CHAJA Foundation
NEW HEALTH HORIZONS
What is health?
We, the CHAJA Foundation, take a holistic view of health. Our body, our feelings, our mind, and our soul cannot be considered separately. Health is not a state but a dynamic process. Machteld Huber describes health in this sense as the ability to adapt to social, physical and emotional challenges and to overcome them in self-organization. This ability is rooted in knowledge, self-efficacy and meaning in life – in which we as a foundation are particularly interested.
Accordingly, we are guided by the belief that living things arise from living things. We humans need an environment with living earth, with all the diversity of microorganisms. In us and around us. We need good nutrition. A world in which our mind and senses are connected with the soil, the water and the air, with the animals and plants. The same is true of us as social beings: We need a nurturing environment in family and society, both providing security and community and protecting and cherishing individuality and freedom. Such an environment allows and demands challenges and lets us find a good balance and an individual path with our own experiences – as infants, children, adolescents, adults and into old age.
With the goal of strengthening and preserving the creative potential of people across disciplines, the CHAJA Foundation supports therapists, medical professionals, organizations and initiatives in the fields of medicine, psychology, culture, history, education and society.
Beyond supporting individual projects, the CHAJA Foundation also engages in an international professional exchange of ideas and supports networks of committed people. We seek to share knowledge about how to foster health and advance this knowledge to the benefit of a healthier society.
If you too are committed in this area, we should get to know each other. We look forward to hearing from you.
PROJECTS
Chat-Net
CHAT-NET Social participation by phone The Chat-Net (Plaudernetz) offers quick help in moments of loneliness: just call and connect with other people. The Chat-Net connects old and young, people from the city and the countryside, men and women, people with different world views – ensuring that we stay in conversation
Traumatic Stress Research Consortium
TRAUMA STRESS RESEARCH Why do we need research on traumatic stress? Neglect, serious illness, accidents, violence, and other traumatic stressors impair mental and physical health and jeopardize survivors’ ability to form and maintain intimate relationships. The lasting effects of traumatic stressors place an enormous burden on survivors, their social networks,
Positive Health
Support for the „Positive Health“ concept by Machtheld Huber from the Netherlands in German-speaking countries. A human being is more than his or her illness or state of health. Nevertheless, our thoughts about health usually focus only on that state. All the attention is on symptoms and health problems and