Status: 10.10.2021 02:23 a.m.
A mobile advice bus tours through the Ahr valley for a year. The people there are supposed to get help five days a week. It’s about psychological support, but also about practical help.
In the beginning it was a challenge, remembers Alexandra Held of her first days in the mobile advice bus. For years, the psychologist was used to parents, children and young people who needed her help coming to her in the outpatient clinic. Now she goes to the people. Alexandra Held is out and about in the Ahr valley several times a week with the mobile advice bus. The project is sponsored by the children’s rights organization Plan International eV, an organization that normally looks after children in crisis areas abroad.
“We take the advice bus to the affected localities, to the people,” says Roswitha Stockhorst, who coordinates the bus operations on behalf of the Ahrweiler district. “In the first few weeks, the main thing is to see what people need.”
Confidential consultations can be held on the bus.
Image: Plan International Germany / Bernhard Risse
Overcome your inhibitions when it comes to coffee
For Alexandra Held this means above all: getting out of the bus, for example to the info points that are now in every village. Often there is also food here because many people are not yet able to cook in their apartments again. “You can get into conversation with some people over a cup of coffee. I’ve also had local administrators or employees from the kindergarten who say, man, we have a family there, they could use someone there.”
Around two thirds of the people who have asked Alexandra Held for advice so far have previously had other contacts with pastors and therapists or know someone who has had positive experiences with psychological help. But there are also many who are skeptical and hesitant. Everyone in the villages knows everyone else, says Alexandra Held. “That’s what it’s about, what do the others think when you go in there now?”
How traumatized are the people in the Ahr Valley?
More than 15,000 people need psychological help, believes Matthias Schmitt, chief psychologist at a local clinic. According to studies, around three percent of people suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder after a disaster. Alexandra Held believes that it is still too early to give specific figures or to speak of trauma. “People are still burdened with a lot of worries. Many have no heating yet. It’s cold. Now the dark season is coming.
The decisive factor is how people process what they have experienced: “I recently had a woman who told me I can’t go to refuel because I can’t stand the smell of diesel because I have to think about the night immediately.”
The widespread destruction has traumatized many people.
See what people need
The mobile advice bus is not just about psychological or therapeutic help, says social worker Stockhorst. Therefore, in addition to psychologists, there are also employees from the job center and the employment agency on site.
Fear of winter
The people in the Ahr Valley are still busy with very practical questions about how to get the flood aid, says Sebastian Sonntag from the local crisis team of the Mayschoss winegrowing community. “In conclusion, knowing how much money I am getting is a reassuring feeling for people.” And if you don’t have to look after your house, you can still be busy harvesting the grapes. “But at some point the vineyard will also fall away and you will start to realize.” And then it is helpful to have therapeutic offers.
No therapy substitute
Conversations in or in front of the bus are not a real therapy, Held knows. “My Job on the bus is to give such an initial assessment, what is the need, do you need more? – and then, if necessary, pass it on. “Parents in particular also come with everyday problems, for example that a child has slept poorly since the flood or behaves abnormally.
The psychologist tries to help with practical tips. Children need rituals to feel safe. Meals together as a family or bedtime rituals could help. The flood disrupted everyday life for many families. It is not always primarily about the flood. Some children also suffer from the fact that their parents now have little time to clean up.
The mobile advice bus is to be used in the Ahr valley for a year. Roswitha Stockhorst and Alexandra Held expect that their help will be needed even longer.