Welcome to www.prekop-festhalten.de,

the official homepage of Holding therapy according to Dr. Jirina Prekop. This therapy has rapidly attracted worldwide interest, not only in German-speaking countries but also in the Czech Republic, Belgium, Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, South Africa and elsewhere.

Here, you can access our newest offers, activities and plans.

The artist Jane Ray of London was kind enough to put this wonderful photo at our disposal. Who we are:

The 'GFH Gesellschaft zur Förderung des Festhaltens als Lebensform und Therapie e.V.' is a non-profit association that was established in 1989 by our first chairwoman, Dr. phil. Jirina Prekop, an eminent psychologist who took over Holding therapy from Martha Welch (USA) under the personal scientific consultation of the Nobel prize winner Niko Tinbergen (Oxford). She then linked it with the systemic approach of Bert Hellinger and developed it in her own terms into a medium for renewing of love in family ties.

Please click here for further information about
Holding and the Holding therapy of Jirina Prekop >

Our aims are:

Above all, we would like to make parents and specialists concerned with families conscious of the meaning of Holding as a holistic medium for the renewal of family bonds and the willingness to love. We would like to make them aware of it in a holistic way which combines practical experience with the scientific findings from various disciplines such as theology, ethology, behavioural biology, psychology, medicine, psychotherapy, relationship research, brain research and others.

Apart from practical family therapy seminars, we provide information via lectures, conferences, congresses, books, television programmes, newspaper articles and (until 2011) the 'Holding Times', our annual German-language newsletter.

As a kind of umbrella organisation, we supervise the training of Holding therapists worldwide and support the various establishments connected with and the activities of the Prekop Institutes.
You can find the list of Holding therapists using the Prekop approach in the German section of our website >