The pilot project STEP-BY-STEP aims at professionally supporting highly vulnerable groups of refugees (e.g. women arriving alone with their children, families and severely traumatized refugees from war regions) within the framework of an initial reception center. Based on psychoanalytic trauma and migration research, basic principles for an initial support of refugees will be developed. It is postulated that severely traumatized persons need a clear daily structure as well as empathic and professional relationships. Moreover, it is important that refugees have the targeted possibility of “getting something” every day as well as being able to “give something back”, depending on individual capacities and resources. Own orientation and activities are an important counterbalance to the traumatization endured, which is often accompanied by experiences of existential threats including fear of death and panic, powerlessness and helplessness as well as personal and material losses. Most refugees have been subjected to an abrupt and unplanned uprooting from their trusted family and cultural networks. The modules of STEP-BY-STEP are presented and underlined by case illustrations. © 2017, Springer Medizin Verlag Berlin.

Prevention based on psychoanalysis Childfriendly spaces Integration Crisis intervention trauma

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