Profile

Career Focus:

Social work for women affected by violence, establishment of the special emphasis on children in a Viennese women's shelter, care and therapies for people with eating disorders, self-defense training for women, private psychotherapeutic practice (integrative biodynamics, systemic therapy)

Biography

Michaela Haberl is a feminist social worker and therapist who has cared for girls and women affected by violence in Vienna in the autonomous association Notruf, established and carried out work with the children of women seeking protection in the Vienna Women's Shelter, and works in her own practice as a therapist with a focus on integrative biodynamics.

In her early years, Haberl lived in an all-female household with her mother and grandmother in Leoben, a small town in Styria, Austria. The contented state of her childhood was only irritated by her stepfather, who came into her life when she was about 5 years old and whom she experienced as a disruptive figure. Above all, his glances at her as a pubescent girl were unpleasant to her but were considered 'normal' in the early 1970s: "That's when I noticed that there were certain gazes, somehow voyeuristic gazes. I felt that but didn't know how to deal with it."

This continued for her as a young woman, as she was repeatedly subjected to sexual advances by men. These incidents and the disturbing experience of sexual violence against her own body during a trip caused Haberl to increasingly engage with feminist texts and theories. Haberl discovered "I am not so alone in my perception" and became rebellious.

After graduating from the Handelsakademie in Bruck an der Mur [note E.R.: Styria, province in Austria], Haberl first spent a whole year as an Au-pair in Paris and then began to study art history at the University of Vienna. Above all, she was attracted by the socio-critical aspect of modern art and what resonated in Vienna from the '68 Movement [note E.R.: cipher for social protest movement beginning with the year 1968, which in Germany and Austria was primarily carried by students and which, among other things, advocated for a fundamental social reappraisal of the National Socialist past].

Haberl herself began to become increasingly involved in the feminist scene of the 1980s in Vienna, dropping out of her art history studies to train as a social worker. Haberl was fortunate enough to study at a time where she got to experience, among others, Sophie Freud, the famous granddaughter of Sigmund Freud teaching during her guest year at the Social Academy in Vienna. Here, she witnessed the feminist critique of and debate with classical psychoanalysis at first hand.

After a project presentation by staff members of the women's shelters at the Social Academy, Haberl completed internships in a Viennese women's shelter as well as in the association of the autonomous emergency call for women and girls. Both projects were among the first publicly funded autonomous feminist women's projects in Vienna. Although the funding of the associations and positions had to be applied for anew every year from the state funding agencies, the staff members were able to work together in teams in a self-determined manner with regard to their contents.

After completing her training, the newly certified social worker first worked in the Verein Notruf (formerly: Counseling Center for women and girls who had been raped; now: Women's Counseling for Sexual Violence), after which Haberl began working at one of Vienna's women's shelters. At the women's shelter, Haberl quickly recognized the need to specifically address the needs of the children of the women who had sought protection from violent men at the shelter and to ensure that the children also had a space in which they could experience safety.

Together with colleagues, Michaela Haberl created a position in order to be able to continue the work with children in the women's shelter and filled this position herself for many years: "I had such a connection to the children, they just ran to me at that time."

Haberl describes the question of contact between children affected by abuse and violence and their fathers, if they were the perpetrators, as particularly difficult and always to be decided on a case-by-case basis. In order to protect the children, breaking off contact was often the preferred measure of choice in these cases.

Even during her training at the Social Academy, Haberl had a desire to work therapeutically. In addition to her employment at the women's shelter, she therefore completed the body therapy training of Integrative Biodynamics, which, however, was not recognized as an 'official' therapeutic direction in the newly created Therapy Act (mid-1990s) in Austria. Therefore, she additionally completed the recognized training for dynamic group psychotherapy. Working with the body was always important to Haberl. For many years she gave self-defense courses for women and also achieved a black belt in the Indonesian martial art Pentjak Silat in private.

Haberl is very aware of the delicate topic of "touch" in therapy. Thus, in her training organization, where the topic of abuse by male trainers became virulent, she was able to bring her feminist stance to bear and make a big impact by repeatedly bringing up the issue: "...with what intention is touch done, is it a nurturing supportive one or does it resonate with something that doesn't belong."

Following her 10-year employment at the Vienna Women's Shelter, Haberl began caring for people with eating disorders at the Sowhat association. She also worked as a therapist in her own practice, first as a side job and for the past 20 years as a full-time therapist.

Michaela Haberl still feels connected to the autonomous women's movement. She remembers important demonstrations and actions that took place, among others, in front of the liberal abortion clinic ("am Fleischmarkt") in Vienna. Although abortion (by means of the legally stipulated so-called "period solution", which still exists today) had been legal in Austria since the 1980s, pregnant women were repeatedly prevented from entering the clinic by anti-abortion activists. Feminists like Haberl secured the entrance to the abortion clinic in their actions to allow the women unhindered access.

Haberl would not want to miss the grassroots work in the collective of the emergency call and the women's shelter. It was exhausting, but also enriching and, above all, educational. Above all, she learned how to work independently: "Discussions, [...] tough work, you examine things from many sides [...] that is hard work [...] you go deeper into it." During her time at the women's shelter, Haberl also contributed to the publications: "Weil der Papa die Mama haut - Zeichnungen und Texte von Kindern" (engl. "Because Daddy hits Mommy – Drawings and Texts by Children" and "Halt der Gewalt" (engl. "Stop the Violence") a comic for young people.

Haberl counts among her mentors her teaching therapist in Integrative Biodynamics, Sophie Freud, whom she experienced as a young student at the Social Academy, and also the American trainers at the "Feminist International Summertrainings," who regularly held summer meetings in the Netherlands and made a lasting impression on Haberl through their attitude, which radiated respect and empathy.

For Haberl, exercise also balances her therapeutic work. She has been a member of the "Kraulquappen" swimming group for more than 10 years, runs a half marathon every now and then, and has also taken on the challenge of a triathlon.

For Michaela Haberl, successful therapy means that "my clients establish contact with their "wounded inner child" [...] and develop understanding for it. [...] Only those who understand themselves can also understand others."

By Emelie Rack & Susanne Hahnl

To cite this article, see Credits

Selected Works

Selected Works

By and about Michaela Haberl

Haberl, M. (2022, July 29). Interview by Susanne Hahnl [Video Recording].