Trust, safety, confidence, results.

Registered Clinical Counsellor

Chris Pye from A Single Step is a Registered Clinical Counsellor with the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia (PACFA).

PACFA is a leading national peak body for the counselling and psychotherapy profession. Practising members of PACFA  are listed on PACFA’s National Register.  Registrants have demonstrated an approved level of training, experience and competence, complying with PACFA’s ethical standards and meeting PACFA’s Training Standards, which are the highest for the profession in Australia.

PACFA members work with a broad range of modalities, and with individuals and groups reflecting the diversity of Australian society. Its mission is to represent the counselling and psychotherapy profession to communities and government, and to develop the evidence base for counselling, psychotherapy and Indigenous Healing Practices for the benefit of Australians’ mental health.

Learn About Chris Pye.

I know that trust and emotional safety are probably the most important factors in choosing a relationship coach or counsellor. This is surpassed only by confidence in getting the results you want.

So, let me try to address these by sharing with you a little about who I am and what I offer.

The fostering of safe, honest, and authentic relationship has been the thread running through every twist and turn of my professional life.

In my first profession, as an actor, in London, I was passionate about finding the humanity and truth in each diverse role. I loved improvisational work, because it requires an actor to embrace the unknown, to allow vulnerability and trust in relationship.

I truly loved the art of acting but ultimately I felt limited by the commercial theatre world and felt that there was something more I wanted to achieve with the skills I’d developed.

In the 1990s I began applying what I’d learnt to community contexts, receiving a Diploma of Youth and Community Work and a B.A. with Honours (First Class) in Community Education.

I went on to spend the next ten years of my life devising and facilitating programs for marginalised young people and communities, using the creative tools of theatre to promote personal and community development.

A Deeper Connection

In 1998 I relocated to Brisbane, Australia, and further pursued my passion for creating safe and supportive spaces for transformative change.

My work with young people and communities was rich and challenging and it led me to want to meet my clients’ needs with a deeper understanding of therapeutic processes.

In 2005 I completed a Master’s degree in Counselling and began working as a Family & Relationship Counsellor at a Brisbane NGO.

It was there that I began to refine a philosophy and practice approach, which could facilitate genuine transformation in peoples’ lives and relationships.

My work with diverse individuals, couples and families taught me the impact of the stories we grow up with – those we hold tightly to and those we reject – in shaping our lives and the relationships we share.

I realised that I had the opportunity to help people unearth and deconstruct these stories, towards more conscious choices about how – and who – they wanted to be in the world.

Counsellor and Coach

Having been a client of both counselling and life coaching over the years, I appreciated elements of both.

In 2020 I received a Diploma of Professional Coaching and began forging a synthesis of approaches which would ultimately offer my clients the benefit of two powerful and complimentary approaches to addressing both individual and relationship problems.

Through my experience and professional development over the years, I have learnt so much about what makes relationships work and what threatens their harmony and stability.

I’ve learnt that there are no objective truths when it comes to building a successful relationship, but that the stories we tell ourselves about who we are and what our relationships should look like are responsible for the majority of the conflicts we encounter.

People have sometimes asked me if being a Psychotherapist and Relationship Coach means that I have a perfect relationship. The most honest response I can offer is to say that the goal for me is not perfection.

Instead, I challenge myself each day to find the emotional courage to be vulnerable, to lean into challenges, rather than avoid them, and to always remain open to new learnings and the inevitability of change.

There is something truly liberating about discovering a safe enough space, and the skilled facilitation, to allow ourselves to let go of tightly held values and beliefs, which we have defended for years, to the detriment of our relationships.

Chris Pye, A Single Step

I look back on the handful of intimate partnerships I have committed to over the years and feel gratitude for the rich learning they provided. I no longer wince at the mistakes I made and the hurt I inadvertently caused, because I have committed to learn from these experiences and strive to do better. Indeed, every stumble (or total stack!) is a valuable learning opportunity if we take the time to receive its teachings. I consider it a privilege today to facilitate safe, trauma-informed spaces where such learning can take place.

Today, I view my relationships with my husband of fifteen years and our two beautiful boys as being the greatest adventures of my life. On my good days I hope they would say that I’m a pretty great Dad and husband. And on my not-so-good days…let’s just say, the learning never ends.