Hamburg's social start-up "Redezeit für dich" listening up
An old adage goes "talking is silver, listening is gold". Yet, people rarely listen to each other, according to founder Florian Schleinig. This lack of attention prompted him to set up the start-up "Redezeit für dich" (literally "Speaking time for you") when the pandemic broke out in 2020. Two years later, around 390 coaches and psychologists are now on a mission to alleviate this situation by volunteering their time and offering those in need an opportunity to talk online.
„Redezeit für dich": Resilienz stärken in Krisenzeiten
Laut einer Statista-Umfrage erleben 25 Prozent aller Menschen mindestens einmal in ihrem Leben Angststörungen. Seit Beginn der Corona-Pandemie habe sich dieser Umstand noch weiter verschärft. Gerade Einsamkeit ist ein großes Problem, nicht nur für ältere Menschen, und kann auf lange Sicht sogar krank machen. Menschen brauchen Verbindungen und dazu gehört auch, von anderen gehört zu werden: „Jeder Mensch sollte sich seiner seelischen Belastungsgrenze bewusst sein und mit anderen Menschen offen – ohne Wertung – darüber reden können“, erzählt Florian Schleinig, der neben seiner Tätigkeit als Coach hauptberuflich für Hamburg Marketing arbeitet. Gemeinsam mit den Coaching-Kolleg*innen Ute von Chamier, Annika Reiß und Christian Stegemann kam er Ende 2019 auf die Idee, einen Ort zu schaffen, an dem Menschen ein offenes Ohr finden. Nicht als Ersatz für Psychotherapie, aber als niederschwelliges Angebot, das möglichst vielen Menschen zugänglich ist.
So entstand die Initiative „Redezeit für dich“, die seit Januar 2021 als gemeinnütziges Unternehmen (gUG) aufgestellt ist, und mittlerweile aus einem Team aus rund zwölf Ehrenamtlichen besteht. Neben dem deutschsprachigen Angebot gibt es mittlerweile auch eine englische Version und die Möglichkeit, unter anderem auf Türkisch, Französisch und Polnisch an die Coaches heranzutreten. Zudem ist die Initiative aus aktuellem Anlass seit kurzem Partner der Organisation Alliance for Ukraine, um die mentale Grundversorgung von Geflüchteten zu sichern. Darüber hinaus kooperiert das Social Startup mit weiteren Organisationen, die beispielsweise Ehrenamtliche zum Umgang mit Traumata ausbilden – auch in den Sprachen Ukrainisch und Russisch.
"Sidewalk Talks" - from the street to the net
The idea behind "Redezeit für dich" is not entirely new. Schleinig and his fellow founders were inspired by the "Sidewalk Talks" movement in San Francisco. Members set up chairs on pavements and invite passers-by to linger and talk about what's on their minds. The Hamburg-based start-up was originally intended as an analogue meeting space, but then coronavirus struck. Yet, the founders were not deterred and went online in 2020: "There was no real concept at first. We reacted rather than planned. We didn't have a website either - just our own social media channels at first," said Schleinig. However, the idea proved successful as the pandemic had made people acutely aware of the need to talk and the response was positive. After just two weeks, around 150 trained coaches had joined the initiative and agreed to volunteer their ear and time.
Pro bono offers
Meanwhile, the website has been set up and gives an overview of the coaches, whose skills range from stress management to career guidance and helping families. Appointments can be made online similar to a telephone counselling service. All the coaches work on a pro bo basis and there is no money involved. "The coaches have to sign an agreement outlining our attitude and values to which they commit," said Schleinig. The volunteers must have completed training, for instance, as a coach or psychotherapist. For quality assurance purposes, "there is usually a one-on-one meeting with us before a coach joins us," he stressed. In return, the start-up offers the volunteers free workshops in active listening or social media marketing.
Corporate health management as a business model
Schleinig and his colleagues also offer company health management. Well-known companies such as Vaude, Urban Sports Club and Gebr. Heinemann now give their employees an opportunity to consult the service in a bid to cope better with changed work conditions in the wake of the pandemic. "We want to become a more established tool of workplace health management and to drive social change in future. I would like society to relearn active listening," said Schleinig as de-stigmatising and lifting taboos around the topic of mental health is the initiative's top priority.
mb/sb/pb
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