So you are a physician?
Why aren't you practicing medicine in the usual way?

Medical school was very rigorous and deeply fascinating, and it taught me a lot about where my strengths lie and where they don’t. The pandemic gave me the perspective I needed to search for my own way within the field of medicine. I decided to forgo the Facharztausbildung for Psychosomatik und Psychotherapie (at least for now) and focus my attention on building a skillset that would allow me to work with people in a therapeutic setting as soon as possible.

Inspired by therapists like Bessel van der Kolk, Gabor Maté, and Peter A. Levine, who have spent the greater part of their careers researching the relationship between trauma, and somatic and mental illness, and physicians like Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Rachel Naomi Remen who infused their medical practices and their writing with such incredible humanity and compassion thereby changing the practice of medicine forever, it is my intention to expand the spectrum of services I offer to meet the needs of the people around me, and to make mind-body therapies more widely available for all.  

If you are a physician, will my insurance pay for your services?

Though there have been many improvements in the healthcare system, truly comprehensive psychosomatic care that is covered by state-issued or even private health insurances remains scarce outside of the inpatient/hospital setting. Unfortunately, bodywork is not something that a physician traditionally provides, and as such it is not a service that is covered by insurance, even if you are privately insured. 

There is a tremendous amount of evidence supporting the efficacy of body-based approaches in mental health care and in the treatment of somatic illnesses, and I hope that the definition of therapy will one day grow to include modalities alternate to current talk therapy and behavior-based therapies, and that physicians will be able to be the ones to deliver these services. 

How do you charge for your services?

I bill, as every private doctor in Germany by law must, according to the GOÄ, which means you will get an itemized bill listing the positions relevant to our session. You will need to pay by bank transfer if possible.

I believe that most of our stressors as modern humans come directly and indirectly from societal failures, and those with the fewest resources often pay the price with their health. Because I would like to make my services available to as many people as possible, I charge on a sliding scale based on income. Please contact me for more information.

If you are a physician, can you do things my Hausarzt can do?

I most certainly cannot replace your Hausarzt or Psychiatrist, give you a sick note, or prescribe you medication. I can provide you with excellent complementary care in the form of bodywork and counseling, and am also able to support you with deciphering a diagnosis or mapping a course of treatment.