Guide from erstmalreden.de
Mental health help paths in Germany
The German help system can feel confusing. You do not need to know every term to take a first step.
116117, consultation hour & therapy place
In short
- What this page is about
- Overview of Germany’s help system: medical care, counseling, 116117, consultation hours, TelefonSeelsorge, krisenchat, and BAfF.
- This may fit if
- you are looking into this topic: Mental health help paths in Germany
- If you do just one thing
- Clarify urgency first.
Medical paths
Family doctors, the medical on-call service 116117 (Germany’s medical on-call and appointment service. It is not an emergency number; call 112 in immediate danger.), and psychotherapeutic consultation hours can help when you need an assessment, sick leave, clarification, or a treatment path.
Counseling and talking
Counseling centers, TelefonSeelsorge, krisenchat, or U25 can fit when you want to talk, write, sort things, or not stay alone. In acute danger, they do not replace 112.
Language, refuge, and orientation
If German is hard or flight, trauma, and residence questions matter, social counseling, migration counseling, psychosocial centers, and BAfF overviews can offer orientation.
Not everything has to be therapy immediately
Sometimes the first fitting step is a doctor conversation, counseling, a prepared sentence, a crisis conversation, or sorting the next 24 hours.
Updated: July 28, 2026 · Sources checked: July 28, 2026
Sources and notes
- gesund.bund.de: German national health portal
- Gesundheitsinformation.de / IQWiG: mental health problems – where to get help
- 116117: psychotherapy and psychotherapeutic consultation
- Federal Ministry of Health: psychotherapeutic consultation
- Wege zur Psychotherapie: information from German psychotherapist chambers
- BAfF: psychosocial centers for refugees in Germany
- psychNAVi Rhineland-Palatinate: find regional support services
What you can do now
If you only wanted information
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This page offers orientation and words for first contact. If you need counseling, therapy, or emergency help, real contact points matter.