School psychology

Help for parents and children through school psychology services

Text last updated: 2026-02-10

When your child's psyche needs help

Is your child constantly unable to concentrate or disrupts lessons? Are there already tears on the way to school in the morning? Do you hear the phrase "I don't want to go there anymore" more and more often? School problems can have many faces. Parents are often at a loss in such situations and don't know what's going on with their child. One way to get support is through the school psychological counseling centers. The trained specialists work confidentially and free of charge. Read here how school psychological counseling can support you.

Sometimes outside help is needed

Do you know this? At first, starting school couldn't happen fast enough - and now: your child suddenly doesn't want to go to school anymore. School is suddenly stupid. The teacher is unfair, the other children are mean. Or your child no longer wants to go on dates, seems depressed, perhaps has a stomach ache or headache or is wetting themselves again at night. And then there are those constant phone calls from the teacher because your child is not behaving as expected at school. These are all warning signs that rightly worry parents. More and more frequently, primary school children are also experiencing very different difficulties with life at school. Some can be clarified and resolved through calm parent-child discussions or talks with the class teacher. Where this is not enough, the school psychological service can be a very good point of contact.

In these cases, the school psychological service can help:

Your child refuses to go to school and neither discussions with the class teacher nor with you can do anything.
Your child is generally afraid of school.
Your child reacts to school with frequent stomach aches and headaches or sleep disorders, but the pediatrician's office cannot diagnose anything.
Your child has great difficulty with the subject matter and feels overwhelmed.
Your child finds it very difficult to concentrate and often disrupts lessons or does not catch up with the subject matter.
Your child feels excluded and is bullied.
Your child is repeatedly involved in heated arguments and finds it difficult to control their emotions.
Your child needs more challenges because they are bored at school.
You don't get along with your child's teacher.
You are unsure about your child's future school career and would like expert advice

The primary goal is to help your child

The aim of counseling is to find the causes of your child's problems and develop possible solutions with you. The school psychology department is well networked and, depending on the problem, can also recommend other counseling centers and establish contacts on request. For example, to educational counseling centers, youth welfare offices, social services and other points of contact.

Counseling sessions are always free of charge, completely confidential and independent. This means that the counseling center will try to find a good and suitable solution for your child with you, regardless of the wishes of others.

You can rest assured that what you discuss there will not be passed on under any circumstances. Also important: Counseling is voluntary. No one can force you to undergo school psychological counseling.

The school psychological counseling service in concrete terms

You can either contact a school psychological counseling center via the teacher or contact them directly yourself. You can find the telephone number or e-mail address on the website of the Ministry of Education of North Rhine-Westphalia.

This is what school psychological help can look like in practice. A few examples:

If your child refuses to attend school, the mental health professional will first talk to you. This will be followed by discussions with your child, perhaps also with the teacher. First of all, you will look together for possible causes. Then you will discuss ways for your child to improve at school.

If the issue is school anxiety, first describe the problem. In further discussions with your child, and possibly also with the teachers and you, the causes and solutions will be sought.

If a lack of concentration is the issue, perhaps combined with greater restlessness, the procedure is usually different. The school psychologist visits the class in consultation with the class teacher to get an idea of the situation at school. This observation is important for further counseling. It is often useful if the teacher is also involved in this case.

In the case of problems with aggressive behavior, the school psychologist spends observational break times in the school. Such observations can be very informative. Here too, it makes sense for the teacher to take part in the subsequent discussion. This will then focus on concrete initial steps towards a solution.

If the specialist at the school psychological advice center considers testing important in order to gain clarity about ADD, ADHD, giftedness or similar, they usually recommend a specialist medical practice.

How to find a school psychological counseling center

In North Rhine-Westphalia, there is a school psychological counseling center in every district and in every independent city. You can find all .

In addition to the telephone number, an e-mail address is also provided. Here you can make initial contact and arrange a personal appointment. SIf your local advice center is not available by phone, you can usually reach the higher-level

between 10.00 a.m. and 4.00 p.m.

Landesstelle Schulpsychologie und Schulpsychologisches Krisenmanagement (LaSP)

Phone: 02931 82-3023

lasp@bra.nrw.de

This page from the NRW Ministry of Education provides an overview of school psychology work:

The Professional Association of German Psychologists has published basic information on school psychology work. You might be interested in taking a look:

Many local authorities in NRW bundle their services and contact addresses relating to family life (advice centers, parent-child courses, leisure activities and much more) on a special Internet portal. You can find the link to this service for your town or municipality here on the Familienportal.NRW: