Study paper from 2009 in the field of Social Pedagogy / Social Work, grade: 1.3, University of Applied Sciences Regensburg, language: German. Abstract: With the onset of industrialization, so-called aid associations emerged, such as health insurance funds, trade unions, professional associations, and welfare organizations. After World War II, the first German central office for addiction issues was established from the welfare sector. In the 1970s, the Federal Working Group on Self-Help was formed. In 1982, the German Association for Self-Help e.V. followed. Three years after the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, self-help was then "surprisingly" included in the benefits catalog of statutory health insurance. Self-help groups certainly arose from a lack in the care landscape regarding qualitative service offerings in the field of disability assistance.