Personal conversations and support

I accompany people who are concerned with questions of conscious ageing, people who want to change their own path from unconscious to conscious ageing, and people who accompany others in a process of unconscious ageing in private contexts.

If you are interested in support for issues that do not directly correspond to my core area of expertise, please contact me and we will see whether I can offer you support that will promote your development. If you are interested in professional support, please click here.

We can use the word dementia in our conversations or leave it out, we can talk about the dissolution of the self or not – the decisive factor for working with me or receiving support from me should be:

• You are interested in consciousness development or in the perspective of ageing as a developmental process.
• You are willing to engage with the challenging, possibly dark and/or frightening aspects of your own life as you age.
• You have a fundamental openness to spiritual perspectives on this existence. (You do not have to 'be spiritual’; I am not either.)
• You act on your own responsibility, can make decisions for yourself, and are aware that I am not a therapist and do not claim to be able to heal you. If you are not familiar with my qualifications, please read my CV.
• You are aware that conversations with me may activate deeper issues, including trauma, and are willing to seek additional therapeutic help specifically for intervention on the issue that has been activated. I can recommend someone if you wish.

If these points apply to you, you will find specific offers below, each of which can be individually tailored in terms of scope, duration and format.

I will accompany you if you notice the first signs of disorientation in your own being and in relation to the world, or if you have been diagnosed with dementia and would like intellectually stimulating support.

The requirement is that you are interested in a perspective that enables you to perceive and consciously explore these changes.

Among other things, this involves becoming more familiar with your own patterns, which can be possible triggers for cognitive changes such as forgetfulness, disorientation, anxiety, avoidance and silence. I accompany you in exploring and becoming aware of these patterns. In addition, I use various modules from my integral life practice for conscious ageing.

If you find this perspective interesting, please first read about my understanding of dementia transcendence and my own experience of nothingness – both texts describe part of my perspective on dementia and give you an initial insight into my thinking about what may (perhaps) be possible.

If you

• have been diagnosed with dementia and feel unsettled by this,
• notice signs of (increasing) disorientation in your own being (Who am I?),
• notice signs of disorientation in relation to the world around you (Where am I right now? What situation am I in? What was I just doing and why?),
• are noticing that there are increasingly moments when you are “staring into emptiness” or, after a certain period of time, do not know what has happened during that time or what you were thinking about,

then a conversation with me or longer-term support from me may be helpful for you.

I will accompany you, either temporarily or over a longer period of time, to help you find orientation in your own being and to strengthen and stabilise the experience of ‘I am’ as much as possible. This is the central aspect of the support I can offer you – you become an explorer of your own being.

This is not therapy, but should be understood as a kind of coaching – possibly as an accompanying measure to other interventions such as conventional medical therapy, psychotherapy, dietary changes and targeted physical exercise.

I am researching whether it is possible to halt the process of increasing disorientation – dementia – in its very early stages through consciousness work. I will be happy to describe my findings in more detail to you. I cannot guarantee any specific effects. However, I believe that simply making an effort to remain conscious of what is happening to you for as long as possible during this process is very helpful, even if the dementia ultimately progresses.

I would like to point out that it is possible that, as part of this support, you may come into contact with old, previously repressed traumas that may require trauma therapy: I am not a trauma therapist and cannot and will not be able to work on this with you in depth. Nevertheless, I will welcome it if such issues come to the surface, because in my opinion, one of the most powerful aspects of dementia prevention is knowing your own traumas and being able to integrate them gradually.

I accompany relatives who are supporting parents, spouses or other relatives or friends through ageing, dementia or dying. My support is particularly beneficial for people who want to reflect on their own role in this process and, if necessary, see their own path forward, and who are looking for an intellectually and, if appropriate, spiritually challenging form of support.

Thanks to my many years of experience as a teacher in geriatric care training and as a case supervisor in gerontopsychiatric care with a focus on dementia, I can support you with a wide range of experience and expertise. In some client sessions, we touch on topics ranging from incontinence care to spiritual awakening within an hour, and your needs for personal growth are at least as important as your relative's needs for good support.

I am able to maintain the balance between your needs and those of the person requiring care, remind you of your own health care, provide professional assessments and recommendations where appropriate, and am also available as a reliable discussion partner for you throughout a longer care process.

Arrange a 30-minute consultation, which is free of charge, to get to know each other, or book a 90-minute initial session to find out whether my support can be helpful and beneficial for you. The rest of the process is up to you – you decide the frequency, duration and spacing of the sessions each time.

Contact: info@bettinawichers.de

Whether once, occasionally or regularly, conversations with me about ageing, the dissolution of the self, the development of consciousness and spirituality are stimulating, thought-provoking, inspiring and – be warned! – possibly also unsettling.

• I do not share the narrative of carefree ageing, nor do I believe that old people have finally earned their retirement and can or should simply ‘settle down’.
• I believe that dementia can be prevented through consciousness work or at least that one can learn to live consciously with disorientation.
• I assume that ageing is a spiritual path that serves to open oneself to so-called ‘higher’ levels of consciousness and states of consciousness, and that conscious self-dissolution and ultimately spiritual awakening represent the evolutionary potential of ageing.
• I have a complex world view and enjoy sharing it, but this can also push people to the limits of their current cognitive capacities (including me!). It is not unusual for people to feel slightly overwhelmed at the end of a conversation with me.
• I deal carefully with trauma and horrors from the past. I myself am still struggling with many of these issues.
• At the same time, I no longer see my task as merely listening empathically to these issues, but rather as repeatedly classifying them as the evolutionary “material” for development that they represent for us, especially in old age. Instead, I provoke people not to rest, even in old age, in order to continue to understand and integrate traumas, shadows and old inner psychological patterns – also as part of our transgenerational responsibility.
• I am not a psychotherapist and conversations with me are neither for diagnosis nor treatment of psychological issues. Personal responsibility in dealing with challenging psychological issues is a prerequisite.

Conscious ageing requires work on all levels of consciousness: on the level of the physical body, the vital body, the mind, the intellect, and on the level of the spirit – thus, movement and nutrition are just as much a part of consciousness development as maintaining and shaping a mature, consciously perceptive and reflective mind and consciousness work and/or a decidedly spiritual practice. Here, too, I work with my understanding of an integral life practice for conscious ageing.

You bring your topics and questions with you, and the rest emerges through the evolutionary force we call life.

After many years of (semi-)nomadic life, which were necessary for the transformation process of my being, Hamburg is now my new home. I don't want to rent a permanent office or practice yet, but I am once again offering face-to-face meetings. At the same time, I am curious about Hamburg's café scene, so I am offering a special format at a special price for people in and around Hamburg: the Caféhaus Conversation.

• We meet in a café or restaurant of your choice for a coffee or a light snack and talk about what interests you in the context of conscious ageing.
• The duration is one and a half to two hours.
• The atmosphere should be quiet, but not too quiet, and there should be some privacy with tables that are not too close together and some background noise. Smoking or strong smells are a no-go.

This is normally a German-language service, but if you are visiting Hamburg and are interested in talking to me, this is your opportunity, provided our schedules allow.

Transformation processes in general and integration processes during and after extraordinary experiences of consciousness, especially when they seem to happen unexpectedly, can prove to be challenging paths. I have experienced the loneliness, temporary confusion and bewilderment of such a path myself and am available as a conversation and reflection partner as needed. Often, all that is needed is the knowledge that one is not alone and that one can share even the most seemingly strange thoughts with someone who will listen without judgement and, based on their own similar experiences, can classify them as a normal experience of human existence.

Please contact me for an introductory meeting:

info@bettinawichers.de

There are two options for getting to know each other: You can arrange a free 30-minute introductory meeting or book an initial 90-minute session, during which we will delve deeper into your situation. Afterwards, we will decide together whether working together is the right path for you. There are no fixed conditions; you decide each time whether you would like further support or not.