Professor Dr. Gottfried Fischer is the director of the Institute of clinical psychology and psychotherapy of the University of Cologne. Furthermore he is one of the founders of the German Institute for Psychotraumatology where he supervises the area of research. He works as a teaching therapeut for the German Institute of Psychotraumatology and the European Academy of Psychotraumatology. Professor Fischer is the editor of the online-magazine Psychotraumatology at the Thieme Verlag in Stuttgart, Germany. With a work on research on psychotherapy he achieved his professorial degree in Medical Psychology.
He has been counseling and treating victims of Trauma as a psychotherapist and psychoanalyst for more than 20 years. Professsor Fischer developed a specific psychotherapy for posttraumatic disorders that integrates psychodynamical elements with elements from various other therapeutic schools, known as Multidimensional Psychodynamic Trauma Therapy (MPTT). Persons affected by a traumatic situation and showing a potential risk of developing long-term disorders have a good chance of being treated successfully within ten sessions on average. For many years now Prof. Fischer has led, in cooperation with various large German firms and Institutions, preventory measures for victims of accidents and crimes. Currently these cooperation partners include the Deutsche Bahn AG (German Railway Company) with the purpose to support the victims of the train accidents in Eschede and Brühl, the R&V Insurance Company and the Berufsgenossenschaft Verwaltung working for the support of the victims of bank robberies. Concepts for supporting soldiers after missions were developed in cooperation with the German Federal Armed Forces. Professor Fischer developed recreational concepts for soldiers affected by traumatic situations and helping personnel. Furthermore a training program on the topic of risk management was designed for leading employees from health industry, economy and politics.
Dr. Bering works as a research assistant at the Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy of the University of Cologne and is chief of staff of the project group. Further he is in charge of the center for Psychotraumatology at the Alexianer-Hospital in Krefeld as the leading doctor. The center for Psychotraumatology is supported by the German Institute for Psychotraumatology and accompanied (?) scientifically by the Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy.
Dr. Bering studied Medicine and Psychology at the University of Cologne and spent two semesters of research at the Institute of molecular Neuropathology of the University of Copenhagen. He continued studies and research in this field back at the University of Cologne and achieved his medical doctor in 1995 with Prof. U. Heinemann as his doctoral father.
At the Kreiskrankenhaus Gummersbach he finished his clinical training and became doctor for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy. Cooperation with Prof. Fischer soon led to a shift towards clinical psychotraumatology as the main area of his research and interest. Since October he is chief of staff of the project prevention and treatment of psychotrauma which is conducted on behalf of the German Ministry of Defense. Additionally Dr. Bering is teaching Biological Psychology and Psychotraumatology at the University of Cologne.
Mrs. Schedlich is the substitute chief of staff of the project and research group Prevention and Treatment of Psychotrauma and research assistant at the Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy. She worked at the Dr. Von Ehrenwall'schen Klinik in Ahrweiler for more than eight years as a psychologist and over time specialised on Trauma therapy. She contributed to the development of a special treatment plan for psychotraumatology at the clinic.
She is trained in Dance- and Expression-Therapy and has been a trainer at the Dietrich-Langen-Institute for Dance- and Expression-Therapy for many years. Since 2001 Mrs. Schedlich is leading and organising the training program for the Fachberater Psychotraumatology at the German Institute for Psychotraumatology. During her final paper for achieving her degree in Psychology she developed the Cologne-Trauma-Inventory together with Professor Fischer. Mrs. Schedlich teaches in the subject of psychology of the personality at the University of Cologne.
Mrs. Zurek is resarch assistant at the Institute for Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy at the University of Cologne. She is a qualified dance-therapeut and has earned her degree in Psychology on a work on concepts of counter-transference in therapy with traumatized clients. Furthermore, she is working at TraumaTransformConsult GmbH as a freelancer. At the University of Cologne she teaches in psychology of the personality.
Mr. Kimmel is working as a student research assistant at the Institute for Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy. His work in the project Prevention and Treatment of Psychotrauma is centered around the planning, development and production of the computer based training-manual "eReader".
Mr. Grittner has been working for the Institute for Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy since 1998. Besides his work as a network administrator he worked in the project on acute intervention after bank robberies (R&V-Project) and in the advice center for victims of violence and accidents. Within the Project Prevention and Treatment of Psychotrauma, Mr. Grittner contributed to the planning, production and continuous development of the "eReader".
Mr. Schäfer works as a student research assistant at the Institute for Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy.
Mrs. Hoever works as a student research assistant at the Institute for Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy.