Comprehensive Resource Model (CRM)®

The Comprehensive Resource Model® (CRM) is a neuro-biologically based, affect-focused trauma treatment model which facilitates targeting of traumatic experiences by bridging the most primitive aspects of the person and their brain (midbrain/brainstem), to their purest, healthiest parts of the self.  This bridge catalyzes the mind and body to access all forms of emotional trauma and stress by utilizing layers of internal resources such as attachment neurobiology, beneficial affiliation neurochemistry,  breathwork skills, brain neuroplasticity, our deep connection to the natural world for survival, toning and sacred geometry, and one’s relationship with self, our intuition, and higher consciousness. The sequencing and combination of these resources, and the eye positions that anchor them, provide the opportunity for unbearable emotions and pain to be stepped into and felt fully while the client is fully present and aware moment to moment which changes how the memories affect the person.

The new perspective obtained when the pain is stepped into allows a new orienting towards the emotions that have stayed, perhaps under the surface, since the time of the traumas. This provides a mismatch experience where the neurobiological confusion that arises when the body activation of “The pain is so unbearable I can’t possibly step into it” occurs closely in time before resource-based processing that leads to “I’ve just stepped into the pain and it looks different now. I’ve survived and it is bearable”. The mismatch occurring when the trauma memory has been activated concurrently with an opposing tolerable experience of that memory promotes reconsolidation of the memory so that it is laid down again in the brain’s memory systems without the distress it previously carried. We argue that CRM® is a memory reconsolidation therapy in which the crucial mismatches happen at the brainstem, rather than the cortical, level.

CRM® uniquely accesses and clears the origin of the split second moments of intolerable affect that result in defense responses which lead to life-interfering symptoms, addictions, and disconnection from self and others. The potential for clearing neurobiological debris from the nervous system clears the way for positive neuro-plasticity and personal expansion whether that is seen as spiritual or otherwise, and which is separate from one’s history of pain and woundedness.

Work is done from the time of conception through the present and includes methods for working with generational trauma out of the realm of the client’s conscious knowledge. This is a heart-centered approach in which clients are guided to re-member who they really are and to learn to embody their true authentic self in their day to day lives.

“The day after I returned from my first CRM training in 2019, I started to use the model and my clients began to experience immediate healing and relief from their lifelong struggles that other therapies simply could not remedy.  My first CRM client who had suffered from multiple physical maladies started CRM and within a handful of sessions, her symptoms were completely cleared. Fast forward to present day, these kinds of healing stories shared by clients are commonplace.  I could not be more grateful and astounded by the multidimensional healing CRM offers in my life and in the clients with whom I am privileged to work.  

I recently participated in one of Lisa’s intensives in Cape May Point.  To say it was life changing would be an understatement.  The magic of the land, coupled with the power of these groups created an experience I will hold in me forever. I was in a space perhaps for the first time in this life to truly understand the ripple effects that separation and disconnection have caused, from the micro layers in me to the cosmic.  I walked away from this intensive with an awareness of what I personally must hone to fulfill my purpose on this Earth as well as specific clinicial and technical skills that will enable me to more effectively address generational trauma in clients.  Prior to discovering CRM, I trained and became certified in several other modalities, and none of them come CLOSE to the level of healing CRM offers.  People must know about CRM.  It is time.”

— Morgan Grace, LCSW, Texas

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What kind of clients benefit from CRM®?

CRM® was originally developed for use with those individuals who experience the challenges of Complex PTSD, severe Dissociative Disorders, and Attachment Disorders, however most psychiatric diagnoses are effectively addressed through the use of this model.  The question is not “Can I use this with x, y, z diagnosis?” but rather “How do I use CRM® with any diagnosis”.  Military veterans and their families find this modality to be particularly effective in healing the deep wounds caused by war. Performance Enhancement goals for sports, expressive arts, public speaking or any type of performance needs in any age group are most often effectively reached.

CRM® works well with children as young as 4 years old as well as adolescents, adults and couples.  Group therapy benefits from creative use of various aspects of the model in inpatient, partial hospital and outpatient group settings.

May 2021 Heal the Healer Intensive Group Testimonial

Eight strangers traveled from across the country to gather at Cape May to participate in the CRM Heal the Healer Intensive for a week with Lisa Schwarz.  For seven days, we clinicians had the opportunity to live, breathe and embody CRM. From a learning and experiential perspective, we gained so many tools and had the opportunity to witness each other’s profound healing. We were able to develop our skills, ask questions, and observe Lisa’s mastery of CRM during demonstrations. Moreover, we were all able to experience deep healing of our trauma wounds. It was incredible to watch the anxious find calm, the quivering to become steady, the lost to be found, and the rigid to find peace. We all showed up with the intention of healing ourselves and holding space for each other, but we gained so much more than that. We found friendship, we found ourselves in a time and space when we could be held by so many amazing women that we were able to access our deepest wounds for our deepest healing.

Cape May, vibrant and full of life, was the perfect place for this experience. During our down time, we sat at the ocean, walked the paths at the nearby state park, climbed the lighthouse and bicycled to town for coffee, shopping, and dinner. We as a group highly recommend this experience. It has supported each of us in our healing, in our practices and in our life.

Thank you,

Lynne Anderson
Sammi Jo Hurkmans
Crystal Keller
Shelley Lund
Vanessa Reinarz
Jackie Smith
Netter Thomas
Tierney Voit

crm-book-cover

Now Available in Paperback

The Comprehensive Resource Model®: Effective therapeutic techniques for the healing of complex trauma (Explorations in Mental Health)
by Lisa Schwarz, Frank Corrigan, Alastair Hull, Rajiv Raju