FAQ

Queermed Deutschland offers a directory of queer-friendly and sensitised doctors, therapists and practices. At the same time, Queermed works to raise awareness among practitioners and empower patients.

Queermed Germany has been in existence since May 2021.

Currently, there is only one person working on this project, taking care of email, networking, social media, design, website maintenance, etc.  You can read more about it at About Queermed.

By clicking on “Submit recommendation”, a patient can submit a recommendation for a doctor, therapist, practice or even an entire hospital. In several steps, a series of information is requested, such as the contact details of the person treating the patient, the billing options (statutory health insurance, private, self-pay), the languages, and much more. At the same time, questions are asked about the handling of the treating person within the own experience to make sure that this recommendation can actually be passed on.

At the same time also aspects of the barrier liberty are queried and apart from elevator and orientation assistance for blind & visually impaired humans also further questions are asked.

Towards the end, there are a number of click options for which group(s) of people the recommendation can be made. The person making the recommendation should only select recommendations for associated groups of people (Muslim*, trans*, people with chronic illnesses, etc.) to which they themselves belong.

After a review of the recommendation with the verification of all contact details and information, the recommendation is made live.

There are several points that are important for a recommendation to appear on Queermed:

• The practitioner / practice / clinic is clearly identifiable based on the contact details.
• Not all boxes are ticked, which means that it is no longer clear who the recommendation is suitable for.
• The additional texts ideally have a self-description of the experience of dealing with the practitioner.
• There is no promotional impression in the texts.
• The person who writes the recommendation actually visited this practice as a patient.

There may be several reasons why a practice that has been recommended does not appear in the directory. Among them are the following: 

• Incomplete information that makes cross-checking impossible.
• Incorrect information
• Suspicion that the referral did not come from a patient.
• Recommendation of a practice that does not meet the criteria (e.g. alternative practitioners or other non-medical/therapeutic training)

This can also have several reasons why a recommended practice is removed from the directory again:

• The practice has made itself known and has asked for the recommendation to be removed. This can also have a variety of reasons (if a practice gives a reason)
  • Discontinuation of the practice / post
  • waiting list too long
• a warning was submitted to the project regarding a certain recommendation, which was so decisive that the recommendation was removed
• it is subsequently felt that the recommendation does not meet the criteria and it is subsequently removed

The project does not specify subject areas. All the subject areas mentioned have been listed through recommendations. For this purpose, there is a free text field within the questionnaire directly after the selection of the subject area to add subject areas that are not yet available. 

Heilpraktiker is not an official health profession and no state examination is necessary for it. There was therefore no additional examination by any large, uniform organization or institution regarding the uniformity of the training. In addition, the services are not part of health insurance coverage, which only allows use for a small financially privileged group of people.

The same applies to job titles that are not legally protected in Germany. This also includes the areas of coaches, art therapy and couple and sex therapy. Due to the fact that there is no uniform legal framework, the traceability of the professions is difficult for both Queermed and lay people.

Since health care is particularly critical for people with (multiple) discrimination and their path to recovery is extremely important, no guarantee can be given by listing professional groups outside of this state-regulated system. At the same time, there is no study on the actual evidence of the use of these services. Therefore, they do not fall under the subject areas listed on Queermed.

This wish actually appears frequently. People would like to spare others the bad experience(s) that they themselves have had. However, “warnings” or “bad reviews” on the Internet are generally very problematic, since this can create a reputation-damaging impression, with which treating persons and practices have an easier handle for lawsuits. For this reason, warnings are avoided and only recommendations are presented on the website.

If you have a bad experience with a treating person or practice, feel free to report it using the contact form.

The focus of the project is only on patients making recommendations for other patients. It is important to expand all possibilities of sensitized and discrimination-critical practices, but here we compare different perceptions between practitioners and patients, which makes it difficult to read out for oneself which perception is closer to one’s own. 

There is always the possibility to ask for free material  (flyers & stickers)via the contact form. Otherwise, there is always the possibility to ask one’s own patients if they would like to make a recommendation.