Comprehensive Resource Model

1. Introduction

Version followed: the model as set out in Schwarz, Corrigan, Hull & Raju, The Comprehensive Resource Model: Effective therapeutic techniques for the healing of complex trauma (Routledge, 1st ed., 2017/2018; 270 pp.). I worked from the publisher's table of contents and description, not the book text. I also used Corrigan & Hull's 2015 account in BJPsych Bulletin and the descriptions CRM trainers published in 2016–2022. Read this first: the step-by-step CRM protocols are taught in trademarked trainings and in the book. Neither is drawn on here. This guide therefore names every component the sources list and says what each is for. Where I give steps the sources do not supply, they are marked [synthesis] or [uncertain]. Treat them as safe generic scaffolding, not as the trained CRM protocol. [source: Routledge book page; Corrigan & Hull 2015]

What it is. The Comprehensive Resource Model (CRM) is an integrative, attachment-based trauma treatment model. It was developed by Lisa Schwarz, M.Ed., a Pennsylvania-licensed psychologist in Pittsburgh. She was senior US Brainspotting trainer from 2007 to 2014 and then worked only on CRM. Her co-authors are the Scottish psychiatrists Frank Corrigan, Alastair Hull and Rajiv Raju. The attribution to Schwarz is confirmed. [source: Pituitary Network Association bio; PESI bio; Routledge book page]
Origin. Corrigan & Hull say CRM "has evolved from resource brainspotting". It was built for clients with complex trauma and dissociative disorders who need more resourcing than the attuned presence of a Brainspotting therapist provides. Its stated targets are complex PTSD, severe dissociative disorders (including DID), attachment disorders and "gestational" (prenatal) trauma. [source: Corrigan & Hull 2015; Beacon House 2019 listing]
Core idea of change, in the model's own terms. CRM treats physiological safety as the foundation. Resourcing, processing and integration are done at the same time, not in sequence. Layers of internal resources are built: attachment, breath, somatic, the natural world, toning, sacred geometry, and the relationship with self, intuition and "higher consciousness". Each is anchored with an eye position, and the anchoring is described as working "at the midbrain level". Held by these resources, the client steps into previously unbearable affect while fully present. CRM describes the result as a "mismatch" between the trauma memory and this new, tolerable experience of it, which drives memory reconsolidation. The model says the decisive mismatch occurs at the brainstem rather than in the cortex. Its three processing targets are implicit and explicit survival terror, "Little T Truths" and "Big T Truths". The end goal is fuller embodiment of the "core self". [source: Routledge book page; Aaron Counselling CRM page; Beacon House 2019; EABP 2016 abstract]
Status of the theory. The midbrain and brainstem mechanisms are the authors' own hypotheses (Corrigan & Hull say CRM "may be effective" at a deep level because it involves the midbrain). So are the model's spiritual and "indigenous healing" concepts. Present them to clients as the model's framework, not as established physiology. CRM is a psychological trauma treatment. It is not a treatment for tumours or any other physical disease, even though Schwarz has worked with pituitary-tumour survivors alongside their medical care. [source: Corrigan & Hull 2015; Pituitary Network bio] [synthesis]
Training. CRM is a registered, trainer-led model. Trainings are open to accredited mental-health professionals (in 2019, a four-day online level). Use CRM by that name only after training. [source: Beacon House 2019]

2. Framework

No fixed phase sequence was found. The sources describe concurrent work, not stages. The book description says resourcing, processing and integration happen simultaneously. Corrigan & Hull cite CRM in support of resourcing within each session, as opposed to a separate stabilisation phase before reprocessing. Plan for resourcing in every session, not "stabilise for months, then process". [source: Routledge book page; Corrigan & Hull 2015]
Session count and format: not found. No session number, length or frequency appears in the sources [uncertain]. Stated formats: individual work with children (from age 4), adolescents and adults, plus couples and groups. [source: Beacon House 2019]
Start of treatment: CRM intake. Schwarz's account of where to start with complex clients covers these steps [source: Trauma Healing Tribe ep. 2 show notes]:
1. Define what makes the client "complex".
2. Run the CRM intake (its content was not found [uncertain]).
3. Educate about dissociation, including "dissociation from dissociation".
4. Explain the many sources of trauma and how resourcing works.
5. Build a shared understanding of why each step is being done.
6. Map the client's system: which parts or aspects exist, how each formed, what purpose each serves.
7. Establish partnership.
8. Assess fears about the work: of feeling, healing, remembering and "going crazy". Identify the parts that do not want to heal.
9. Let the client's "intuition and internal wisdom" choose where to begin.
Building blocks in the book. The chapter order suggests this working logic. It is inferred from the table of contents, not confirmed as a mandatory sequence [uncertain] [source: Routledge book page]:
- Problem formulation: the challenges of trauma, "frozen breath", stepping into the affect, cutting off the pain and terror.
- The processing arc: "re-membering, re-experiencing, re-processing, re-orienting, re-consolidating and re-newing".
- Resources: attunement, breathing, sacred place, resource grids, attachment resources, the core self, personal power animals, secondary resources and additional protocols.
- Managing the process: distress, blocks to healing, new truths and session closure.
- Application to DID.
A workable session template. Not a published CRM session plan; use only until trained [synthesis]:
1. Check in, and check safety and dissociation level.
2. Re-establish the resource layers already built: attunement, breath, body, attachment, and the client's own spiritual or natural resources. Anchor each with its eye position.
3. Let the client's internal wisdom choose the target.
4. The client steps into the affect while holding the resources. The therapist tracks presence and distress.
5. Process until the charge resolves or the session time requires closing.
6. Name the "new truth" that emerged.
7. Close: re-resource, orient to the room, plan for between sessions.
Criteria for moving on. The criteria below are my synthesis; the sources give none [synthesis]:
- Into processing: the client can hold at least one body-level resource (for example, a breath or an eye-position anchor) while recalling something mildly distressing. They stay present, can report sensations, and can return to calm with your help.
- Deeper: distress rises and then falls within sessions; parts that oppose healing have been heard and their fears addressed; between-session functioning is stable or improving.
- Back to resourcing only: the client loses presence (glazed, time loss, switching they do not notice), becomes flooded, or shows new self-harm or crisis behaviour between sessions.

3. Guiding principles

[source: Routledge book page; Corrigan & Hull 2015; Beacon House 2019; Aaron Counselling; EABP 2016; Trauma Healing Tribe show notes; one-line practical meanings are synthesis]

Physiological safety is the foundation. Before and during any trauma content, first make sure the client's body is not in survival mode.
Resource, process and integrate together. Never send a complex client into material without active resources. Re-resource within the same session instead of deferring.
Multimodal, layered resourcing. Do not rely on one resource. A client who cannot use a "safe place" may be able to use breath, body, an attachment figure, nature or sound.
Anchor resources in the body and eyes. Each resource is linked to an eye position so it can be called up quickly when affect rises.
Presence during affect. Processing counts only while the client is "fully present and aware". Processing done while dissociated is not the goal: if presence is lost, stop and re-resource.
Mismatch drives change. Aim for the old feeling to be experienced alongside new safety, not avoided and not relived unsupported.
Attachment-based. Your attunement is itself a resource (a whole chapter is given to attunement). Track the client moment to moment.
The client's intuition leads. Ask the client's internal wisdom where to start and what is next, rather than imposing a hierarchy of targets.
Partnership and transparency. Explain why each step is done, so the client is a collaborator, not a subject.
Map the system and honour every part. Know each part's origin and function, including parts that do not want to heal. Treat their objections as information, not obstruction.
Address fears of healing. Name and work with the fears of feeling, healing, remembering and "going crazy" before and during processing.
Dissociation is expected, including dissociation from dissociation. Assume clients may not notice their own disconnection, and teach them to recognise it.
Spirituality is integrated. CRM draws on spirituality and indigenous healing concepts and speaks of a core self and higher consciousness. Practically: use resources that fit the client's own beliefs, and offer secular equivalents [synthesis].
Wide time frame. CRM's scope runs "from conception to the present", including generational trauma. Practically: follow material the client brings, but do not suggest prenatal, ancestral or recovered memories as facts [synthesis].
Heart-centred aim. The goal is embodiment of the authentic or core self, not only symptom reduction.

4. Intervention inventory

How to read this section. The component names and their purposes come from the sources: the book's chapter list, the trainer descriptions and Schwarz's account of intake. The CRM-specific procedures, scripts, tones, grids and eye-position rules are not in the sources. Wherever steps appear below without a source tag they are my generic scaffolding [synthesis], and the CRM trainings may do it differently [uncertain]. All example language is my own (illustrative).

Touch. No source describes touch as part of CRM. Its components work through breath, gaze, sound, imagery, body attention and the relationship. Do not add touch. If a CRM trainer teaches a hands-on element, it needs specific training, supervision, and a check of what your licence and jurisdiction allow. Before any touch: explain it, ask, offer a no-touch alternative, agree a stop signal, and check in during and after [synthesis].

4.1 CRM intake and system mapping

Purpose: to understand what makes this client "complex" and to map their internal system before any trauma work. Use it at the start of treatment and whenever a new part appears. [source: Trauma Healing Tribe show notes]
Steps:
1. Take a trauma and dissociation history, including medical, developmental, attachment and family history [synthesis: the CRM intake form was not found].
2. Ask which parts or aspects the client is aware of.
3. For each part, ask how it formed and what job it does.
4. Record the map with the client, in their own words [synthesis].
5. Add standard screening: dissociation, suicide and self-harm risk, substance use, medical conditions, pregnancy [synthesis].
Example language (illustrative): "Let's draw a map of everyone in there. When did this part first show up, and what has it been protecting you from?"
Watch for: parts that contradict each other, amnesia for parts of the interview, and sudden shifts in age, voice or affect. It is working when the client becomes curious about their parts rather than ashamed of them.

4.2 Dissociation psychoeducation

Purpose: to help the client recognise dissociation, including "dissociation from dissociation" (not knowing that one is disconnected). Use it early, and again whenever dissociation shows up in session. [source: Trauma Healing Tribe show notes]
Steps [synthesis]:
1. Normalise dissociation as a survival response.
2. List the client's own signs: numbness, fog, time loss, watching from outside, voices.
3. Agree a signal the client gives when they notice it.
4. Name in real time, gently, what you observe.
Example language (illustrative): "Your eyes just went a bit far away. Can you tell what happened inside a moment ago?"
Watch for: the client cannot name a single sign (likely dissociation from dissociation, so go slower). It is working when they start flagging it themselves.

4.3 Assessing fears of the work and the parts that do not want to heal

Purpose: to bring into the open the fears of feeling, healing, remembering and "going crazy", and the parts that oppose healing, before they sabotage processing. [source: Trauma Healing Tribe show notes]
Steps [synthesis]:
1. Ask about each fear explicitly.
2. Invite any part that does not want this work to speak, directly or through the client.
3. Ask what it fears would happen if healing occurred.
4. Thank it and negotiate: what would it need in order to allow a small step?
5. Record its conditions and honour them.
Example language (illustrative): "Is there any part of you that would rather we didn't do this? That part makes sense to me. What is it worried about?"
Watch for: sudden agreement that is not felt, or silence followed by later cancellations. It is working when objecting parts agree to watch rather than block.

4.4 Attunement

Purpose: the therapist's attuned presence is the base resource that the other resources extend. CRM was built for clients who need more than this, but it remains the frame for everything else. [source: Routledge book page (ch. 8); Corrigan & Hull 2015]
Steps [synthesis]:
1. Track the client's face, breath, posture and voice continuously.
2. Match your pace and voice to the client's.
3. Name shifts briefly.
4. Repair quickly when you misread something.
5. Keep your own body regulated: slow breath, grounded seat.
Example language (illustrative): "I'm right here with you. Take whatever time you need."
Watch for: your own urge to rescue or rush. It is working when the client's breathing slows in your presence.

4.5 Breathing and breathwork skills (including work on "frozen breath")

Purpose: breathing exercises from CRM are used to strengthen affect regulation. Breath is a core physiological resource. The book has one chapter on "frozen breath" as a trauma problem and another on breathing as a resource. [source: Corrigan & Hull 2015; Routledge book page (chs. 4, 9); Beacon House 2019]
What "frozen breath" means is not specified in the sources. A likely reading is breath held or restricted in survival terror [uncertain].
Steps: the CRM breath techniques themselves were not found [uncertain]. Generic regulating sequence [synthesis]:
1. Client sits upright, feet on the floor, eyes open or softly lowered.
2. Client notices their natural breath for 30–60 seconds without changing it, and reports where it moves and where it stops.
3. Client lets the out-breath become slightly longer than the in-breath, through the nose, without forcing. Continue for 1–3 minutes.
4. Client places attention on the place where the breath moves most freely.
5. Close by returning to natural breathing and asking what changed.
Example language (illustrative): "Just notice where the breath goes on its own, and where it seems to stop... Now let the out-breath be a little longer, as if sighing quietly."
Watch for: dizziness or tingling (over-breathing: return to natural breath), panic when attending to breath (switch to an external resource), and breath-holding during later processing (cue the breath resource).
Contraindications and screening [synthesis; none named in the sources]: avoid breath intensification (fast, forced or prolonged deep breathing) in pregnancy, cardiovascular or respiratory illness, epilepsy, panic disorder with hyperventilation, psychosis, severe dissociation, active suicidality, and recent trauma without stabilisation. Keep breath work gentle and regulating, not cathartic.

4.6 Somatic resources

Purpose: body-based states of safety and strength, used as anchors before and during processing. [source: Beacon House 2019; Aaron Counselling]
Steps [synthesis]:
1. Ask where in the body the client feels most okay, even slightly.
2. Invite them to describe it: temperature, weight, texture.
3. Let them stay with it for 30–60 seconds.
4. Anchor it, for example with an eye position (see 4.10).
5. Practise returning to it.
Example language (illustrative): "Where in your body is it even a little bit calmer right now? What's it like there?"
Watch for: no okay place at all (try the feet on the floor, the hands, or contact with the chair). It is working when the client can find the place again on request.

4.7 Toning

Purpose: sound is used as a physiological resource. [source: Beacon House 2019; Aaron Counselling]
Not found: the specific CRM tones, their sequence and any energy-centre framework [uncertain].
Steps [synthesis]:
1. Explain that the client will make a soft, sustained vowel sound on the out-breath. Get agreement; offer humming as an alternative.
2. The client chooses a comfortable pitch and tones for one out-breath, 3–5 times.
3. The client notices the vibration in chest, throat or head.
4. Close in silence for a few breaths, then debrief.
Example language (illustrative): "If it feels okay, let a soft 'ahh' or a hum ride out on the breath, and notice where you feel the vibration."
Watch for: shame or self-consciousness (normalise; tone together, or hum quietly), and constriction or a choking feeling in the throat, which may be linked to trauma (slow down; offer humming or silent breath). It is working when the client reports settling or warmth.
Theory: any energy-centre explanation is the school's own theory, not physiology.

4.8 Sacred place

Purpose: a resource place that CRM uses in its own way. Corrigan & Hull note that CRM offers other resourcing for clients who cannot imagine an EMDR-style "safe place". [source: Routledge book page (ch. 10); Corrigan & Hull 2015]
How it differs from a safe place: not specified in the sources. The term suggests a place with spiritual meaning for the client [uncertain].
Steps [synthesis]:
1. Invite a real or imagined place that feels sacred, peaceful or deeply right. It may be in nature, a place of worship, or a memory.
2. Develop it through the senses.
3. Notice the body response.
4. Anchor it with an eye position (4.10).
5. If the place becomes contaminated by trauma material, drop it and choose another resource.
Example language (illustrative): "Is there a place, real or imagined, that feels sacred or deeply peaceful to you? What do you notice there?"
Watch for: intrusions of trauma images, or an inability to imagine a place (use breath, body or attachment resources instead).

4.9 Connection to the natural world

Purpose: the natural world as a resource, for example earth, trees or water. [source: Beacon House 2019; Aaron Counselling]
Steps [synthesis]:
1. Ask which element of nature feels supportive.
2. Invite the client to feel it as present now. For example, the earth under the chair as support, which can be paired with the feet on the floor.
3. Anchor it (4.10).
Example language (illustrative): "Let yourself feel the ground holding you up, all the way down through the building into the earth."
Watch for: nature associated with trauma, such as an outdoor assault (choose differently).

4.10 Eye-position anchoring of resources

Purpose: to link each resource to a gaze position so the resource can be held while processing. CRM anchors resources with eye positions "at the midbrain level". [source: Beacon House 2019; Aaron Counselling; EABP 2016]
Not found: how CRM locates and uses these positions, how many there are, and whether they are combined into "grids" [uncertain].
Steps: this sequence is adapted from the Brainspotting resource-spot procedure that CRM evolved from. It is from my knowledge of that literature (Grand 2013), not CRM's verified version [uncertain]:
1. The client holds the resource state.
2. The therapist slowly moves a pointer, or a fingertip at a comfortable distance, along the client's horizontal line of sight. The client follows it with their eyes only.
3. The client says where the resource feels strongest. Optionally, check the vertical line at that point too.
4. Hold the pointer there while the client stays with the resource for 30–60 seconds or longer.
5. Record the position. Later the client returns their gaze there on cue.
Example language (illustrative): "Keep that feeling of the ground. Follow the pointer with your eyes, and tell me where the feeling is strongest."
Watch for: spots that activate distress instead of resource (move away), eye strain, and dissociation while gazing. It is working when looking at the spot brings the resource back quickly.

4.11 Resource grids

Purpose: a whole chapter of the book is given to "resource grids". [source: Routledge book page (ch. 11)]
Content not found. Trainers also list "sacred geometry" among the resources, but whether it relates to the grids is unknown [uncertain]. I give no steps rather than invent them. Learn this component in training.

4.12 Attachment resources

Purpose: resources drawn from attachment neurobiology, so the client is not alone with terror that was originally experienced without protection. [source: Routledge book page (ch. 12); Beacon House 2019; EABP 2016]
Not found: which figures CRM uses and how they are installed [uncertain].
Steps [synthesis]:
1. Ask for any figure who conveys protection or care: a real person, an animal, a spiritual figure, an imagined ideal parent, or the therapist.
2. Develop the felt sense of being with that figure.
3. Anchor it (4.10).
4. Bring it in during processing when terror or aloneness rises.
Example language (illustrative): "Who, real or imagined, would you want right beside you? Notice what happens in your body as they're here."
Watch for: ambivalent figures (real caregivers who were also harmful: choose another), and grief surging when care is felt (allow it, keep it paced). It is working when the client's body softens with the figure present.

4.13 Core Self

Purpose: to contact and strengthen the client's core self, the healthiest part of the self that CRM links with the brainstem and midbrain. Fuller embodiment of the core self is the model's end goal. The book gives two chapters to it, one clinical and one theoretical. [source: Routledge book page (chs. 14–15); Beacon House 2019]
Not found: the CRM method for accessing the core self [uncertain].
Steps [synthesis]:
1. Once body resources are stable, invite the client to notice any sense of an "I" that is calm, curious or whole, however faint.
2. Ask where in the body it is felt.
3. Strengthen it with attention and an eye-position anchor.
4. Let parts be introduced to it gradually.
Example language (illustrative): "Underneath all of this, is there any sense of a 'you' that is just quietly here? Where do you feel that?"
Watch for: a protective part presenting itself as the core self (it sounds critical, rigid or urgent). It is working when the client can observe distress from a steadier place.

4.14 Relationship with intuition and higher consciousness (spiritual resources)

Purpose: the client's relationship with their intuition and with "higher consciousness" is used as a resource. The client's internal wisdom also chooses the targets. [source: Beacon House 2019; Aaron Counselling; Trauma Healing Tribe show notes]
Steps [synthesis]:
1. Ask about the client's beliefs: religious, spiritual, or none.
2. Invite a resource that fits those beliefs. Secular options include an inner wise self, a sense of meaning, or love for someone.
3. Ask the client's inner wisdom where to start.
Example language (illustrative): "If you could ask the wisest part of you where we should begin today, what comes?"
Watch for: spiritual content that is coercive, persecutory or tied to religious abuse (do not use it as a resource), and the therapist imposing their own beliefs.

4.15 Personal power animals

Purpose: an animal figure that the client feels as protective or empowering, used as a healing resource. [source: Routledge book page (ch. 16, with Elisa Elkin-Cleary)]
Not found: CRM's method [uncertain].
Steps [synthesis]:
1. Ask whether an animal comes to mind that feels strong or protective, without forcing one.
2. Develop its qualities.
3. Feel it as present.
4. Anchor it (4.10).
Example language (illustrative): "Is there an animal that feels like it's on your side? What is it like to have it here?"
Watch for: cultural respect. The concept comes from indigenous traditions, so present it as an option, not a doctrine.

4.16 Secondary resources and additional protocols

What the sources give: the chapter title only. Its contents are not found [uncertain]. [source: Routledge book page (ch. 17)]
Steps: none given here. Learn these in training.

4.17 Stepping into the affect

Purpose: the core processing move. The client, held by the resources, steps into previously intolerable emotion while fully present, to create the mismatch that CRM holds drives reconsolidation. [source: Routledge book page (ch. 5); Aaron Counselling]
Steps [synthesis]:
1. Activate two or more resources and their eye anchors.
2. The client's inner wisdom chooses the target.
3. The client lets the feeling come up and names where it is in the body, while staying aware of the room and of you.
4. The therapist checks presence regularly, for example asking the client to say what they notice now.
5. Continue while presence holds and the feeling moves.
6. If presence slips, return to the resources before going on.
Example language (illustrative): "Keep the ground and your protector with you, and let yourself feel just the edge of that fear. Tell me what happens."
Watch for: the client describing affect rather than feeling it (avoidance), and losing contact with you (dissociation). It is working when affect peaks and then shifts, with presence kept throughout.

4.18 Working with "cutting off the pain and terror"

Purpose: to address the defensive cut-off from pain and terror, that is, dissociation, which blocks processing. [source: Routledge book page (ch. 6)]
Not found: the specific CRM procedure [uncertain].
Approach [synthesis]: treat the cut-off as a protective part.
1. Acknowledge its function.
2. Ask its permission to feel a small amount.
3. Titrate.
Watch for: a sudden numbness after the client has approached a memory.

4.19 The "six Re-s" processing arc

What the sources give: a chapter titled "Re-membering, re-experiencing, re-processing, re-orienting, re-consolidating and re-newing". This appears to describe the course of one processing episode. How each step is done is not found [uncertain]. [source: Routledge book page (ch. 7)]
Practical reading [synthesis]: a memory or affect is recalled, felt again in the present with resources, processed until the charge shifts, and the client is oriented to the present. The new version is then stabilised and carried forward.

4.20 Processing survival terror, Little T Truths and Big T Truths

What the sources give: CRM's three processing targets are implicit and explicit survival terror, "Little T Truths" and "Big T Truths". Definitions were not found [uncertain]. [source: Routledge book page]
Possible meaning: the terms suggest beliefs about oneself and the world learned from trauma. That is my inference, not a sourced definition [uncertain].
Steps [synthesis]:
1. Process the survival terror at the body level first.
2. Then ask what the client learned to believe about themselves or the world.
3. Let it surface and be felt with resources until it loosens.

4.21 Distress management in session

Purpose: a whole chapter is given to distress. [source: Routledge book page (ch. 13)]
Steps [synthesis]:
1. Monitor arousal continuously.
2. When distress exceeds what the client can stay present with, pause the target.
3. Return the gaze to the strongest resource eye position.
4. Add breath and attachment resources.
5. Orient to the room.
6. Resume only with the client's agreement.

4.22 Blocks to healing

Purpose: to identify and work with what stops processing. A chapter is given to this. [source: Routledge book page (ch. 18, with Elisa Elkin-Cleary)]
Not found: the CRM list of blocks [uncertain]. Schwarz's intake points to fears of feeling, healing, remembering and "going crazy", and to parts that do not want to heal [source: Trauma Healing Tribe show notes].
Steps [synthesis]:
1. When processing stalls, ask whether any part is afraid of what would happen if this healed.
2. Work with that part (see 4.3).

4.23 New truths and session closure

Purpose: to name the "new truth" that emerges from processing and to close the session safely. [source: Routledge book page (ch. 19, with Ron Schwenkler)]
Steps [synthesis]:
1. Allow 10–15 minutes before the end.
2. Ask what the client knows now that they did not know before, and let them say it in their own words.
3. Have the client feel the new truth in the body and anchor it.
4. Re-resource: breath, gaze, ground.
5. Orient: name objects in the room; check the time.
6. Check for any open material, and agree how to contain it.
7. Plan self-care until the next session, and check risk.
Example language (illustrative): "What do you know now, in your body, that you didn't before? Let's give that a place to live."
Watch for: the client leaving still activated (extend containment), and a "truth" that is intellectual rather than felt.

4.24 Application to Dissociative Identity Disorder

What the sources give: a chapter applying CRM to DID. Its procedures were not found [uncertain]. [source: Routledge book page (ch. 20)]
Approach [synthesis]: use the system map (4.1) throughout and gain parts' agreement before processing. Resource the whole system, not just the presenting part. Follow standard DID treatment guidance (ISSTD guidelines) alongside CRM.

5. Handling problems

The sources name these problem areas: fears of healing, parts that do not want to heal, dissociation (including from dissociation), the cut-off from pain and terror, distress, and blocks to healing. CRM's specific responses are not drawn on, so most of the concrete responses below are [synthesis] unless tagged. [source: Trauma Healing Tribe show notes; Routledge book page]

Stuck client (processing stalls, nothing shifts).
1. Check for a block: is any part afraid of what healing would mean? [source: Trauma Healing Tribe show notes]
2. Check presence: is the client describing the feeling rather than feeling it?
3. Add or strengthen a resource, because the mismatch may need more safety.
4. Ask the client's inner wisdom whether this is the right target now. [synthesis]
"Resistance" or opposing parts. Reframe it as protection. Map the part's origin and function, ask what it fears, and negotiate a small step with its conditions honoured. Never override a part to get to the material. [source: Trauma Healing Tribe show notes; steps synthesis]
Overwhelm or flooding. Stop the target immediately. Then [synthesis]:
1. Return the gaze to the strongest resource position.
2. Lengthen the out-breath.
3. Bring in the attachment figure and your voice.
4. Orient to the room: name five things the client can see, and feel the feet.
5. Do not resume in this session unless the client is clearly present and agrees.
6. Next session, build more resources before approaching the material again. The model's own rule that processing happens only while the client is fully present sets the line [source: Aaron Counselling].
Dissociation in session. Name it gently and use the agreed signal [synthesis]. Ground through the senses: temperature, texture, sound, a spoken orienting statement. If a part has switched in, greet it, orient it to the date and place, and ask what it needs. Teach the client their early signs between sessions.
Client cannot use imagery (no sacred place, no figures). CRM explicitly supplies non-imagery resources for clients who cannot imagine a safe place [source: Corrigan & Hull 2015]. Lead with breath, body, toning, gaze anchoring, nature as felt now, and your attunement [synthesis].
A resource turns negative (a place, figure or animal becomes linked to trauma). Drop it without debate, thank the client for noticing, and select another resource [synthesis].
Breath or toning triggers panic or choking [synthesis].
- Return to natural breathing with eyes open and an external focus.
- Shorten the exercise.
- Consider that the throat or breath may hold trauma: approach later, titrated.
- Screen against the breath contraindications listed in 4.5.
Non-adherence (not practising, missed sessions). Explore it as a part's protest or a fear of healing. Shrink home practice to one resource used once a day, and link it to an existing habit. Re-explain why each step matters, since partnership and understanding are core [source: Trauma Healing Tribe show notes; specifics synthesis].
Ruptures. Rupture is especially likely with attachment-wounded clients. Name it, own your part, and invite the client's experience without defending. Treat the repair itself as attachment resourcing. Slow processing until the alliance is steady again [synthesis].
Spiritual material [synthesis].
- Stay inside the client's framework.
- Do not introduce beliefs: no claims about past lives, ancestors or energies as facts.
- Offer secular equivalents.
- If religious abuse is part of the history, choose resources away from that content.
Prenatal, generational or "recovered" material [synthesis]. CRM's stated scope runs from conception to the present, including generational trauma [source: Beacon House 2019]. Work with the felt experience the client brings, without suggesting or confirming specific events. Note that such material may be symbolic. Be especially careful where it bears on legal matters or family accusations.
Medical conditions. Do not present CRM as treating any physical disease, including tumours. Encourage continued medical care, and coordinate with physicians for clients with somatic or medical symptoms [synthesis; brief requirement].
Suicidality and self-harm [synthesis].
- Do standard risk assessment at intake and whenever processing intensifies.
- Keep a written safety plan, with lethal-means counselling (safe storage and removal).
- Pause trauma processing during acute risk and focus on resources and stabilisation.
- Increase contact and involve crisis services as needed.
Your own limits. CRM is trainer-taught and trademarked. Without training, use only the generic resourcing above, under supervision. Do not present it as CRM. Seek CRM consultation for DID and severe dissociative disorders [synthesis; source: Beacon House 2019 for training requirement].

Sources

Sources

Further reading (not drawn on)

Schwarz, L., Corrigan, F., Hull, A., & Raju, R. (2017/2018). The Comprehensive Resource Model: Effective therapeutic techniques for the healing of complex trauma. Routledge. This is the primary text; its contents beyond the chapter titles are not drawn on.
Grand, D. (2013). Brainspotting: The revolutionary new therapy for rapid and effective change. Sounds True. Background for the eye-position procedure in 4.10 [uncertain].

Further reading (not drawn on): comprehensiveresourcemodel.com, the official CRM site. The CRM training manuals.

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