About Us

How it all began …

Annatjie
Prof Annatjie Faul
bertie
Dr Bertie Hanekom

 

Fools rush in where angels fear to tread

  • When Annatjie Faul and Bertie Hanekom met each other during a workshop in 1986, both had the same goal in mind: to find out what it means to counsel someone from a Christian perspective.
  • Because they could not find programmes that really met these requirements, they decided to develop the programmes themselves.
  • And so a partnership, which eventually led to the establishment of Perspective Training College (PTC) in 1991, began.
Biblical accountable programmes
  • It was important to them that PTC’s programmes are not only Biblical accountable, but also outstanding in quality.
  • This was easier said than done.
  • During the first few years they were literally treading water.
  • Without any theoretical foundation and prior knowledge of pastoral counseling they had to do extensive research from which they developed their own programmes.
Therapy sheets and homework assignments for clients
  • The result was that Annatjie and Bertie developed a few therapy sheets and homework assignments for clients.
  • Although these therapy sheets and homework assignments were very effective, they exposed themselves to much criticism as they did not have the foundational theory to under girth their approach.
  • For the first few years, this was the modus operandi of PTC: first to develop and use tried and tested methods (the praxis) resulting in, the current foundational theory.
An anthropology as central benchmark and guideline
  • Then they met Dr Floris Knouwds. At that stage he was busy with the formulation of a practical-theological anthropology for pastoral counseling therapy (his doctoral thesis was published in 1990 at Unisa).
  • Dr Knouwds immediately realized that his anthropology was the theoretical basis for what Annatjie and Bertie practiced.
  • As a result Dr Knouwd’s thesis on anthropology became PTC’s central theoretical philosophy and remains to this day one of PTC’s “core” courses and the central benchmark and guideline of all programmes that PTC develops and presents.
  • This anthropology thus openly declares what PTC believes about humanity.
Where Ecometric Assessment comes from
  • At the same time the process of scale standardization was developed.
  • Annatjie and Bertie soon realized that, if PTC really wanted to be unique and outstanding, they had to develop measurement scales.
  • To achieve this, Annatjie studied in America for six months under Prof Walter Hudson where she mastered the process of scale standardization that led to the standardization of PTC’s first assessment scales in 1994.
  • This study was part of her doctoral studies at the former Rand Afrikaans University (RAU) and was published in 1995.
  • As a result PTC developed the capability of measuring aspects of the above-mentioned anthropology scientifically, as this process takes the guesswork out of the helping process, is highly time efficient and makes it possible to counsel purposefully.
From pastoral counseling to functional therapy to coaching
  • When they accredited the PTC programmes at the former Technikon SA (TSA), they decided to call it “Functional Therapy”, as there were already similar courses accredited at the TSA.
  • This name effectively summed up what PTC was all about: use everything that is functional – as long as it is ethical and effective!

Reinvent Yourself!