Silvia Görres

Silvia Görres (née Volkart; 11 September 1925 – 14 January 2015) was a German psychotherapist and author. In 1967 she became involved as a volunteer with , a regional (and national) charity involved in mental health. Starting in 1971 she became chair of the organisation's Bavarian executive board, successfully backing a number of projects and practical initiatives to improve the quality of life for the mentally impaired.
Life
Silvia Regina Volkart was born in Stuttgart, the third recorded child of , an architect and university teacher, and his wife Kathe Volkart-Schlager, a composer. Between 1944 and 1949 she attended Tübingen University where she studied philosophy, psychology and pedagogy. Between 1949 and 1952 she completed her psychoanalytical training with Alexander Mitscherlich at his Institute for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy at Heidelberg. She was then ready to set up her own psychotherapy practice, which she did in 1953, continuing to treat patients till approximately 1990.
In 1950 Silvia Volkart married the psychoanalyst and psychotherapist , who was one of several younger members of the profession closely associated with Alexander Mitscherlich at Heidelberg. The marriage produced seven recorded children, of whom two were affected by Down syndrome.
In 1967 she began to volunteer for the Munich charity. In 1971 she became chair of the Munich-based regional executive. She later also joined the organisation's national executive board, which was based in Marburg.
The Munich Lebenshilfe lists various practical support initiatives that Silvia Volkart had already launched by 1980 in order to support the mentally impaired:
Early years support for children during their first four years
Two school preparation institutions providing curative teaching and daycare for children from the age of three
A school with special needs daycare provision for children with severe and multiple impairment (today renamed as the "Silvia Görres School")
A "Lebenshilfe" workshop
The organisation's first residential homes for adults with impairments
The organisation's first residential group
Publicising work for the handicapped
Parents' advice service
The periodical publication L.I.E.S (Lebenshilfe in eigener Sache)
Awards and honours
Silvia Görres' voluntary work did not go unrecognised.
1975: Bavarian Order of Merit
2003: Father Rupert Mayer medal
2004: Inauguration of the "Silvia Görres School" in Munich
2005: Constitution Medal in Gold
2008: Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany "am Bande"
Output (selection)
Leben mit einem behinderten Kind. (Zürich, Köln 1974), (Benziger), (Flamberg-Verlag), (Piper, reworked new edition 1984)
mit Gerd Hansen (Hrsg.): Psychotherapie bei Menschen mit geistiger Behinderung. Bad Heilbrunn, Obb. 1991.
Meine Lektion der Abrahamsgeschichte. In Marianne Dirks (Hrsg.): Glauben Frauen anders? Freiburg 1983.
Erziehung eines behinderten Kindes. In Heidi Bohnet-von der Thüsen (Hrsg.) : Denkanstöße ʽ89. München, Zürich 1989.
Der Mensch mit Down-Syndrom in Familie und Gesellschaft. In Jan Murken und Elke Dietrich-Reichart (Hrsg.): Down-Syndrom. Starnberg-Percha 1990.
Erfahrungen einer Mutter. In: Wir haben euch etwas zu sagen, Bundesvereinigung Lebenshilfe für geistig Behinderte, Bayerisches Nationalmuseum München (Hrsg.). München 1984. Ausstellungskatalog
References
Writers from Stuttgart
German psychotherapists
German health and wellness writers
Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
1925 births
2015 deaths
German women psychologists