Our Philosophy of Coaching and Counseling

General principles and general conditions

• Our counseling service is available to all employees, managerial staff, and trainees ("employees") of TU Dresden. The offer is free of charge for our employees. Student Assistant and Senior Student Assistant are, as registered students, the target group of the Psychosocial Counseling Center of the Studentenwerk [Student Union]. We keep the threshold for taking advantage of the counseling low and as unbureaucratic as possible.
• International employees are welcome, counseling is also offered in English.
• We are bound by professional confidentiality and the counseling is, of course, confidential. Any disclosure of information requires a written release from confidentiality.
• The counseling is, without exception, voluntary. No one can be forced to make use of counseling.
• Counseling is with an open mind and is primarily geared toward the needs of the employees. Strengthening the resources and competencies of employees and "helping them to help themselves" play a key role.
• We work on an appointment basis and aim to offer a first appointment within six weeks from request. In urgent cases we try to provide support at short notice when possible. In acute crisis situations and emergencies, please contact the crisis service of the city of Dresden, the social psychiatric service or the emergency number 112.
• We primarily offer face-to-face appointments, but virtual and telephone appointments are also available. We try to meet the wishes of the employees.
• Our entrance is accessible and barrier-free.

Philosophy of consulting

• Our attitude toward our employees is appreciative, supportive and empathetic. We take each employee and his or her concerns as well as issues seriously and place the member of staff at the center of our counseling. In doing so, we take into account the social systems in which the employee is integrated and work primarily with a focus on solutions.
• We are convinced that methodological diversity can be beneficial to a counseling process. Therefore, in addition to the classic counseling interview, we also offer different, and creative methods - depending on the assignment, goal, needs and wishes of the employee.
• We are transparent in our counseling work. We answer employees' questions about counseling and the counseling process openly and honestly. We are also transparent about the methods and techniques used in the process. The objectives are stated by the employee or jointly developed in the sense of a clarification of the assignment and as part of the counseling.
• We define ourselves as part of a network of supportive contact points internal and external to TU Dresden. Networking is not an end in itself, but serves, among other things, the demand-based and targeted referral, if this is helpful for the employees.
• As a counseling center, we are independent; no influence is exerted on the content of our work. As part of health reporting, we keep anonymous statistics, which we make transparent to employees at the beginning of each initial appointment.
• Our counselors have a professional, academic education (e.g. psychology, social pedagogy) and, if necessary, additional counseling or coaching trainings. They are continuously educating themselves in relevant areas. We are happy to provide information about our respective training and further education.
• We regularly use the opportunity for qualified clinical supervision to reflect on our counseling processes.
• We offer the possibility of anonymous evaluation of the counseling process and are grateful for any kind of feedback and criticism, as we see this as an opportunity to improve our services.

Basic information on the quality of counseling at TU Dresden

At Dresden University of Technology, the Counseling Coordination Circle, chaired by the Vice-Rector Academic Affairs, meets regularly with the aim of further developing the quality of counseling at TU Dresden. As a result of a lengthy process, a Guideline for the Quality of Counseling at TU Dresden (document in German) was created, which is aimed at both individual counselors and institutions with a counseling mandate and formulates a quality standard for counseling.