Entrusting someone with personal matters or issues requires not only trust, but also the certainty that this information will be handled with care. Therefore, it is important for us to inform you about the basic conditions underlying our work.

• Confidentiality and data privacy A team of therapists and secretarial staff is responsible for the organization and implementation of advisory at PBS. All people working at PBS are subject to confidentiality. No other person or institution will be informed that you have visited PBS without your written consent. The same applies to the contents of advisory sessions. The duty of confidentiality applies, for example, towards your relatives, university employees, doctors or other therapists. Furthermore, you are not obliged to inform third parties (e.g. an institution or health insurance company) that you have taken advantage of our advisory services.
  
  With your written consent, you can release us from the obligation of confidentiality. This is necessary, for example, if you wish to present a certificate from us at your university. You can revoke the release from the duty of confidentiality at any time and without giving reasons with effects for the future.
  
  If there is an acute danger to yourself or others that we cannot avert, we must disregard the duty of confidentiality and, if necessary, pass on information to the health department, the police or the emergency services.
   
• Communication via e-mail Inquiries via e-mail and their contents are treated confidentially and are subject to the legal duty of confidentiality. They will not be passed on to unauthorized third parties. However, it can never be ruled out that e-mails could be read by third parties during transmission. For this reason, we keep e-mail communication short and do not go into detail about personal contents. If you contact us via e-mail, you agree that we may also reply to you via e-mail.
   
• Documentation of the advisory sessions After the advisory session is completed, the psychological counselors prepare a final report. This is filed under a code number and kept in a safe place. This also serves you if you return to the advising centre after a longer period of time. The final report is destroyed after ten years. Handwritten notes, calendar entries and e-mails are destroyed or deleted within six months after the end of the advisory session.
   
• Questionnaires At the beginning you voluntarily fill out a questionnaire on your PC. Your information helps us to get a first overview of your life situation and your concerns before the advisory begins. You can fill in another questionnaire at the end of the advisory. The final questionnaire gives us feedback on the advisory process.
  We use the data in anonymous form for statistical purposes. For this purpose, we evaluate the total data set of all clients, without the possibility of a personal assignment of the data. You can object to this data processing.
   
• Team meetings and supervision Regular team meetings take place in which all psychotherapeutic staff members participate. We also use these meetings to jointly reflect on advisory processes in an anonymous form. In addition, we use external supervision to broaden our perspective in advisory. The external supervisor is contractually bound to secrecy.

A request to you Despite the high demand for advisory, we would like to offer appointments as soon as possible. If you are unable to attend an agreed appointment, please let us know as early as possible. This is the only way we can assign the available appointment to another person.

Ask us If you have any questions regarding the topics mentioned here, please contact our team directly.

Overview of advisory services

• Open advisory hours Open advisory hours take place twice a week. Registration is not necessary. During the open advisory hours, you can establish a first non-binding contact and clarify whether PBS is the right contact point for you. We will inform you about our work and offers at PBS or give you the contact details of specific advisory centers or registered psychotherapists.
  During the Corona Pandemic, open advisory hours are by telephone.
   
• Scheduled individual consultations on site, by telephone or video The PBS secretariat will arrange appointments. You will receive an appointment as soon as possible, usually within a maximum of three weeks. One interview lasts about 50 minutes and up to ten interviews are possible, depending on the requirements.
  During the Corona pandemic, personal consultations on site will only take place to a limited extent.
  The technical connection for video advisory is provided by a video service provider commissioned by us, who must meet special security requirements. The video service provider guarantees that all contents of the video advisory are encrypted end-to-end according to the current state of the art during the entire transmission process and are neither viewed nor saved by the provider. This ensures that what you discuss with us remains confidential.
  For the video-supported advisory you will receive a separate declaration of consent in advance by e-mail.

Contact details of the person responsible
Studierendenwerk Kassel
Anstalt des öffentlichen Rechts
Universitätsplatz 1
34127 Kassel
Phone: 0561-804-2550
info((at))studierendenwerk.uni-kassel.de
www.studierendenwerk-kassel.de

Contact details of the data protection officer

Gabrijela Barzinmehr-Franic
Universitätsplatz 1
34127 Kassel
+49 561-804-2782
datenschutz((at))studierendenwerk.uni-kassel.de

Processing purpose and legal basis Advising students, also in health and psychological matters, is one of the legal tasks of the Studierendenwerk.
The necessary data is collected exclusively from the person concerned. This includes name, year of birth, nationality, contact details, university, field of study, number of semesters, reason for the advisory session, date and number of advisory contacts as well as the information provided during the advisory session.
In principle, the processing of personal data serves to fulfil our statutory duties in accordance with § 3 of the "Gesetz über die Studierendenwerke bei den Hochschulen des Landes Hessen" - Hessian Student Services Act.
The advisory is carried out within the framework of a treatment agreement; in this case the legal basis is Art. 6 (1) a) ff. para. 2 lit. h DSGVO.  
Insofar as we process special categories of personal data (e.g. health data) for advisory purposes, this is done on the basis of your consent in accordance with Art. 9 para. 2 a DSGVO, but only if and to the extent that there is no other legal basis for the processing.

Transfer of data to a third country or international organization Personal data will not be transferred to a third country or an international organisation.

Duration of the storage Your personal data (emails, calendar entries, handwritten notes on the consultation) will be stored or retained for a maximum period of 6 months and deleted or destroyed after this period in accordance with data protection regulations. A final report is filed with a code number and kept for 10 years (analogous to § 8 para. 4 of the Professional Code of Conduct for Psychotherapists in Hessen).

Rights of data subjects

• Right of access, rectification or erasure and restriction of processing
• Right to object to the processing
• Right to data transferability
• Right to withdraw consent
• Right of appeal to a supervisory authority

The Hessian Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information
Postfach 3163
65021 Wiesbaden
Phone: +49 611 1408 - 0
Fax: +49 611 1408 - 900 / 901

Further processing for other purposes Processing of personal data in anonymised form for internal administrative purposes, such as for reporting and auditing, quality assurance and statistical purposes, and for data backup. Certificates can be issued at the request of the person(s) concerned after prior release from the duty of confidentiality.

There is a wide range of self-help books on psychologically problems. In the following you will find a choice of books on common topics, which are helpful in our opinion. This list is to be considered for your guidance in the large amount of self-help literature. Currently this list contains only German-language books - we apologize and kindly ask for your understanding.

Books on the topic of psychological problems and self-help (PDF)

• Useful knowledge about health during studies is listed on the www.dein-masterplan.de/ website.
• "Trotz Corona zufrieden lernen" = "Learning with satisfaction despite Corona" - tips from the advisory team of the Studierendenwerk Bremen, that can be easily and directly implemented in everyday semester life. (German language only)

In acute crisis situations we may not be reachable quickly enough. Then you can contact these

• Points of Contact for Emergencies

There are also more consulting services in view of difficult living conditions at the University and in the city. In the following you will find some links, which can be helpful in situations of crisis. We raise no claim of completeness.

Counselling centres at the University of Kassel

• Servicecenter Lehre Studierkompetenz     

• Servicestelle Studium und Behinderung: Beantragung Nachteilsausgleich

University Communities

• Katholische Hochschulgemeinde - Seelsorge

• Evangelische Hochschulgemeinde - Seelsorge

Information Centres outside the University of Kassel

Diakonisches Werk Region Kassel Centre for Addiction: Alcohol/medicines, excessive use of media and gambling::

• Alcohol/Medicines
• Computer/Internet
• Gambling

• Drogenhilfe Nordhessen e.V.

• Kasseler Hilfe - Counselling centre for victims and witnesses of criminal offences

• Caritas: Marriage, Family and Life Counselling 

• Kabera - Counselling Centre for Eating Disorders

• Pro Familia

• Zentrum für Psychotraumatologie

• FIF Info und Beratungsstelle nur für Frauen -  Counselling centre for women only - on domestic violence, separation/divorce, care/rights of access, psychosocial counselling. The consultations are subject to a fee. Prices vary according to income. In the area "domestic violence" the counselling for women from the city of Kassel is free of charge.

• eigenMächtig e.V. - Counseling and Outpatient Support for Women and Trans*

Self-help Groups

• Kiss