As head of the Hagen-Mark telephone counselling service and managing director of the Institute for Online Counselling, Birgit Knatz combines traditional crisis support with the possibilities of the digital age. 

She was the first expert in the German-speaking world to recognise the potential of digital communication channels for professional counselling. Her expertise lies in the synthesis of human presence and technological possibilities: How can ‘the human touch’ be transferred to digital counselling? This question shapes her work. 

As the author of several specialist books on online counselling, she is currently working intensively on the introduction of artificial intelligence into counselling practice. Her new book, ‘Understanding, Designing and Taking Responsibility for AI’, shows, among other things, how AI tools can be used responsibly in counselling without losing the human core of counselling.