EMDR Basic Training Membership
SChaefer Counselling Services
Professional Summary
Dedicated and empathic Canadian Certified Counsellor with 19 years experience in various settings, committed to provide a welcoming and calm space for clients who are mentally wounded and affected by trauma. Proficient in utilizing various evidence-based therapeutic techniques to address a variety of emotional and psychological issues. Committed to contributing to clients’ mental well-being through a holistic lens, aiming to promote deeper self-insight, enhancing their sense of purpose, and diminishing symptoms to facilitate growth, healthier functioning, and recovery.
Professional Experience
Canadian Certified Counsellor (10.2024 – present)
Self-Employed at Schaefer Counselling Services, St. Albert, AB
Managing a growing caseload of 20+ existing clients and offering psychoeducation, trauma-informed, and culturally sensitive counselling to diverse clients; assessing mental health through formal and informal techniques; establishing trusting and strong therapeutic relationships; developing and implementing client-centered and strength-focused treatment plans in close collaboration with the client; providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention; collaboration with colleagues, other health care professionals, and Child- and Family Services.
Canadian Certified Counsellor (12.2023 – 10-2024)
Mental Health Counsellor (02.2021 – 12.2023)
Fresh Hope Counselling Ltd., Edmonton, AB
Managing a caseload of 30+ clients, providing trauma-informed, culturally sensitive counselling, and psychoeducation. Conducting mental health assessments, building strong therapeutic relationships, and developing collaborative, strength-based treatment plans. Offering crisis intervention, suicide prevention, and working with colleagues, healthcare professionals, and Child and Family Services for holistic care.
Marketing and Communications Coordinator (06.2020 – 12.2020)
Evan Dean Consulting, St. Albert, AB
Provided support for internal and external communications, including digital and print communications, social media, and advertisement; market research, client care.
Certified Mental Health Counsellor (05.2017 – 12.2018)
Self-employed in Private Practice, Holzminden, Germany
Provided psychological services to approximately 60 clients within the first year of opening my practice; assessed mental conditions, diagnosed, and offered trauma-informed care to individuals, couples, and families; developed and implemented client-focused and resource-oriented treatment plans; collaborated closely with clients, health care professionals, Social Services, and Child- and Family Services.
Certified Mental Health Counsellor
Counselling Centre, Einbeck, Germany (02.2017 – 04.2019)
Counselling Centre Kirchröder Turm, Hannover, Germany (10.2015 -12.2016)
Offered approximately 10 individual weekly counselling sessions; developed individual treatment plans for diverse clients with life crises, social challenges, and mental illness; worked in an inter-disciplinary team and collaborated closely with other mental health care providers; established and cultivated trusting and effective working relationships with clients
Christian Counsellor and Pastoral Care Giver (08.2005 – 12.2016)
Diakoniewerk Kirchröder Turm, Hannover, Germany
Responsible for the spiritual and psychological care of and provision of counselling to approximately 250 integrated care centre residents, their families, and employees; worked with the terminally ill and their families towards the acceptance of dying and death; provided bereavement counselling.
Skills
Proven ability to work within a collaborative and multidisciplinary team setting
Outstanding interpersonal and communication skills with the strong ability to effectively engage with clients to build a strong and trusting therapeutic alliance
Honed skills and expertise in treating clients exposed to trauma, PTSD, and Complex PTSD
Fluent in German
Professional Certifications
2023 – Canadian Certified Counsellor
Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association
2015 – Certified Mental Health Counsellor
Federal Certification Body (issued by Region Hannover, Germany)
Education
2023 – Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology – With Distinction
Yorkville University, Fredericton, NB
2014 – Counselling and Psychotherapy Certification Program
Paracelsus Heilpraktikerschulen, Hannover, Germany
1998 – Bachelor of Christian Studies
North American Baptist College, Edmonton, AB
Excerpt of Most Recent Professional Development Opportunities
In Progress – Internal Family Systems Trauma Treatment Program
Frank Anderson, MD
In Progress – Certified Shame-Informed Treatment Specialist (CSTS)
Janina Fisher, PhD
12.2024 – Somatic Trauma Therapy Certificate
Abi Blakeslee, PhD, SEP, CMT, MFT
11.2024 – Neuroaffective Self-Therapy (N.E.S.T.) Advanced EMDR Training
Sandra Paulsen, PhD
08.2024 – Certified Clinical Trauma Professional (CCTP-II)
Arielle Schwartz, PhD, CCTP-II, E-RYT; Kathleen M. Chard, PhD; Frank Anderson, MD; Kathy Steele, MN, CS; Evergreen Certifications
04.2024 – Certified Clinical Trauma Professional (CCTP)
Arielle Schwartz, PhD, CCTP-II, E-RYT
02.2024 – Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy Basic Training
EMDR Consulting
11.2023 – Accelerated Resolution Therapy Training
Rosenzweig Center for Rapid Recovery
Professional Organizations
09.2024 – present – Canadian Psychological Association
07.2024 – present – International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies
11.2023 – present – International Society of Accelerated Resolution Therapy
08.2023 – present – The Association of Counselling Therapy of Alberta
03.2019 – present – Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association (CCPA)
06.2013 – present – Association of Free Psychotherapists, Non-Regulated Practitioners, Psychotherapy and Psychological Counsellors (VFP), Germany
2 Livingstone Crescent , St. Albert, Alberta, Canada, T8N 2H3
Phone: (587) 5909372
Email: annika@schaefercounsellingservices.ca
Population Served:
Adult
Languages:
How EMDR is Offered:
Both online and in-person
Areas of Expertise:
Anxiety
Attachment Focussed
C-PTSD
Depression
Dissociation
Grief & Bereavement
PTSD