Men's Counseling Center Graz

Maennerberatung Graz (Men's Counseling Center Graz) is a NGO/NPO. It was founded in 1996. Its activities cover the province of Styria. The center is located in Graz, Austria, with a branch office in Leoben.

The center's aim is to provide men and male youngsters with gender specific services, as well as to do networking, education and training, fostering the public discussion about men's and gender issues and research (men's studies, gender studies). Combining

• psycho-social work within a network of regional services,
• research activities and
• dissemination via networking, training, education and participating in the public discussion

results in an integrated multi-level access to men in our society.

Counseling

Our team is multi-professional and specialized in men's issues. Through individual counselling (personal, telephone and e-mail-counseling, free of charge up to 7 hours) and group work we focus various areas such as:

• relationships, divorce
• social crises, social isolation
• sexuality and sexual orientation
• victims of sexual abuse and violence
• family, fatherhood
• work&life balance, work related psychological problems, stress
• medical questions, health
• law

Special focus: Violence, sexual violence and abuse

Maennerberatung Graz provides counselling, programs and psychotherapy for violent men, either on a voluntary basis or in cooperation with various organizations and institutions.

Public discussion

The public discussion about relevant topics is observed by professional media surveillance. With 50 to 70 contributions in local and national media per year (newspapers, radio, TV) the organization tries to play an active role in the discourse about men, masculinities and gender relations.

Gender-reflecting work with male youngsters

Group work with boys and youngsters in schools and youth centers covers the topics:

• love and sexuality
• prevention of physical violence
• prevention of sexual violence
• male identity, gender roles, gender relations, work life balance
• risk behavior and health

Gender Mainstreaming

In cooperation with Frauenservice Graz (Women's Service Graz) we work in the domain of Gender Mainstreaming. The core element of this unique cooperation project is a work group on Gender Mainstreaming, called "GenderWerkstätte" ("Gender Lab"), where women and men work together continuously on improving methods, reflecting/ evaluating experiences from gender-trainings and observing related research and new developments.

Trainings, counselling and projects are realized in various organizations and offered to the interested public.

Our products cover e.g.:

• Gender Competency Trainings
• Gender-gap-analyses in companies and organisations
• Implementing Gender Mainstreaming in companies and organisations
• Gender analysis workshops
• Gender Diversity workshops
• Gender walks (Gender and public space - guided tours through cities)

Projects (PDF-File)

Contact: gender@maennerberatung.at

Research

Men's Counseling Center Graz runs a research institute:
The Research Institute at Men's Counselling Centre Graz
research@maennerberatung.at

Men's studies, gender studies and analyses in connection with Gender Mainstreaming (see above) are the central issues, besides methodological development, evaluation and client analyses in the context of the psycho-social work of our organization, tutoring students, and dissemination of knowledge in various ways.

Furthermore, the research institute coordinates the organization's contacts to national and international networks and projects in all activity areas (research; Gender Mainstreaming; practical exchange)

Projects and activities of our research institute (PDF-File)

Contact: research@maennerberatung.at

Publications of the Research Institute of Men's Counselling Centre Graz (PDF-File)

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