Germany: Caritas, online platform providing social services to young people and adults in need. 1,700 centres have joined in

 

Caritas Germany has opened a new online social consultancy service: mainly targeted to boys and men, the service is provided by the Social Service of Catholic Men (Skm), a professional association of Caritas, that, in its consultancy centres, takes care of young people and adults in distress. In this way, they can provide digital support in case of problems or distress. The new service is part of Advice & Help, the online consultancy platform of Caritas. Whether it is about separation, a relational crisis, work or fatherhood, these qualified consultants’ advice enables young people and adults to receive support. Advice for men is easily accessible there. “Men experience crises and stress differently from women. In the analogue world, SKM’s consultancy services have taken this into consideration for a long time. Now, our online services reflect this as well”, the president of Caritas, Peter Neher, states. “The pandemic is making digital consultancy services more important than ever. They enable us to be on people’s side, despite the restrictions”. Since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020, 550 consultancy centres have joined the platform: now, there are 1,707 of them. That’s why about 2,100 new consultants have been trained, now totalling 4,700.

Valentina Bombelli