English

The Network (Netzwerk)

was founded in 1995 as an umbrella organisation. In 2021, 63 counselling centres for women* and girls* in all nine Austrian provinces are members of the Network.

We build an internal network among our counselling centres.

We organise trainings, exchange and communication among the counselling centres.

We represent the issues of the centres externally
and are therefore in constant contact with funding bodies, politicians, in committees, in the media and in public.

We advocate
for a society in which all human beings, but specifically women* and girls*, can lead a free and safe life.

The Network and all counselling centres have no affiliation with any political party or religious confession. We receive funding from national, provincial and communal bodies as well as through projects and donations.

The Counselling Centres

The 63 counselling centres of the Network are open for all women* and girls*. The counselling is confidential and free of charge and takes place at the counselling centres, by phone or on-line.

Every year, more than 100.000 women* and girls* turn to our centres with their private and career concerns.

Whatever it is: Counselling is always an opportunity!

The 59 counselling centres for women* and girls* provide support with issues concerning training, professional orientation (career guidance), return to work after parental leave, employment law and residence, with questions regarding partnership and child-rearing, divorce and custody, in the case of health problems, both physical and psychical, and concerning all forms of violence.

If you are looking for counselling: call or write an email to one of the counselling centres. Click here for the contacts. Anonymous and safe online counselling is possible as well.

Together

we strive to secure the quality of counselling and disseminate and elaborate the services for women* and girls*.

We support women* and girls* individually. At the same time, we are committed to social improvements in the field of equality.

In our work, we are obliged to adhere to our Quality Standards which we adapted and redesigned in 2017 with the participation of all counselling centres represented in our Network.

How do we work exactly and who can come to our centres? And how do women* and girls* find advice and support? In the 2018 video Chance Beratung (Counselling as an Opportunity), counsellors as well as women* and girls* who have sought advice in a counselling centre talk about their experiences. The long version (10 min), short version (3 min), and a short spot (30 sec) can be found here. The videos are available in German only.

Counselling in several languages

Within our Network, 6 counselling centres for migrant women* (maiz, Lefö, Miteinander Lernen/Birlikte Ögrenelim, Orient Express, Peregrina) specialise in counselling in various languages. Except for maiz, which is located in Linz, all these specialised centres are in Vienna

In order to be able to provide multilingual counselling also in many other counselling centres all over Austria, we have jointly developed the project

„Etablierung von Dolmetscherinnen-Pools in Frauen- und Mädchenberatungsstellen“ (“Establishing Pools of Interpreters in Counselling Centres for Women* and Girls*”) (2020 – 2022), funded by the Austrian Integration Fund (ÖIF). Within this project we have been training a total of 72 professional and lay interpreters for the special work in counselling centres for women* and girls*.

All in all, the interpreters work in 12 languages. Individual counselling centres are able to provide 3-5 languages. Click on the respective centre to know which languages are available:

Download Folder

Contact for questions: netzwerk@netzwerk-frauenberatung.at

ÖIF – Österreichischer Integrationsfonds – Gefördertes Projekt

Translation: Eva Kuntschner