ABSTRACT
An overview of CRM necessarily involves a consideration of four aspects of healing work: the phenomenological, conceptual, clinical and neurobiological. Although neurobiology underpins this model and is hypothesised thoroughly in support of the clinical work, this chapter begins with the phenomenological.
The phenomenological is the systematic refl ection on human consciousness: what “is” in the moment and the experiences that appear in acts of consciousness during therapeutic work through CRM. CRM provides the solution in order to answer the question, “ How do I feel when I sit with myself in the presence of another ?” Conscious relationship to self is likely the most essential aspect which is relevant in both the therapist’s and client’s experiences during the healing work. Self-awareness of what “is”, moment to moment, is crucial in facilitating the expansion of relationship to self and other. Whether through Core Self work or through trauma healing via the entire Comprehensive Resource Model, the need for this awareness begins with that of the therapist. In CRM the emotional health of the therapist is of vital importance, as states of dis-ease, unresolved trauma and ego-driven choices on the part of the therapist diminish the attunement necessary for promoting a healthy relationship with self within the client. Throughout the teaching and use of CRM, therapists are encouraged to ask themselves how consciously connected they are to their own experiences of being triggered, dissociated or in denial, and are invited to pay attention to how this awareness, or lack thereof, is impacting their therapeutic relationships and therapeutic choices, thereby affecting what “is”. Every layer of resource within CRM can be used toward accommodation of the emotional and survival needs of therapists in relationship to themselves in and out of session, until the therapists have reached a point in their own healing in which they are clear and conscious of themselves as they sit with clients. Through the use of CRM, therapists learn how to “be” without attachment
