Open house in Linz offers first aid for the psyche of young people

After Corona, the wave of inflation swept across the country. In addition, there are the daily horror reports about the Ukraine war and the worsening climate change. The social crisis mode leaves psychological traces in many young people. Except that growing up has never been easy.

25 percent of young people in Austria are mentally rather bad, four percent even say they are “very bad”, says Social and Youth Provincial Councilor Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer, referring to a current Ö3 youth study. “We have to take the problems and concerns of young people seriously and create spaces where they can talk about them openly.”

A good example is the “Start Box”, an offer from Pro Mente Oberösterreich, which is located at Waldeggstrasse 12 in Linz and which has been available for young people and young adults between the ages of 14 and 29 for a year now, who require “First Aid for the soul” and it is easily and easily accessible. The project is funded by the state of Upper Austria. The young people do not need a decision or a medical diagnosis. Simply call or ring the doorbell. Or those seeking help write online, for example via WhatsApp to the “chat box”, whether in the middle of the night or on a Sunday. The Pro Mente team will respond to the message within two days at the latest.

Cooking and gardening together

The “Start Box” is not a home or a youth flat share. In return, young people are offered plenty of space for “daily structure” on 300 square meters: The kitchen has plenty of space for experimenting and creating delicacies, handicrafts can be tried out in the workshop, the green area in the back of the house invites you to garden or just relax .

Pro Mente has a multi-professional team of social workers, psychologists, psychotherapists and adolescent psychiatrists. In the first interview, the goals that the young person would like to achieve for themselves are explored. “We want to pick up the young people where they are,” says Holger Schaller, the team leader of the “Start Box”. A goal could be, for example, to go back to school or to find a job. “Some stay with us for a month until everything is fine for them again. For others it is a longer process, more than a year, to find a daily rhythm,” says the social worker. The focus is always on what we have in common, says 23-year-old Niki. “It’s not important why you’re there, but that you’re there,” she says. There is room for everyone in the “Start Box”.

Depression, borderline, panic attacks: the young woman has been struggling with mental illness for years and has therefore broken off her training as a librarian. The 23-year-old comes to the “Start Box” for twelve hours a week. Before that, Niki was in other Pro Mente facilities to get help. “For me it’s important that I maintain my daily structure and become more stable, that there is no day-night reversal,” she says. In the Waldeggstraße “everyone works together, we help each other”.