Manfred Günther

Manfred Günther (born 1948 in Bochum) is a German educational psychologist, specialised in young people, the prevention of violence and social therapy methods; today he works as an author and coach. He lives in Berlin, Germany and La Palma, Spain.

Career At the beginning of his career, he discovered the psychological works of Frederick Kanfer and Heinz Heckhausen in Bochum and of Klaus Holzkamp and Eva Jaeggi in Berlin. He graduated in 1974. Günther is also an Economics-and-Work teacher, school psychologist, as well as being a dovish follower of cognitive behavioural therapy. Later, from 1984 to 1986 he studied Health Sciences at famed Professor Dieter Kleiber’s institute.

Professional Experience In 1977, Günther became the director of a private residential treatment centre (therapeutic boarding school). In 1979, he discovered Sam Ferrainola's Camp, namely the Glen Mills Schools close to Philadelphia, discussed this with Howard W. Polsky in New York City. and got internships 1980 in Boston's famous counseling-team Bridge Over Troubled Waters and in the very special Robert White School. While travelling he inspected other psychosocial projects in countries like Denmark, Ukraine (USSR), Canada, Italy (and after 1990 in Hungary). After that, feeling inspired, Manfred founded and took charge of a consultancy for young people called "JOKER" in West Berlin's City in 1982, a position he held for 17 years. Later (2003–2006) he moved to the Bonn-institution "German Crime Prevention Forum (DFK)" to investigate and write surveys on "Prevention of violence for children in schools" after the first extreme German school shooting in Erfurt. From 2007 to 2013 he has been a consultant and in the emergency psychological service at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sciences in Berlin (Federal State).

To discuss his ideas, Günther was being interviewed on radio- and TV channels such as SFB 2, SFB 3, Hallo, N 24 and ZDF-Moma. The Ministry of Education, School, Youth and Family Brandenburg commissioned Manfred Günther with the curriculum development Social Work (Youth)

Universities For 40 years, Günther has worked beside his main occupations in four different universities of Berlin and from 2011 to 2015 in Magdeburg. His main subjects are "Rights of young people" and "Violence among pupils".

Memberships 1977-1980: Trade union "OTV Berlin, executive board of the "churches group" 1993-1998: Member of the County Committee "Jugendhilfe" in Berlin 1992-2000: On the supervisory board of the "Pestalozzi-Fröbel-Haus" 1993-1997: Management team for "Humanistischer Verband Deutschlands, IHEU Berlin-Brandenburg" 1996-1998: Management team responsible for "Aktion 70"

Political Parties: 70s: Socialist Party 80s, 90s, 00s: Green Party 20s: Social Democratic Party

Today: "German Humanist Association / IHEU", member of arbitration committee, Berlin