A Toast to Hairdressers and Taxi Drivers

A greeting among colleagues

Dear hairdressers, dear taxi drivers, I want to thank you sincerely. And I truly mean it. Let me explain why:

Each year, about 2.6% of the population makes use of psychotherapy. Another 0.3% seek coaching from non-medical psychologists. Taken together, that makes 2.9% receiving professional psychological support. And what about the rest?

What about the 97% who are neither ill nor executives with a training budget? The 97% who still have questions, worries, who search for meaning? Where do these people turn? – Exactly! To you!

Dear hairdressers, dear taxi drivers, you are the low-threshold access to everyday psychology. You listen without questionnaires. You give feedback without a therapy mandate. You bring us safely to the airport – and sometimes also to new thoughts. You bring order to our hair and occasionally to our minds. Sometimes we talk more with you than with therapists or even friends.

You do not speak as psychologists – you speak as human beings. And often you are clearer, more honest, and more present than many a professional setting.

Dear hairdressers, dear taxi drivers, you treat us anonymously. You ask for no real name, no health insurance card, no referral slip. We simply come by, talk, unload. And when we pay – it’s in cash!

No protocol, no file, no traces. In my profession, that is mostly utopian. In the healthcare system? Completely unthinkable!

What you provide is what many systems strive for in vain: discretion, closeness, and a place where it is acceptable simply to be human.

Dear hairdressers, dear taxi drivers, you provide a basic service that no one credits you with – but everyone uses. You are there when one cannot talk to anyone else. You ask when others remain silent. You remain silent when words would be too much. You hold the space, without ritual. And who knows where some people would be today – without you?

But you were there: With your eyes in the rearview mirror, with your hand on the comb, and with your open ear in everyday life. You have shaped more lives than can be counted.

Dear hairdressers, dear taxi drivers, we stand side by side. It is an honor for me to work alongside you. I may not be able to cut hair, and I sometimes lose my way. But my profession – and my passion – is psychology. For thirty years. And counseling is my great love. I too work anonymously and discreetly – out of conviction. And with me too, payment can be in cash – or escrow. We work in different ways. But the attitude with which we do it is strikingly similar: open, respectful – human and discreet.

Dear hairdressers, dear taxi drivers, dear pedicurists, dear housekeepers, dear cleaners, dear kiosk operators, dear nursing assistants, dear bartenders, dear waiters, dear receptionists, dear bus drivers, dear parcel couriers, dear fleeting acquaintances on the train:

I thank you sincerely.

You provide support. You show closeness. You act for life – not for the protocol.

Let us hold the line together! Until psychology rediscovers the discreet conversation from which it was born!

Sources on the use of psychotherapy and coaching in Germany:

• Psychotherapy: According to the Federal Chamber of Psychotherapists, around 2.2 million people in Germany make use of outpatient psychotherapy each year – about 2.6% of the population.
  Source: BPtK Publications  |  Psychotherapy Supply Report (PDF)
• Coaching: The German coaching market counts around 9,000 coaches according to the German Federal Association for Coaching (DBVC). Extrapolated, this results in an annual case number of about 0.2–0.3% of the population.
  Source: DBVC – The Coaching Association  |  Coaching Market Analysis 2023

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