Family Counselling Centres
Austria has more than 380 family and partner counselling centres which are run by various institutions and subsidised from the budget of the Ministry of Families and Youth.
Anyone looking for advice, no matter what age or gender, will be welcome to talk about problems, look for solutions or simply to pour out his or her heart about topics including
- family planning and birth control
- economic and social concerns of expectant mothers
- questions raised by lone mothers/fathers
- conflicts due to unwanted pregnancy
- legal and social issues in families
- issues of sexuality and partnership
- issues of child-rearing
- psychical problems
- intergenerational conflicts
Most counselling centres have teams of specialists: physicians, social workers, marriage and family counsellors, lawyers, psychologists, educationalists, etc.
Counselling is free of charge as a rule. Voluntary contributions towards costs are welcome because they enable the institutions to maintain counselling services for those who cannot afford to contribute.
Visitors have the right to remain anonymous and all counsellors are obliged to the strictest confidentiality.
The hours when most counselling centres are open or take phone calls are such that they are also available to the working population.
The addresses of counselling centres can be downloaded from the Internet at www.familienberatung.gv.at or you may want to call the Family Service on the freephone number 0800 240 262 from all of Austria to obtain more information.