Questions & Answers

 

 

What kind of people come to you, Mr. Böttger?

My clients come with a concern for which they seek support in the form of a dialogue. They are looking for a person who is not involved in their environment, who listens to them and asks clarifying questions. A person who is serving a process in which clarity can quietly develop in a protected space.

 

To which clients do you offer your services?

 
My service is for people who want to and are able to take responsibility for their lives. I do not offer curative treatment in the sense of the German Heilpraktikergesetz. I support people who are faced with questions in a specific life situation, the answers to which need time and space. Sometimes certain life questions come up again and again. In any case, contact with one's own compass plays an important role, since the client wants to find his own answers, perhaps wants to untie his own knots, and ready-made answers from outside often do not really help.

 

What then does the client need a counterpart for?

 
Most people find themselves in situations from time to time in which their own compass and the familiar environment do not provide sufficient coherent orientation. Sometimes people need support from the outside, a protected space, an atmosphere of respect, clarity and goodwill, in which certain topics, questions and perspectives can be looked at anew. In an exchange with someone who does not tell them what to do, but who listens and asks questions, new perspectives and solutions can emerge. The new often develops in the "in-between," in the dialogue that strengthens contact with one's own compass.

 

 

Why are clarifying questions so important?

Clarifying questions open up space. They invite us to explore our own world of experience in a friendly way. They can help to clarify the unclear, to make meaningful distinctions, to see and appreciate a greater context, to try out new things, and to rediscover aliveness even where it was hidden or hindered.

How does the first contact go?

 

It often takes courage to take the first step. For most people, talking about their own difficulties is associated with uncertainty.
People look for a person they can trust and who is available in a timely manner. A recommendation or the website can provide initial orientation. After that, the initial meeting and the first session provide the best opportunity to get a picture in direct contact. The initial meeting usually lasts 30 to 50 minutes. Questions can also be answered in advance in a telephone call or video call.
 

 

What costs should I expect?

 

The initial meeting is free of charge. After that I charge 80 € per hour. The dialoque service is aimed at self-payers. If necessary, reduced hourly rates are possible after consultation. The number of hours varies individually.

 

The conversations with your clients are based on the approach of Gestalt therapy. What is the significance of this approach in your dialogues?

 

Gestalt therapy is a humanistic psychotherapy that meets the human being as an inseparable unity of body, soul and spirit and at the same time as an "organism in the field" that can never be understood independent from its environment.

Gestalt therapy invites us to explore: How do we perceive ourselves and our environment? How do we create contact with ourselves and our environment?
The basis is a friendly view of the human being and of his or her individual resources, trusting in the ability to shape life and in the intention to realise and develop oneself.

I experience Gestalt dialogues as an invitation to slow down and to perceive as direct and conscious as possible what is happening right here and now. What happens in the light of the shared, living exploration of what is currently occurring when we bracket and "park" all our preconceived knowledge (also of "right and wrong")?

This open space leads again and again to experiences that open up new perspectives, possibilities for choice and action in order to meet our inner and outer forces in a clear and coherent way.

Can you give an example of the positive effect of awareness?

 

Sometimes old habits or beliefs stand in our way. Just by becoming aware of them, something changes: "Old hats" can be checked to see if they still fit and are helpful today. In this way, inner freedom grows.

 

What is the significance of your meditation background for your work?

 

Meditation trains awareness and presence, being awake and at the same time relaxed in the here and now. Regular practice grounds the mind, allows it to come to rest again and again and to find its natural freshness and openness again.

 

Do your clients come more for questions about private issues or professional issues?

 

The request for the dialogue can come from both areas. In both cases, the focus is usually on the inner and interpersonal. In the case of professional issues, it is often about the area of tension between expectations, wishes and resources. So here questions arise such as "What is expected of me?" or "Who am I supposed to be there?" versus "Who do I want to be?", "What do I need?" and "What can and do I want to accomplish?". Similar questions often arise in the non-work sphere, in dealing with one's partner and with family, friends, neighbors.... The respective environment naturally follows its own rules and it is important to know them.


Why do you do this work?

Working with people is a matter close to my heart. There is hardly anything more enriching than accompanying people to find back to their natural vitality, to get in good contact with themselves and with their environment and to discover new things.