Common Ground Berlin

Berlin is ranked as one of the three unhappiest states in Germany. What role does a shortage of therapy play? And is there a way to get around that shortage if you need help? Guest host Eden Brockman explores the accessibility and quality of mental health care in Berlin and across Germany with Jöran Mandik, host of Get Help Berlin, and Berlin-based psychologist Irene Joubert. Also featuring Gus Gaston, an American living in Cologne, and Diana Martsynkovska, a Ukrainian living in Berlin, who share their personal experiences navigating the mental health care system in Germany.

Music:  “Remedy for Melancholy” by Kai Engel and “Emotional Sad Atmosphere with Piano and Violin” by Universfield. (Source: FMA) 

This episode was produced by Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson, Axel Scheele and Eden Brockman. 

The number of people who are out of work in Germany increased by more than expected in February 2024 to more than 2.7 million as the slowdown in Europe’s largest economy bears down on the labor market. That translates to the highest jobless rate across Germany since 2021, with Berlin being one of two German cities where it’s the worst.

But is there actually a shortage of jobs? And what can people do to find employment in these tough times? Our team speaks with Enzo Weber, head of research at the Institute for Employment Research in Nuremberg and Dieter Dohmen, founder and director of the Research Institute for the Economics of Education and Social Affairs.

Hosted and produced by Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson.

Host Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson and senior producer Dina Elsayed untangle the landmark reform to Germany’s citizenship law with guests:

Jan Schneider, deputy managing director of The Expert Council on Integration and Migration and head of its research unit;

Gökçe Yurdakul, Georg Simmel Professor of Diversity and Social Conflict at Humboldt University in Berlin and director of the Berlin Institute of Migration and Integration Research. 

We also hear from Aiyona Hayman, an American in Duesseldorf, about her plans under the new law. 

Host Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson discusses the role of overseas voting in the 2024 U.S. primaries and why you should care, even if you aren’t a U.S. citizen, with guests: 

Constance Chucholowski, chairman of the Berlin chapter of Democrats Abroad;

Jeremy Shapiro, research director of the European Council on Foreign Relations, 

Gary Schmitt, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

It’s been two years since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a war that is not going well for Kyiv at the moment. The war has killed and wounded a half million people and sent millions of Ukrainians fleeing to the West. Some 60,000 of them live here in Berlin. 

Host Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson and Senior Producer Dina Elsayed update you on what’s happening in Ukraine and what it means to us here in Germany and the West with guests: 

Ukrainian journalist Katerina Malofeyeva in Kyiv; 

Nico Lange, Senior Fellow of the Zeitenwende Initiative at the Munich Security Conference;

Kseniia Gatskova, a senior researcher at the Institute for Employment Research who investigates the labor market and social integration of refugees in Germany, and her colleague Silvia Schwanhäuser, a researcher at the Institute for Employment Research.