Psychotherapy Practice in Bonn

Dr.med. Christoph Schmidt

Facharzt für Psychosomatische Medizin und Psychotherapie

• Therapy in English ( single treatment psychotherapy )
  
• Treatment covered by German public health insurance
• Patients must be at least 18 years old for treatment
• Psychotherapeutic diagnostics
• EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)
• Counseling in English
• Meditation

A specialization of this practice is offering psychotherapy in English in Bonn. For many international expats it seems to be extremely difficult to find an English speaking psychotherapist or counselor in Bonn. English does not have to be your mother tongue, it might be Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Arabic, French, Dutch, Russian, etc. I am privileged to be working with a broad variety of people from across the globe, including many non-native English-speakers. It shows that, the feeling of being understood is important, and that there are not too many misunderstandings. International people who reside in Bonn have said that a lot of psychotherpists do not offer therapy in English in Bonn. Although many of these expats have German public healthcare insurance status and chipcard.

Therapists need proper language skills and the will to learn every day. Sometimes it requires not being in their comfort zone speaking German all day long, and accepting the need to find compromises in vocabulary and wording. Additionally it needs a lot of cultural knowledge to fully understand an English speaking client, whereever they come from. Connections to the international community and English speaking expats can be very beneficial for the process.

Living abroad means learning another language, adapting to a different culture and struggling with communication issues. If bureaucracy or visa problems are included, it might lead to a feeling of high stress. Even though a lot of immigrants want to perform very high in their country of choice, it often leads to a lot of tension and anxiety. Additionally even though a lot of expats do their best to learn German up to B1 or B2 level or even higher, it can still be quite a task to use it in an therapeutic or coaching process. The range of therapists in the psycho-area is wide and difficult to understand, not everyone is a fully licensed psychotherapist. The differences between psychologist, Heilpraktiker für Psychotherapie, psychiatrist, Facharzt specialized on Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics can be confusing.

Sometimes people need guidance through the German healthcare system or recommendations. Working with expats over many years has resulted in extensive expertise and mutual benefits in this work. Not only because of the lack of counseling in English is an apparent problem, Schmidt MD is fully licensed for further education and training of other medical doctors (Weiterbildungsermächtigung für 24 Monate zum Facharzt für Psychosomatische Medizin und Psychotherapie im ambulanten Rahmen). The practice has permission to work with every German public health insurance company.

The Practice for Psychotherapy is located in best position in the center of Bonn Bad Godesberg. The pedestrian area and Fronhofer Galeria Shopping Center are nearby. You can reach the Practice easily by public transport. There are good public parking areas around. Alternatively there is parking in the parking garage of Fronhofer Galeria Bad Godesberg or in the parking lot of Redoute is possible.