Series: Insights into working at DIGNITAS
24 February 2025
Part 1: An interview with Carola* from the First Contact Team
What brought you to DIGNITAS?
I was looking for a meaningful job. From personal experience, I was very aware of the importance of self-determining and shaping one’s own life until the end. When I came across a job ad from DIGNITAS, I knew this was what I wanted. And to my great pleasure, it actually worked out!
What are the tasks of the First Contact Team?
The members of the First Contact Team distribute, process and answer incoming letters and emails and answer phone calls. Every day, we receive 20 to 50 calls and 150 to 250 emails from all over the world.
What are the main concerns of people who contact DIGNITAS?
People who contact DIGNITAS are usually in a very difficult life situation. They are often people who are personally affected and for the first time deal in-depth with a self-determined end of life, looking for information and options. Sometimes, relatives or friends of someone affected contact us. It is usually about assisted suicide, sometimes also about advance directives. The majority of people who contact us are suffering from a serious somatic illness, but there are also people with mental illnesses who are looking for a way out of their suffering and do not know how to carry on.
What do you particularly like about working in the First Contact Team?
The conversations with the people who contact us are about profound, existential questions. These are as diverse and individual as their personal history. This is also very enriching on a human level.
Which situations touch you particularly?
The preparation phase of an assisted suicide is complex and takes a lot of time. If someone contacts us at a very advanced stage of a terminal illness, or a person’s condition suddenly deteriorates rapidly, there is sometimes simply not enough time left for an assisted suicide, for example because the person lives abroad, is no longer able to travel, or can no longer express themselves. It is sometimes very difficult for me to have to turn down the person or their relatives.
What helps you in difficult situations?
We are very open in our team and also with our team leader. We exchange with each other about heavy situations. Sometimes it’s sufficient to just take a break, breathe and turn one’s mind to other things.
I also find balance in my private life. We all work part-time, and I use my free time to go out into nature, listen to music, cook or socialise with friends, for example.
What qualities are important for this kind of work?
We take an open-outcome approach to dialogue and don’t want to force anyone down a particular path or make a decision for them. First and foremost, you have to be a good listener. It is important to give the other person’s concerns and thoughts space without judgement, to understand their situation, to ask questions if anything is unclear and to support them with information. Of course, it also requires respect for and interest in people and their stories. And the ability to engage without losing personal distance. As DIGNITAS deals with people from all over the world, very good spoken and written foreign language skills in English, French and Italian are required in addition to German.
Has working at DIGNITAS changed you?
Yes, a lot. When you have so much to do with people at the end of their lives, a lot of things in your own life are put into perspective. Above all, I’ve become more relaxed and considerate and no longer take many things as seriously as I used to. Interpersonal relationships have become much more important, and I no longer dwell so much on banalities.
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*Carola has been working at DIGNITAS for three years. In addition to her work in the First Contact Team, she also accompanies members during an assisted suicide.
