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About us
Who we are
We are a non-profit humanitarian organisation specialising in MHPSS (Mental Health and Psychosocial Support). We see our task as encouraging people and communities burdened with experiences of flight, migration or violence so that they can regain their agency. For this purpose, we have developed a short-term intervention – Value Based Counseling (VBC) – which has been tried and tested in many different contexts and subsequently evaluated. VBC is culturally sensitive and intracultural and therefore suitably scalable. It is suitable for use in resource-poor settings in conflict and crisis areas as well as in activity areas whose health and social systems are overloaded.

In keeping with the sustainability strategy of our humanitarian work, we are also committed to developing effective medium- and long-term structures and skills that will really improve mental health in conflict, crisis and disaster areas and develop context-, situation- and needs-based solutions.

We are convinced that internal peace must always be promoted when re-establishing and strengthening civil society. Help us to create a world where everyone's well-being matters, where resilience thrives and a better future for vulnerable people comes within reach.
Our values and our stance
We regard all human beings as being "born equal and free with regard to dignity and rights" and that human dignity as well as human rights are "inviolable", regardless of cultural, ethnic, and social backgrounds, nationality, religious affiliation and beliefs, age, gender, sexual orientation, skills, and much more.

We are oriented by the humanitarian principles of humanity, independence, impartiality, and neutrality: alleviating human suffering is the guiding principle of our actions.

We consider freedom, freedom of thought and freedom of expression to be fundamental to our work. We are committed to the right to health and that also means the right to mental health.

We are committed to the right to cultural self-determination. We operate with respect for local beliefs, culture and values and treat them all with esteem. We promote empathy and mutual understanding and combine them with our professionalism.
Ipso’s MHPSS Pyramid
Our “Value Based Counseling” method

Value Based Counseling (VBC), i.e. culturally sensitive psychosocial counseling, is a short-term psychodynamic intervention with a salutogenetic approach that aims to improve people’s sense of coherence and self-efficacy during a non-directive but carefully structured conversation.

VBC is aimed at adolescents and adults. VBC is based on the idea that people are guided by an inherent need to lead a meaningful life. What we find meaningful depends on our personal values, which is why we use the term “Value Based Counseling”.

Personal values are usually linked to family and societal values that people grew up with. Different cultures have different value systems, with generational conflicts indicating that value systems can change. The different value systems from societies characterised as being individualist and collectivist are particularly noticeable. VBC can be used anywhere and always as it takes place between people with similar cultural backgrounds and under the “do no harm” principle and no values are stipulated other than the code of ethics for our IPSO counselors.

VBC avoids pathologising clinical symptoms that are based on intrapsychic or interpersonal conflicts, traumatic experiences, a disruptive social environment or difficult life transitions such as migration or the loss of livelihoods. Our counseling approach seeks to understand these symptoms as an expression of unresolved social stress instead. VBC assumes that a person’s scope of action for change expands when she or he becomes aware of her or his situation and the associated hierarchy of values, both her or his own and those of others, as well as the feelings it triggers. A person’s potential for self-development as well as striving to use their potential forms the basis for promoting human self-healing.

The success of VBC is highly based on our counselors entering into a symmetrical relationship with the people who confide in them. This requires the ability to be impartial towards these people as well as perspective-taking and empathy. It might be difficult to provide this service in an intercultural setting because a lack of first-hand experience would have to be compensated for by a greater openness to cultural differences, which is usually only possible to a limited extent.

VBC takes an intracultural approach, which requires that the psychosocial counselors speak the mother tongue of the people seeking support and have the same cultural background. This approach avoids various problems that could be associated with intercultural counseling, such as non-direct contact with the people needing support as it would be facilitated through specially trained translators.

If they come from a culture characterised by strictly defined gender roles and gender segregation in many areas of life, it is important that the counselors also share the same social gender as them. As the realities of men’s and women’s lives differ so significantly, communications between them would be made more difficult due to the inevitability of breaking taboos. This is why VBC uses a matching system whereby women are counseled by female counselors and men by male counselors.

These principles ensure that counselors are quickly able to establish a trusting working relationship with people seeking support that enables them to have in-depth personal conversations right from the initial session. Studies have shown that this can bring about positive changes in the lives of these people within an average of three to five sessions: for example the study ‘Promoting the resilience of refugees/migrants – Effectiveness study into the use of mother-tongue counselors,’ which was carried out with the Charité from 2017-2020 (see publication list below).

• Orang, M., Missmahl. I., Gardisi, M., Kluge, U. (2023). Internet-Delivered Value Based Counseling (VBC) Aimed at the Reduction of Post-Migration Psychosocial Stress – A Pilot Study. Journal of Technology in Human Services, 41:1, 23-42.

• Orang, M., Missmahl, I., Gardisi, M., Kluge, U. (2023). Rethinking mental health care provided to migrants and refugees; a randomized controlled trial on the effectiveness of Value Based Counseling, a culturally sensitive, strength-based psychological intervention. PLoS ONE 18(3): e0283889.

• Orang, T., Missmahl, I., Thoele, A.-M., Vensise, L., Brenner, A., Gardisi, M., Peter, H., Kluge, U. (2022). New directions in the mental health care of migrants, including refugees – A randomized controlled trial investigating the efficacy of value-based counselling. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy,29(4), 1433–1446.

• Brugmann, B., & Missmahl, I. (2022). Value Based Counseling – Eine skalierbare psychosoziale Kurzzeitintervention für ressourcenarme Settings. Psychotherapie – Wissenschaft, Bd. 12 Nr. 2 (2022): Die Hoffnung auf Psychotherapie in einer gefährdeten Welt / Themenheft.

• Missmahl, I. (2020). Psychosoziale Grundversorgung in Afghanistan: ein Beispiel für eine kultursensible Umsetzung von universellen Menschenrechten in einer Gesellschaft im Umbruch. Fortschritte der Neurologie – Psychiatrie 88(03), 179-183.

• Missmahl, I. & Brugmann, B. (2019). Value-based Counseling – Kultur und Religion als sinnstiftendes Element einer psychodynamischen Kurzzeitintervention. Psychotherapie-Wissenschaft 9(1), 39–49.

• Missmahl, I. (2018). Geflüchtet aus Afghanistan. In: W. Machleidt, U. Kluge & M. Sieberer (Hrsg.), Praxis der interkulturellen Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie. Migration und Psychische Gesundheit, 150–153; 2. Aufl. München: Elsevi

• Bohus, M., & Missmahl, I. (2018). Zur Umsetzung alternativer Behandlungsmodelle für Flüchtlinge in der BRD: Was können – was sollten – wir aus Afghanistan lernen? Der Nervenarzt 88(1) 34-39.

• Missmahl, I. (2018). Value-based counselling: Reflections on fourteen years of psychosocial support in Afghanistan. Intervention. Journal of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Conflict Affected Areas, 16:3, 256-260.

• Missmahl, I., Ayoughi, S. (2017). Psychosoziale Beratung von Geflüchteten für Geflüchtete – Ein Wissenstransfer von Afghanistan nach Deutschland. In: Koch, B. T. (Hg.), Junge Flüchtlinge auf Heimatsuche. Psychosoziales und pädagogisches Handeln in einem sensiblen Kontext, 229–238, Heidelberg: Carl-Auer.

• Missmahl, I., Kluge, U., Bromand, Z., Heinz, A. (2012). Teaching psychiatry and establishing psychosocial services – lessons from Afghanistan. European Psychiatry: The Journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists 27(2), 76-8.

• Ayoughi, S., Missmahl, I., Weierstall, R., Elbert, T. (2012). Provision of mental health services in resource-poor settings: a randomised trial comparing counselling with routine medical treatment in North Afghanistan (Mazar-e-Sharif). BMC Psychiatry 12, 14.

• Catani, C., Schauer, E., Elbert, T., Missmahl, I., Bette, J.-P., Neuner, F. (2009). War trauma, child labor, and family violence: Life adversities and PTSD in a sample of school children in Kabul. Journal of Traumatic Stress 22(3), 163-71.

• Missmahl, I. (2006). Psychosoziale Hilfe und Traumaarbeit als ein Beitrag zur Friedens- und Versöhnungsarbeit am Beispiel Afghanistans. Psychotheraphie-Forum 14(4), 180-185.

 

Timeline
2008
Founding of IPSO gGmbH in Germany
2011
Founding of NGO IPSO in Afghanistan
2011
VBC was integrated into Afghanistan's state health system with support from the EU and the Federal Foreign Office (up to 2016)
2011
Sociocultural counseling centres were established in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake in partnership with Caritas international (up to 2013)
2013
Cultural projects were implemented – so-called "Cultural Container Projects" – with a focus on psychosocial peacebuilding in Afghanistan (up to 2021)
2013
Our IPSO e-care online counseling platform was launched in Afghanistan
2014
First VBC training courses in Germany for German psychologists
2015
An IPSO training and supervision team of VBC counselors was established in Germany and IPSO training was certified by AZAV
2016
Founding of our "Psychosocial and Mental Health Center Kabul"
2016
VBC advanced training was started by and for people with refugee and migration backgrounds in Berlin, Erfurt, and Hamburg
2016
IPSO received the Google.org Impact Challenge award
2017
IPSO provided psychosocial support in women's shelters and family centres in 18 Afghan provinces (up to 2021)
2017
IPSO Care Centers were established in Berlin, Erfurt, and Hamburg
2017
Our www.ipso-care.com online platform was redeveloped and made available in 16 languages for our counsellors to work with in Germany
2018
Start of VBC advanced training by and for people with refugee and migration backgrounds in partnership with Malteser Werke in Rostock
2018
Start of a randomised VBC efficacy study in collaboration with Charité
2018
IPSO received the Phineo donation seal
2020
Our IPSO online platform enabled us to continue operating and expanding at the outbreak of the pandemic
2020
IPSO Care Points were established in asylum shelters in cooperation with Malteser Werke
2021
Our IPSO Care app was released
2021
Our IPSO-Care Points were established in 5 German federal states in cooperation with Malteser Werke
2022
VBC advanced training in Iraq for Caritas Iraq
2022
VBC advanced training for NGO employees in NE Syria
2022
IPSO became involved in Afghanistan through the "Sociocultural Dialogues for Peace and Reconciliation in Afghan Communities" project funded by the EU
2022
IPSO responded to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine by providing VBC advanced training to Ukrainian and Russian psychologist refugees in cooperation with Malteser Werke
2022
The Gentle project running in the LAF shelters in Berlin introduced new ways of preventing violence
2023
Our “Psychosocial and Mental Health Center Kabul” can continue to operate in cooperation with Caritas Germany
2023
Start of VBC advanced training by and for people with refugee and migration backgrounds in Switzerland in cooperation with Paxion
Our Locations

IPSO Care Center Berlin

Hohenstaufenstr. 31
10779 Berlin
+49 (0)30 55077203

Contact persons:

Paul Dunkel
E-Mail: p.dunkel@ipsocontext.org

Maryam Gardisi
E-Mail: m.gardisi@ipsocontext.org

IPSO Care Center Thuringia

Schillerstraße 26
99096 Erfurt

Contact person:

Susette Schubert
Phone: +49 (0)361 3468909
E-Mail: s.schubert@ipsocontext.org

IPSO Care in the Falkenried Clinics in Hamburg
Psychosomatics, psychiatry and psychotherapy

Falkenried 7
20251 Hamburg

Contact persons:

Alia Zein (Arabic, English)
E-Mail: a.zein@ipsocare.org
Phone: +49 (0)178 1692417

Nahid Mehran (Dari, Farsi, German)
E-Mail: n.mehran@ipsocare.org
Phone: +49 (0)177 8534127

Head Office
IPSO gGmbH
Münsterplatz 13
DE-78462 Konstanz
+49 (0)7531 2820231
info@ipsocontext.org

Office Berlin
IPSO gGmbH
Geisbergstr. 28
DE-10777 Berlin
+49 (0)30 21945830
info@ipsocontext.org

Our Team
Management, Administration, Central Tasks
Inge Mißmahl-Grusche
Founder and Managing Director
Maryam Gardisi
Managing Director
Dr. Birte Brugmann
VBC & Advisor to the Board of Management
Marcus Paul
Head Administration and Finance
Khatol Sediq
Finance Manager
Thomas Brüggemann
Finance Consultant
Ina Rossmann
Human Resources Management
Alba Antolín Blanco
Human Resources Management
Dr. Andrea Bärnreuther
Project and Organisation Development
Andreas Borutta
IT Product Developer
Sven Perbandt
IT Developer
Nabeel Sultan
IT Developer
IPSO Care
Susette Schubert
Project Management
Matthias Freund
VBC Counselor / Project Management
Hussein Alalo
VBC Counselor / Project Management
Paul Dunkel
VBC Counselor / Project Management
Dr. Tahereh Orang
VBC Counselor / Project Management
Zuka Abo Saadi
VBC Counselor
Dr. Emaldaldin Ahmadi Sartakhti
VBC Counselor
Almafaalani Abed Alnaser
VBC Counselor / Training
Ahmad Alseijari
VBC Counselor / Training / Supervision
Mohammed Reza Amiriam
VBC Counselor
Pedro Carapeto
VBC Counselor
Ahmad Chahabi
VBC Counselor / Supervision
Ksenia Dagis
VBC Counselor
Anna Demianova
VBC Counselor
Sifana Elrifaei
VBC Counselor / Supervision
Wafa Gazawi
VBC Counselor
Dawit Ghebretsadik
VBC Counselor
Thalil Olad Hassan
VBC Counselor
Atal Hewad
VBC Counselor Quality Management IPSO International
Frishta Hewad
VBC Counselor
Dr. Fatemeh Sadat Hosseini
VBC Counselor / Supervision
Serhii Hryshkan
VBC Counselor
Olga Kalgina
VBC Counselor
Maria Karagicheva
VBC Counselor
Chavin Khalil
VBC Counselor
Elena Korchagina
VBC Counselor
Olena Lysenko
VBC Counselor
Nahid Mehran
VBC Counselor / Supervision
Maryna Molchan
VBC Counselor
Vira Mysak
VBC Counselor
Yuliia Rudakova
VBC Counselor
Masoud Sardabi
VBC Counselor / Supervision
Aous Shaheen
VBC Counselor / Supervision
Yukta Singh
VBC Counselor / Project Management
Dr. Jacky Talonto
VBC Counselor
Oskana Verkhovod
VBC Counselor
Iryna Vseliubska
VBC Counselor
Alia Zein
VBC Counselor / Project Management / Training / Supervision
IPSO Academy, Evaluation & Quality Management
Inge Mißmahl-Grusche
Training, Quality assurance of all services
Pelle Bernhold
Evaluation/Studies
Georgia Koutsouradi
VBC Counselor / Project Management
Lothar Dunkel
VBC Counselor / Training / Supervision
Dr. Isabelle Azoulay
VBC Counselor / Training / Supervision
Rike Wiens
VBC Counselor /Project Management / Training / Supervision
Anna Krap
Project Manager
Wim Piels
Project Manager
Stefano Marcucci
VBC Counselor / Project Management / Training / Supervision
Contact
If you have any questions or project inquiries, please do not hesitate to contact us.