Surveys of FU students showed that many students have been under significant stress since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic and would like to receive support and easily accessible help. In the University Health Report (Gusy et al. 2021, AG Student Health), FU students indicated a high need for counseling, but used counseling services comparatively less often than students surveyed throughout Germany (Studierendenwerk Social Survey). As a result, on the initiative of the Department of Philosophy and Humanities (Dean of Studies Prof. Jan Lazardzig) and in collaboration with the Center for Academic Advising and Psychological Counseling (Brigitte Reysen-Kostudis, Stefan Petri), a project was launched to support the mental well-being of students and doctoral candidates at the FU Berlin, financed by the University Executive Board. The support.points are the first point of contact for all concerns relating to mental health. The support.points staff help those seeking advice to clarify their concerns, work with them to find initial solutions, and refer them to specific sources of help within the FU and beyond.

The support.point services are aimed at all members of the FU, i.e., students, doctoral candidates, employees from all departments, and trainees.

No individual concern is too big or too small to visit a support.point. Possible concerns may include issues related to university life, e.g., exam/public speaking anxiety, procrastination, feeling lost in your studies/on campus, stress, difficulties writing term papers or theses, or questions about what to do after graduation. However, concerns unrelated to studies can also be discussed. These may include financial worries, conflicts, or seeking access to psychotherapy. support.points lend a sympathetic ear to those seeking advice. The psychologists working there will help to clarify concerns relating to mental health, find initial solutions, and refer you to further support services.

Different living conditions can bring additional challenges to your studies, e.g., if you are the first in your family to study, if you are an international student, have to combine work/care with your studies, or experience barriers or discrimination. We would like to encourage you to contact us if you are experiencing mental health issues.

The support.points are staffed by psychologists from the Center for Academic Advising and Psychological Counseling at Freie Universität. All of them have additional qualifications in psychotherapy, coaching, mediation, or other related fields. The counseling sessions are confidential and the staff members are bound by professional secrecy. If you wish, counseling can also be conducted anonymously.

The settings are different. The support.points are located directly within the departments, spread across the entire FU campus. At a support.point of your choice, you can just drop by during walk-in office hours without an appointment, or you can book an appointment at short notice (online or in person). The central psychological counseling service, on the other hand, is located in the Student Service Center. For this service, fixed appointments are made via an online form, with a waiting period of 1-4 weeks. The consultations at the support.point are shorter (10-30 min.) than those at the psychological counseling service (45-50 min.). In principle, you can always come to a support.point first – everyone is welcome here. If, for example, you would like to get an overview of the support options available and what initial solutions there might be, or if you simply want to get information on specific topics related to mental health, then support.points are the place to go. If you already have a specific issue that you would like to work on over several appointments, you can make an appointment directly with psychological counseling service.

Yes. At the various support.points, spread all over the campus, we try to ensure the highest possible availability by offering walk-in consultation hours at different times. Therefore, please always first check online for the consultation hours offered by a specific support.point. Changes made at short notice can also be viewed online.

Yes. Appointments for individual support.points can be made via the respective link for booking appointments (→ overview of support.points). You can also send us an email to make an appointment.

Currently, the waiting time is usually less than 20 minutes. However, since we do not provide appointments for times during walk-in office hours, waiting times may be longer. We ask for your understanding in this matter.

Simply drop by one of the support.points during office hours. In order to offer as many people as possible the opportunity for a consultation, they are limited to 10‒30 minutes per person and per session. If a consultation is already in progress when you arrive, you can wait in the waiting areas until it is your turn. If you would prefer to have an online consultation, use the link on our website to set up an appointment. If you are unable to make it to a support.point during our office hours, you can also make an individual appointment via a link which can be found under the respective support.point.