Together with Michael Schweizer, Head of the City Youth Welfare Office, Lord Mayor Frank Frühauf recently visited the new premises of the intervention center and the women's shelter advice center. The advice center, which is run by the Frauen helfen Frauen association, has been located at Hauptstraße 143 since last summer. Andrea Konrad-Allmann and Sabine Müller-Frank informed the visitors about the work of the two projects. Among other things, they discussed the precarious housing situation, which makes it difficult for residents of the women's shelter to find their own accommodation after their stay in the facility.
Since 1985, the association Frauen helfen Frauen has been committed to the interests of women and girls in the Birkenfeld district. The aims of the association are to protect and strengthen women and children, to publicize existing subtle and overt violence against women and children and to improve living conditions. To this end, the association maintains the women's shelter and the women's shelter advice center, the women's emergency hotline as a specialist center on the subject of sexualized violence and the intervention center. The latter was founded on January 1, 2021 as a result of the model project for proactive initial counselling and is a specialist center for violence in close social relationships and stalking. Its aim is to prevent further violence through crisis intervention, advice, information and referrals. High-risk management is also part of the intervention center's work. This involves dealing with cases where there is an increased risk of serious violence or even homicide. To this end, regular case conferences are held with the police and other institutions involved.
"The intervention agency works according to a proactive approach, which is characterized by outreach work. Once the police have provided us with the data, we make contact with the person concerned in a timely manner," reports Sabine Müller-Frank. "In 2021 there were 67 cases and in 2022 60 cases that were referred by the police." The intervention center is responsible for the area of the Trier police department, which includes the Idar-Oberstein, Birkenfeld and Baumholder police stations as well as Department 2 of the Idar-Oberstein criminal investigation department.
The new rooms provide a protected and quiet environment for women who find themselves in a difficult situation. The staff here offer those affected initial psychosocial counselling and stabilization, provide information about legal options and work with them to draw up a protection and safety plan. They provide support in dealing with the authorities and, if required, refer them to other specialist advice and support services.
Women affected by violence who cannot find access to the support system via the police and still want advice can also turn to the women's shelter. "Thanks to the cooperation between the intervention and women's shelter counselling centres and the joint use of the rooms, we have been able to optimize the outpatient counselling services for those affected," says Andrea Konrad-Allmann.
"The association Frauen helfen Frauen does valuable work for the entire Birkenfeld district and beyond," emphasized Lord Mayor Frank Frühauf. This is why the city of Idar-Oberstein doubled its grant to the association last year from 5,000 to 10,000. "Because we agreed that clubs and institutions should also benefit from our improved budget situation."
- The intervention agency can be contacted by telephone on 06781/5628672 or by e-mail at interventionsstelle-lk-bir@web.de. Further information can be found on the Internet at www.interventionsstellen-rlp.de. The women's shelter can be contacted by telephone on 06781/1522 or by e-mail at frauenhaus-io@web.de. Further information can be found on the Internet at www.frauenhaus-idar-oberstein.de.