Paula e.V.

Counselling centre for elderly women who have experienced trauma

 

It was more or less by a stroke of luck that Martina Böhmer found her dream job – caring for the elderly – at the age of 30.

During her many years working in inpatient and outpatient geriatric care and as the head of a geriatric rehabilitation centre in a hospital, she realised that many older women had been exposed to traumatic and distressing events in their earlier lives, such as wartime experiences, sexual and domestic violence, or forced migration.

Age-related stresses, such as illness, the need for care, and the loss of physical and cognitive independence, can trigger memories of past experiences of powerlessness.

What she also discovered was that these stressful situations for the women could often be alleviated using very simple and pragmatic methods, rather than administering psychotropic drugs to sedate them. To do this, however, one had to know what traumatic events had befallen them in their earlier lives.

During her work in elderly care, she was able to learn, through conversations with the women concerned, which past traumas they were still suffering from today.

This topic stayed with her, and so Ms Böhmer undertook continuous further training alongside her work to become a specialist consultant in psychotraumatology, geriatric psychotherapy and gerontology. Each of these training courses lasted several years.

Since then, she has worked as a consultant and speaker in the field of elderly care, delivering training courses, giving talks and providing case supervision. For several years, she also led a support group for family carers of people diagnosed with dementia.

In order to raise awareness of these issues amongst her fellow carers, she decided to put her experiences into writing.

Her book, published in 2000, has become the only standard work on this subject to date and was a milestone in raising public awareness of the issue.

 

Quote Martina Böhmer:

“I want to improve the living conditions and well-being of older women through specialist trauma counselling and support them in situations of ongoing violence and/or retraumatisation. It is not the older women and their behaviour (the consequences of trauma) that are crazy or even suffering from dementia; rather, they are reacting to traumatic events in their lives.” 

 

In 2012, she founded the Paula e.V. association in Cologne together with two colleagues; this is a counselling centre for women aged 60 and over, dedicated to ensuring that older and very elderly women can live a life free from violence in old age.

A key focus of the association’s work is raising awareness and providing information on the impact of past traumatic experiences on life in old age. Those affected can receive specialist trauma counselling here. This can take place at the counselling centre itself, in the women’s own homes, or in care facilities within Cologne. Video or telephone counselling is also offered. Furthermore, counselling is available for relatives of those affected and for specialist staff in the health sector, in women’s counselling centres, and within the elderly care and nursing system.

Since 2013, Ms Böhmer has also been project manager for various EU- or state-funded projects in North Rhine-Westphalia.

In 2016 and 2017, she also headed the State Specialist Unit for Trauma and Ageing at the North Rhine-Westphalia Regional Office.

By awarding this year’s Elisabeth Norgall Prize, we aim to help raise public awareness of the issue of ‘trauma recovery among older women’ and to honour Ms Böhmer for her pioneering work in this field.