Trainee Counsellors

Counselling Models

C.R.M. (Comprehensive Resource Model)

This model was developed by Lisa Schwarz, M.Ed. a licensed psychologist, consultant, and international educator working in private practice in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

CRM is a trauma therapy model that employs brain-based physiological safety as the foundation for healing.  This model is a resource based therapy which is very useful when processing trauma, as these resources enable the client to stay present as they remember without being flooded by negative emotions.

Bessel Van Der Kolk is a Boston based Dutch psychiatrist noted for his research around post-traumatic stress since the 1970s.   In his book, “The Body Keeps The Score” he writes that a person cannot get better until “they feel what they feel and know what they know”.

Integrative Counselling

Integrative Counselling utilises techniques from a variety of modalities.  Your counsellor will respond to your needs and circumstances, and use elements of different approaches to help you explore and cope with the challenges you are facing.

Counselling Model for Couples

I use an Integrative approach to couple counselling, utilising several different models and influences: from the work of Harville and Hendrix, Dr Sue Johnson Gottman and the wonderful Esther Perel.

Person-Centred Counselling

This approach is one of empathy and unconditional acceptance.

We will offer you a caring, supportive, non- judgemental space where you will feel heard, accepted, respected, and valued.
This therapy was developed by Carl Rogers who believed that we have a remarkable capacity for self -healing and personal growth. Central to Carl Rogers Theory is the notion of self-concept; the perceptions and beliefs we have about ourselves. As we are all different and no-one else knows how we perceive our life, the person-centred counselling approach believes that the client is the expert on themselves.

Transactional Analysis (T.A.)

Transactional Analysis is a model of counselling based in the belief that our personalities are comprised of three key elements:

· Parent – rooted in the past and influenced by parental figures, our environments and society.

· Adult – present, ‘here and now’ responses.

· Child – rooted in the past and influenced by our learned responses from childhood.

TA prioritises the relationship between client and therapist with TA counsellors responsively integrating a variety of techniques to help clients work through challenges they are facing.

The Psychodynamic Approach

The Psychodynamic approach to counselling helps you to discover how past events (especially those from childhood) have impacted your view and responses to present situations.

With this model, we explore the roles of unconscious defence mechanisms. enabling us to look behind the masks that we portray to the world.  We go on a journey of discovery with regards to relationships with ourselves and others, past and present.