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Startup in the barn instead of the garage

This is how a startup is born. After almost 30 years in the profession, you sit in a congress and listen to a convincing lecture on attachment theory in therapy and pedagogy, and think: You should see to it that the professional association organizes a longer continuing education course on this subject. No sooner said than done. And because one also wants to convey what one has learned to parents and teachers in a catchy way, one designs a game board-like visualization aid. You show it to the professor. He says: “Very good. Develop it further.” And later, “We’re planning a study, and this would fit in well.” Then you have to decide: Seize the opportunity and develop it professionally – or continue tinkering.

As of August 1, 2021, I have reduced my employment as a school psychologist to a few hours per week and have left my job as a director of the Rothenburg School Service in order to devote myself fully to the new psychodiagnostic and counseling tool. Since I don’t own a garage, our art and carnival studio in a barn serves as my office.
For a long time, everything was prototypical, but in the meantime, the graphic designer has put the finishing touches on it, the game manufacturer has printed and die-cut, the beta version of the game designers for the apps went through the testing loops, and the first data collection for the validation study at the University of Rostock under the direction of Prof. Dr. Henri Julius has been done. The distribution is launched.
On September 23, 2021, the first public presentation of the prototype took place, a lecture together with the PhD student conducting the study, Ronja Bohnenkamp, at the Federal German School Psychology Congress, online “in” Hannover. On November 12, 2021, the first public live presentation to an expert audience followed at the Swiss School Psychology Congress in Biel/Bienne. And further training for specialists in school psychology and special education soon followed. More … in our news timeline

The developer

Portraitaufnahme

Lothar Steinke, lic.phil., Psychologist FSP

Training:

  • Psychology studies at the University of Fribourg / Switzerland (final diploma lic.phil./Master/MSc), unifr.ch
  • Postgraduate specialist title in child and adolescent psychology FSP, Federation of Swiss Psychologists, psychologie.ch
  • Supervision (Coaching) certificate, Institute for Systemic Development and Training IEF, ief-zh.ch
  • School principal training, LWB (now part of the Lucerne University of Teacher Education), phlu.ch

Continuing education with CAS scope:

  • School Psychology in the Context of School Development, IEF Zurich
  • Psychology of Giftedness, PSI Theory and TOP Diagnostics, DZBF / University of Osnabrück
  • Attachment-guided interventions in child and adolescent psychology, SKJP / University of Rostock

Memberships:

  • Federation of Swiss Psychologists FSP
  • Swiss Association for Child and Adolescent Psychology SKJP/ASPEA
  • Association of Psychologists in Central Switzerland VIPP
  • International Test Commission ITC

Activities:

  • Nearly 30 years working as school psychologist
  • Director of a regional school service with school psychology and speech therapy services as well as a psychomotics therapy unit and school social work
  • Head of the Cantonal Conference of School Service Managers in the Canton of Lucerne
  • Member of the Pedagogical Commission Kindergarten of the Canton of Lucerne
  • Member of the Supervisory Commission for the Bellerive Kindergarten Seminar, Lucerne
  • Member of the Continuing Education Commission of the Association of Central Swiss Psychologists VIPP
  • Co-editor of the Newsletter of the Cantonal School Psychology Conference, Lucerne
  • Supervisor/course lecturer at the Lucerne University of Teacher Education
  • Co-instructor of the final colloquia of the specialist training in child and adolescent psychology of the Swiss Association for Child and Adolescent Psychology SKJP

Award:

  • Laureate of the Swiss Child and Adolescent Psychology Award 2022, a recognition award of the Swiss Association for Child and Adolescent Psychology SKJP/ASPEA, for the long-standing commitment to the promotion of young psychologists