we are only allowed to talk to other people about the fact that you are with us and what our conversations are about with your consent.
Please bring your health insurance card to the initial consultation (psychotherapeutic consultation). It will take about 50 minutes. An additional 15 minutes will be needed to fill out documents and, if necessary, to arrange further psychotherapeutic consultation appointments. The initial consultation is followed by 2-4 trial sessions, after which a decision will be made on whether to end the sessions or apply for long-term psychotherapy at the Psychotherapeutic University Outpatient Clinic. If outpatient psychotherapy is applied for and approved, the sessions usually take place on a weekly basis.
Important notes
Unfortunately, we cannot offer long-term psychotherapy in every case. One reason for this is the legal mandate of the Psychotherapeutic University Outpatient Clinic, which cannot focus exclusively on long-term psychotherapy, but must also include a large proportion of psychotherapeutic consultations and diagnostics. Therefore, in addition to long-term psychotherapy, the Psychotherapeutic University Outpatient Clinic must also offer psychotherapeutic consultations that are limited to a few appointments (e.g. for the purpose of detailed diagnostics), even though there is a desire for psychotherapy. In these cases, the appointments can be used to obtain detailed diagnostic assessments of the problem, recommendations and alternative treatment options. In many cases, such short-term treatment is also found to be very helpful and has proven to be effective. You will be informed as early as possible (usually in the first hour) whether long-term psychotherapy is possible (if this is desired). The Psychotherapeutic University Outpatient Clinic tries to facilitate as many therapies as possible. We ask for your understanding if this is not possible in every case. In all cases, alternative treatment options are discussed during the consultation.
Systemic therapy has also been covered by health insurance since 2020. This service is not offered by PHA.
Appointment allocation
To make an appointment for an initial consultation (psychotherapeutic consultation), please contact us during telephone consultation hours. During the telephone consultation, we will ask you about your concerns and conduct a brief interview in order to better assess your psychological complaints. Personal data collected will be stored for a maximum of 3 months exclusively for the purpose of referring you to our psychotherapists and in strict compliance with data protection guidelines.
If desired and if appointments are currently available, an appointment for an initial consultation is usually arranged directly during the telephone consultation. Specially trained staff are used for the initial telephone consultation. We ask for your understanding that we cannot guarantee that we will be able to take every call during telephone consultation hours for staffing reasons. We ask that you only call to make an appointment for an initial consultation during telephone consultation hours and not outside of these hours. We also ask that you do not send e-mails for requests for initial consultations, as we do not answer these for patient inquiries for data protection reasons.
Initial consultation and psychotherapeutic consultation hours
If you are visiting the Psychotherapeutic Outpatient Clinic of the University of Siegen for the first time, please register at the secretary's office and have your insurance card ready. A referral from your family doctor is not necessary. As we are an appointment-only practice, it is important that you arrive on time for your appointment and only if you have made an appointment in advance. The first appointment takes about 50 minutes. Please allow a further 15-20 minutes for filling out documents. During the psychotherapeutic consultation (up to three individual sessions of 50 minutes each), we will carry out a detailed diagnosis and clarify your individual treatment needs. If you are already receiving therapy, you are welcome to obtain a second opinion from the therapists at the Psychotherapeutic University Outpatient Clinic during the consultation. If we are able to offer you suitable treatment at the Psychotherapeutic Outpatient Clinic of the University of Siegen, you will be placed on our waiting list. Otherwise, we will be happy to advise you on alternative treatment options. You will be informed as soon as possible whether psychotherapy or only consultation appointments are possible. Please understand that we cannot fulfill every request for long-term psychotherapy.
Probationary sessions
Following the psychotherapeutic consultations, up to four individual sessions of 50 minutes each take place as part of the probationary sessions ("trial sessions"). In these individual sessions, the patient and therapist get to know each other better and develop a treatment plan together. If both parties agree to undergo therapy together, an application will be made to your statutory or private health insurance company or the subsidy fund to cover the costs. Once the application has been approved by the health insurance company, the actual therapy begins.
During the psychotherapeutic consultation hours and the trial sessions, you will have sufficient time to decide for or against psychotherapy or to undergo further trial sessions in another practice. The trial sessions do not oblige you to undergo psychotherapy or to undergo psychotherapy in the practice.