About Me
I’m Tina Michaela Hoffmann — a Psychosocial Counsellor (MSc), Life and Social Counsellor (LSB), educator, and founder of a training school for helping professionals. With over 25 years of counselling and educational experience across Austria, China and beyond, I work at the intersection of counselling, professional training and cross-cultural understanding.
I work with individuals, adults and children, couples, and professionals in English, German, and Chinese-speaking contexts, offering counselling and training online across borders and time zones.
For more than 25 years, I have worked with children, adults and families across a wide range of settings – including child and youth welfare services, family support, rehabilitation and pioneering international counselling work – and have led training programmes for professionals and organisations in Austria, China and internationally. This breadth of lived and professional experience is what I bring to every session and every course.
Educational Pathway
My foundation is built on decades of experience, international work and professional training – from an Austrian Master’s degree in Psychosocial Counselling to a specialisation in a three-year NARM® training with the model’s founder, Laurence Heller, and a training program in Trauma Pedagogy.
Until completion of my psychotherapeutic training, I practise as a Life and Social Counsellor (LSB) in the healthy and preventive sector – not psychotherapy.
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Master's degree in Psychosocial Counselling
Danube University, Austria
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Psychotherapeutic Propaedeuticum (2 year training)
Austrian Academy for Psychotherapy - Centre for Applied Psychology
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Integrative Therapy – Humanistic Therapy (In training)
ÖAGG, Vienna, Austria
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Bachelor exam for studies in educational sciences
Keppler University Linz, Austria
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Diploma in Psychological Counselling (4-year training)
LSB, CLS, Austria
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Educated as a Kindergarten/primary school teacher (4-years)
Vienna, Austria and recognised in Berlin, Germany
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Registered Life and Social Counsellor (LSB)
LSB, Austria
Specialisations, certifications and further study
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NARM® Practitioner NeuroAffective Relational Model (2-year training)
Laurence Heller, PhD, Psychologist, NARM International
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NARM® Master Training NeuroAffective Relational Model
Laurence Heller, PhD, Psychologist, NARM International
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NARM® For Couples (Couples Post-Master Training)
Laurence Heller, PhD, Psychologist, NARM International
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Training program-Trauma Pedagogy and Trauma Counselling (2-year training)
ÖTPZ, Austria, (recognised by DeGPT: German society of Psychotraumatology)
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CWF - Integrative Wholeness Framework
Dr. John Warlow, Psychiatrist, Australia
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Sensorimotor Psychotherapy with Children and Adolescents
Pat Ogden, PhD
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International transcultural studies with practical application
USA, Japan
Publications
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Emotion Regulation and Psycho-social Interventions for Complex traumatised Children in Institutionalised Settings
Masterthese, Donau Uni Krems
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Something Terrible Happened
Picture book in Chinese and English for adults and children following traumatic experiences.
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Trauma Colouring Book for Children Trauma Handbook for Crisis Responders
Workbook in Chinese following the Sichuan earthquake
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Intercultural counseling for people who have left their home countries
Diploma Thesis in Life and Social Counseling
Further study & Interest Areas
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Third Culture Kids, Global Nomads
Dave Pollack, Ruth van Recken, u.a.; Thailand
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The Inner Child and Ego States
Jochen Peichl
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Attachment and attachment development
Psychiater John Bowlby, Heather Geddes, Dr. Karlheinz Brisch
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Mindfulness Theory and Practice
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Embodied Terror: Traces of Trauma in Brain, Mind, and Body—and How to Heal Them
Prof. Bessel van der Kolk, M.D., Psychiater und Trauma Researcher
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Conscious Dance and Movement Work
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CISD – Critical Incident Stress Debriefing
Chiangmai, Thailand
Practical Work Experience
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Child Assistance, court-appointed child representative in highly contentious divorce proceedings
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Intensive Social Pedagogic family support, on behalf of Child and Youth Welfare and Protection Services
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Private Practice for psychosocial Counselling, Self-Employed, Licensed Trade
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Social counselling for women in sexwork
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Visitation support during highly contentious divorces
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Founder and director of a counselling training school
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Co-creator and Counselor of two international counselling and training centres
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Establishment of residential homes and rehabilitation centres for orphans
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Nursery, Pre-school and after-school care teacher
How I work: Connection that strengthens
My approach blends elements from:
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NARM® (NeuroAffective Relational Model)
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Psychodynamic orientation
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Somatic and body-based awareness
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Integrative counseling approaches
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Play-based counselling & Trauma Pedagogy
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Build attachment focused regulation and resilience
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Intercultural counselling & global mobility understanding
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Mindfulness-based Emotional Completion
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Relational presence, safety, and attunement
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Heart-based Mindfulness
Our work together is integrative, culturally attuned, and deeply respectful of the survival patterns that once protected you.
I don’t push, force or analyse from above.
I walk beside you — steady, attuned, grounded.
I offer counselling and training in:
- English
- German
- Chinese-speaking settings
(with Chinese clients choosing between English/German sessions or interpreter-supported sessions)
Important note:
My services are aimed at mentally healthy individuals. They consist of psychosocial counselling within the scope of life and social counselling (Lebens- und Sozialberatung). My services do not constitute psychotherapy, nor do they replace such treatments.
Together, we explore what keeps you stuck in patterns of:
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Numbness
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Emotional exhaustion
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Shame
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People pleasing
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Disconnection
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Procrastination
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Toxic relational dynamics
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Intercultural stress and uprootedness
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Feeling neglected or being a “family outcast”
And step by step, you rediscover your own capacity for:
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Connection
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Self-regulation
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Authentic relationship
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Emotional freedom
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Felling 'alive' again
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Belonging
I have Southern German and Austrian roots and have lived half my life in Asia, where I am a Co-Founder of two Counselling Centres in China and Thailand.
Currently based in Vienna. Having raised three children in a foreign countries and going through crises and major challenges have given me deep and comprehensive insights into the human life experience and its possibilities.
For more than 25 years, I’ve accompanied people as they move from survival into wholehearted aliveness.
I believe growth is not about fixing what is “wrong” — It’s about reconnecting with the truth of who you are...
A person who is worthy.
A person who belongs.
A person who is capable of living fully, freely, and whole.
Who I support
Individuals (English, German, Chinese-speaking clients).
Adults experiencing:
- Frequently experienced strain in relationships
- The effects of difficult early relationships
- Emotional numbness
- Shame, guilt and identity wounds
- Toxic or narcissistic dynamics
- Intercultural stress and displacement
- Burnout and emotional exhaustion
- Difficulty expressing and standing up for one’s own needs
- Loss, grief and low mood
- Unfulfilling partnership, heartbreak & betrayal
- Frequently judging oneself
- Having difficulty sensing and perceiving one’s own body
- Feeling overwhelmed and flooded by stimuli and impressions
- Feeling excessively responsible
- Withdrawing from social contacts
- Noticing stress held in the body
My path: The teacher who became a transcultural counsellor
My work began in an unexpected place – in China, where I volunteered while raising my own children far from home.
It was a time shaped by cultural displacement, isolation and seeing how deeply neglect, abuse and broken relationships affect people: difficulty handling emotions, emotional numbness or strong reactions; persistent feelings of worthlessness, guilt or shame; struggles with forming or maintaining close relationships, or feeling disconnected from others. At the same time, I was facing painful patterns passed down through the generations in my own marriage and family line.
I saw these patterns from every angle — personal, relational, systemic, spiritual, cross-cultural.
And there was nowhere to go to.
No support that understood it.
No understanding of how early relationships shape us.
No language for emotional neglect or heartbreak.
No space to feel, to name, to grow.
This became the turning point. I promised to become the support I couldn’t find – and to build support systems that worked across cultures and across languages. That promise shaped everything I do.
Recognising that more was needed
For the deep and often silent suffering of people who have experienced relational neglect, violence or manipulation – or who support others through it – the usual explanations and approaches were simply not enough.
A training school was born
I discovered that supporting people and preventing burnout among helping professionals require the same foundation: an understanding of the human needs of children and adults, and the capacity for authentic connection.
In NARM®, I found the model I had been looking for: helping people discover their authentic selves, form wholehearted connections, find emotional completion and rediscover their core life power.
At the same time, I continue to dedicate myself to one-to-one counselling with individuals and couples. These clients benefit not only from my many years of experience but also from the ongoing insights I gain through teaching and training.
The two sides of my work continually enrich one another: my individual clients receive the depth and clarity of an educator’s perspective, while the professionals I train benefit from real-world counselling practice.
And through my counselling practice, I continue to walk alongside individuals and couples as they move from survival into wholehearted aliveness.
