About
Essence Counselling Services is based in Sydney, Australia and was established in 2017. The ECS counsellor is tertiary qualified and has obtained registration with the leading national peak body and professional association for counsellors and psychotherapists in Australia - PACFA. ECS abides by the PACFA Code of Ethics, the PACFA Constitution. The following principles guide the practice of Essence Counselling Services.
Ethical and safe practice
ECS aims to have an ethical, culturally sensitive & safe, and trauma-informed counselling practice that focuses on building client’s access to their own strengths and support networks, upholds professional boundaries and protects the identity and welfare of clients. ECS understands that no matter how sensitively and ethically power is exercised, there is a power imbalance of the helping relationship. Therefore, it is crucial to exercise this power with humility, transparency and respect, emphasis on personal freedom, autonomy and trust, in a nurturing and enhancing, rather than restricting, way.
Healing Through therapeutic relationship
ECS aims to work to build effective therapeutic relationship to intervene and help clients change. It is paramount to establish a safe therapeutic space that is free of condemnation and judgement. Through attentive presence, genuine empathy, acceptance and kindness, ECS aims to foster a confiding and grace-filled relationship with the client. Counselling is essentially about discovery, re-evaluation, and recovery. It is essential to work on not forcing or hurrying the process or attacking client’s defences head on but offer observation rather than confrontation. That way the client can feel safe and free to look at themselves, to discover previously unexplored areas of life such as their struggle, brokenness, conflicts, beliefs, relational patterns or hidden feelings such as anger, bitterness and resentment.
Counselling work is professional and personal
The therapeutic relationship is offered to the clients as an instrument of treatment, a platform where changes and healing take place. In other words, the ‘self’ of the counsellor is offered as a ‘tool’ in forming the therapeutic relationship with the client. Hence, counselling is indeed both professional and personal, therefore it is imperative to work continuously and consistently to be aware of how personal factors and tendencies shape counselling styles and impacts clients. Specifically, the counselling process is about meeting client’s therapeutic needs, not about meeting the counsellor’s personal needs. ECS believes that it is essential for a counsellor to undergo personal therapy and recovery journey, so the counsellor understands from first-hand experience rather than in theory what it is like to be on the receiving end of the counselling process, as one cannot take someone to places that they have never been them self.
Integrated model of counselling practice
ECS seeks to continuously develop a viable integrated model of counselling and psychotherapy style, approach and theory that is applicable to diverse clients and congruent with counsellor’s values and life experiences. ECS aims to carefully choose the counselling approach that is suited to the client’s personality and therapeutic needs, rather than a projection of the counsellor's needs and tendency. ECS’s integrated model of counselling style and interventions are informed by Annandale Institute’s Emotion-Focused Counselling, Blue Knot Foundation’s Trauma practice, Psychodynamic Therapy, Existential Humanistic Therapy, Family Systems Therapy, Interpersonal Process in Therapy, Experiential Therapy, Somatic Therapy, Narrative Therapy, Neuroscience, Sociology, Power Threat Meaning Framework, Emotional Freedom Technique [Tapping], Mindfulness/Guided meditations, Art Therapy. Find out more on ECS counselling approach.
Founding Counsellor: Trish Yeung Petchell
Trish has multicultural sensitivity from her experience of being raised in Hong Kong, the US, and Australia. Trish has substantial knowledge of the counselling process from the experiential learning nature of her training [Master of Counselling, Practice Certificate in Emotion-Focused Counselling] and her long-term personal therapy & recovery. Trish is often described as caring, thoughtful, and thorough by her colleagues and friends. See Client feedbacks.