Looking for a therapy place in Germany, and every practice is full or never writes back?
Tell me on a video call where you’ve looked and what you have done (or not done) so far. Together we will work out your next steps.
Please note these calls are held in English.
Book a free 15-minute callWho you talk to
Amber Hoffman
I’m one of the two co-founders of Syncd Health, a Berlin company that works to support people on their route to a therapy place in Germany. I know the system and the search inside out. I know when practices answer the phone, what an insurer wants to see before it pays for a therapist without a public-insurance seat, what 116 117 can and can’t arrange. I lead our user research and partnerships. The idea for these calls came out of hours and hours of interviews with people stuck in the system. What a lot of people want and need during this time is a human helping hand.
In a call we go through your search together, and you leave with the next things to try, written down. I have a degree in psychology and organisational psychology, and have spent my career working in early childhood education, mental wellness coaching and project co-ordination for large non-profits. I’m South African and have spent my adult life living in Copenhagen, Vietnam, Mexico and Germany, so I know what it’s like to learn a country’s rules from the outside. I’m here to give you a clear overview and get you moving forward.
Please note I am not a psychotherapist and these calls are not a psychotherapy session.
Where the search usually gets stuck
If you’ve written to practice after practice and heard nothing, or only “we’re full”, the system is the reason, and you’re not the only one it happens to. For people with statutory health insurance, the average wait from the first consultation to the start of therapy was 142 days in early 2019, nearly five months (KBV billing data, DPtV Report Psychotherapie 2023). Newer figures from Bavaria show that the same wait grew there between 2019 and 2025 (Kassenärztliche Vereinigung Bayerns, 2026). And this number only starts at that first consultation. Getting even that far can take many emails and calls. Almost none of the advice on what else to try and where to look is in one place, let alone in English. And writing the same email again and again takes more out of you each time.
Unwritten rules nobody tells you
When do practices pick up the phone? What goes in the email? And keep every rejection, because your insurer may want to see them if you later ask it to pay for a therapist without a public-insurance seat.
How it works
1. You tell me where your search stands
Who you’ve called, what they told you, which forms or letters you’ve been given and what’s still unclear. If you have not done any of these things or are unsure of what route you want to take, that’s fine too. We start where you are.
2. We work out the next step together
We pick the one thing you’re stuck on right now, maybe your insurer, a waiting list or the practices you’ve already tried. Then I say what I’d try next, and what I’d skip.
3. You get it in writing
In the free call you write it all down before we hang up. After the 45-minute call, I send you a plan with your next steps and the phone numbers, links and search terms that go with them, so everything’s in one place and we can keep track of it together.
What a call is not
I’m not a therapist or a doctor. A call with me isn’t therapy, counselling or treatment of any kind, and it doesn’t replace the therapy you’re looking for. I don’t diagnose anything or assess how you’re doing, and there are no questionnaires or tests. When a question is one for a doctor, I say so.
And I can’t arrange a therapy place or a faster appointment for you.
What a call covers
In 15 minutes there’s time for one or two of these; the 45-minute call goes through all of them:
- how Kostenerstattung works, the route where an insurer can sometimes pay for a therapist without a public-insurance seat, decided case by case
- what else to try when every practice is full or never answers, and how to follow up on a waiting list
- what to write when you email a practice, when to phone instead, and which forms and letters come up
- what the Terminservicestelle, the appointment service on 116 117, can arrange for you, and how to reach it (by phone or online)
- what your type of health insurance means for the search
Two ways to start
We meet via video call on Google Meet. For now you book by email. For the free 15-minute call I will confirm a time and send you a link promptly. For the 45-minute call I reply with an offer. It has the time, the price, our terms and the withdrawal notice. You book by answering it, and you pay by invoice after the call.
A call with me
Describe your search so far and work out your next step together. Afterwards you can decide if a full call is worth it for you.
Opens your email app.
Navigation call
The introductory price is 29 euros until 30 November 2026. After that, 49 euros. No VAT is charged (small business, § 19 UStG).
You go through your whole search with me. We look at where you’ve written and called, and what came back. Together we sort out what’s left to try, in which order, and where not to bother. Afterwards I send you your next steps in a shared Google Doc.
Opens your email app.
Prefer to write first?
Send me a short note about your search and I’ll reply by email.
Your message goes to the Syncd Health inbox hello@syncd.health. It’s used only to reply to you and arrange a call, and it isn’t passed on to anyone. Nothing about your health is needed to book, so please leave it out. If you need help urgently, please don’t wait for a reply. Use the numbers below.
Good to know
- Moving or cancelling is free until 12 hours before the call; just reply to my email. If you cancel later than that, half the price is due, and if you miss the call, the full price, unless something outside your control stopped you. Within your 14-day withdrawal period, cancelling before the call costs nothing. The details are in the terms in my offer email.
- You pay after the call. I send you an invoice, due by bank transfer within 14 days of the invoice date.
- The price includes up to two short follow-up calls (about 5 to 10 minutes each) within 4 weeks after the 45-minute call.
- Calls aren't recorded.
- Before you book the 45-minute call, my offer email gives you our terms, the withdrawal notice and the model withdrawal form.
How we handle your booking details is set out on our privacy page.
If you need help urgently
Please do not book a session for an emergency. Help is available right now.
A call with me is about the route to a therapy place, which makes it the wrong choice in an emergency. Use these numbers instead:
The free emergency number for an ambulance or the fire service. Call it when a life is in danger, your own included.
The same number as the Terminservicestelle. When doctors’ practices are closed, it’s also the number for the medical on-call service.
Telefonseelsorge, a free and anonymous helpline where you can talk to someone, day and night.
Telefonseelsorge answers in German only. In an emergency, call 112 even if your German is limited, and say where you are first, slowly.