Co-counselling
Encyclopedia
Co-counselling is a grassroots, low-cost method of personal change based on reciprocal peer counseling. It uses simple methods that can be seen as a refinement of "you tell me your problems and I'll tell you mine". In particular, time is shared equally and the essential requirement of the person taking their turn in the role of counselor is to do their best to listen and give their full attention to the other person. It is not a discussion; the aim is to support the person in the client role to work through their own issues in a mainly self-directed way. 'Counselors' have no training or expertise by which to evaluate serious problems.
Co-counseling was originally formulated in the early 1950s by the American Harvey Jackins
through a combination of his personal experiences gained through a wide range of counseling experience. Jackins founded the Re-evaluation Counseling
(RC) Communities, with headquarters in Seattle, Washington, United States
. His son, Tim Jackins
, is currently the international leader of Re-evaluation Counseling and its main affiliates.
There are a number of smaller, separate, independent organizations that have resulted from (originally) breakaways from, or re-workings of, Re-evaluation Counseling. The principal one of these is Co-Counseling International
(CCI), which can be considered to be a fork away from RC.
Safety (in the sense of being very low risk) and the sense that a co-counselling session is a safe space is important to the methods. There are strict rules of confidentiality
. In most circumstances, the counsellor may not talk about a client's session without explicit and specific permission by the client. This is stricter than in other practices where practitioners discuss clients with supervisors, colleagues and sometimes with all sorts of other people. The peer relationship
makes a considerable contribution to a sense of trust.
The nature of the co-counselling session opens up the possibility for people to get in touch with emotion
s that they would avoid in any other circumstance. A belief in the value of working with emotions has become a core focus of the approach. Co-counselling training emphasizes methods for accessing and working with emotions, and co-counsellors aim to develop and improve emotional competence
through the practice. Evidence as to the actual effectiveness of this method is undemonstrated.
To get involved in co-counselling, it is usually first necessary to complete a course in The Fundamentals of Co-Counselling. The training involves learning how to carry out the roles of client and counselor. Trainers may be counsellors or simply experienced members of the community. It also covers the guidelines or rules affecting co-counselling for the particular organization. Differences in approach mean that each organization normally requires completion of one of its own courses as a prerequisite for membership, even if someone has already completed a course with another organization.
of co-counselling centres around the concept of distress patterns. These are patterns of behaviour, that is, behaviour that tends to be repeated in a particular type of circumstance, that are irrational, unhelpful or compulsive. The theory is that these patterns are driven by the accumulated consequences in the mind
of (not currently) conscious memories
of past events in which the person was unable to express or discharge the emotion appropriate to the event. Co-counseling enables release from the patterns by allowing "emotional discharge" of the past hurt experiences. Such cathartic discharge includes crying, warm perspiration, trembling, yawning, laughing and relaxed, non-repetitive talking. In day-to-day life, these "discharging" actions may be limited by social norms, such as, for example, taboos around crying, which are widespread in many culture
s.
Having temporarily undivided supportive attention from another person often gives rise to strong feelings, apparently towards that person, typically of "falling in love" with them. This is similar to the phenomenon of transference
, particularly when one of the partners is felt to have more authority because, for instance, they are more experienced, are teachers of co-counselling, or have authority roles within the organisation. The organisations differ in the ways that they handle this. The inability to trust and feel in real relationships is often exacerbated by the pseudo-intimacy of co-counseling, making transference more likely and more dangerous.
Others consider that co-counselling is psychotherapeutic, in that it enables change or therapy to take place in the psyche
, soul
affect or being of an individual. Co-counselling takes a positive view of the person (i.e. we are all essentially good), considers the mind and body as an integrated whole and acknowledges the value of catharsis it is regarded as an approach within humanistic psychology
, a view that would be rejected by some (but not all) within RC.
The term "re-evaluation" refers to the client's need to rethink their past distress experiences after the emotion
al hurt in those experiences have been discharged, and thereby regain ("re-emerge" with) their natural intellectual
and emotional capacities. The RC organization and literature do not accept the description of its practice as psychotherapy
, maintaining instead that the process of developing distress patterns that dissolve through emotional discharge in the context of appreciative attention is simply a natural process that does not imply either psychopathology on the part of the individual or the need for professional treatment. Re-evaluation Counselling regards other forms of "mainstream counselling" and psychotherapy in general as frequently inadequate attempts to bring about relief from distress using methods that do not focus on discharge and re-emergence.
In RC, the client and counsellor are expected to work co-operatively, participants are expected to provide non-judgmental active listening and to "contradict" the misinformation or other conditions thought to be associated with distress patterns. RC also engages techniques such as "non-permissive" counselling, in which the counsellor intervenes to "interrupt" client patterns without the consent of the client. The structure of RC is one of clearly defined leadership, to encourage clarity in the difficult struggles many people have to achieve breakthroughs against their distresses. RC encourages counsellors to think very hard about all possible ways to assist the client in discharging.
RC approaches the issue of feelings between co-counsellors by having a strict "no-socialising" rule. RC co-counsellors are expected not to socialise or have social or sexual relationships
with other co-counsellors unless these relationships
pre-dated their becoming co-counsellors. RC specifically rejects the label "transference" for this phenomenon, as this is seen as part of a "symptomatic" method typical in psychology
; the original theory of co-counselling (from RC) teaches that the best thing to do in these circumstances is repeatedly counsel on, and "discharge" about, such feelings. In addition, methods of "getting attention out of distress" are available which help with the difficulty of "switching roles" between counselor and client. When taught correctly, counselors are soon able to grasp the difference between counselling relationships and those from outside life. However, sometimes there is a marked pull to "socialise" or confuse the boundaries of the co-counselling relationship with other types of relationships. This is one reason why many consider a well-organised community of co-counsellors with clear rules to be essential in the successful practise of co-counselling.
Re-evaluation Counseling places a high importance on the need to understand and adhere to a comprehensive theory about the nature of the universe and of human beings (known in general as the "Benign Reality"), the best ways of assisting the discharge process and of pro-liberation attitudes in co-counseling. RCers believe that, when taken together, these enable the counselor to keep a clear picture of the client's "re-emergence" and are therefore very effective. People disagreeing with the theoretical perspective are asked to think and discharge on the points at issue before actively challenging such perspectives. The main aim is to provide a safe, stable and supportive atmosphere within which people can client skillfully and also lead "re-emergent lives" where they are not dependent in a therapeutic sense, but instead become more energetic and effective (a state known as "zestfulness" in RC).
, who was at the time director of the Human Potential Research Project, University of Surrey
UK, and a group of co-counsellors from Hartford
, Connecticut
, United States
. Unlike other breakaways from RC, which involved changes of leadership but otherwise continued to practice in similar ways to RC, the CCI break was ideological, and CCI developed in significantly different ways. The differences are in practice, theory
and organisation.
In practice, the client in CCI co-counselling is wholly in charge of the session. In other words, client and counsellor do not work co-operatively. The counsellor only intervenes in accordance with one of three levels of "contract"—free attention, normal and intensive—which are defined in CCI's principles. The only requirement of the counsellor is that they give "free attention" (that is, full supportive attention) to the client. The other two contracts constitute invitations to the counsellor to make interventions from within those permitted if they feel it is appropriate. The intensive contract can be similar to the RC way of working, although the counsellor is still not permitted to intervene as flexibly as in RC.
The original theory of co-counselling is taught in the CCI fundamentals training courses, and participants learn techniques for releasing, or "discharging", emotions. However, the theory is not seen as a constraint within CCI, and co-counsellors draw on the whole range of psychotherapeutic
theory and methods including analytical
, cognitive
-behavioural
and transpersonal
as well as humanistic
approaches. The principal constraint is that the client must be able to work self-directedly.
Organisationally, CCI is a peer network with no core structure. Local and national networks have a variety of organisation. Classes and activities are organised by individuals or groups acting self-directedly. John Heron's status within the network has always been as an equal member, although inevitably as a founder member and activist for some 15 years and the person who developed much of the thinking behind CCI, there was a certain amount of transference on to him. Heron now lives in New Zealand
and has an involvement with the CCI network there.
CCI approaches the issue of personal relationships
between co-counsellors as a matter for raising awareness. CCI co-counsellors may and do have the whole range of personal relationships with other co-counsellors. However, new co-counsellors are encouraged not to develop new non-co-counselling relationships with other co-counsellors until they have more experience and experienced co-counsellors will often have people with whom they only have a co-counselling relationship. Teachers of co-counselling are strongly discouraged from having sexual relationships
with people they have taught.
Amongst those within RC who know about it, CCI is often seen as an "attack organisation" and was specifically condemned as such in many private and public conversations by Jackins, who claimed that Heron had started it against a specific agreement not to, and in breach of RC guidelines he had previously agreed to. In turn, Heron and many of his supporters claimed that RC was authoritarian
and cult
-like, and later, that Jackins engaged in sexual abuse
of clients. RC supporters parried that CCI fostered a sexually
-liberal atmosphere that blurred the boundaries of co-counselling and relationships
. RC specifically bans membership to people who have participated in CCI groups actively.
The history of co-counselling including its origins with RC is normally taught on CCI Fundamentals courses. CCI, by its nature, has no corporate opinion about RC, and individual CCI co-counsellors have their own views. Most CCI co-counsellors have a benevolent view toward RC, regarding it as a different, alternative approach to co-counselling. Membership of RC is not a bar to membership of CCI, and a few people manage to do both despite the RC ban.
Co-counseling was originally formulated in the early 1950s by the American Harvey Jackins
Harvey Jackins
Carl Harvey Jackins was the founder, leader and principal theorist of Re-evaluation Counseling .-Early life:Jackins was born in Northern Idaho on June 28, 1916....
through a combination of his personal experiences gained through a wide range of counseling experience. Jackins founded the Re-evaluation Counseling
Re-evaluation Counseling
Re-evaluation Counseling or RC is an organization founded by Harvey Jackins in the 1950s and led by him until his death in 1999. It introduced a procedure called "co-counseling", which Jackins said was a new and effective method of helping people and bringing about social reform. RC teaches...
(RC) Communities, with headquarters in Seattle, Washington, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. His son, Tim Jackins
Tim Jackins
Tim Hugh Jackins is the International Reference Person of Re-evaluation Counseling , known officially as the "International Re-evaluation Counseling Communities". Formerly a math teacher and union negotiator at the Mission College, Santa Clara, California, he succeeded his father Harvey Jackins...
, is currently the international leader of Re-evaluation Counseling and its main affiliates.
There are a number of smaller, separate, independent organizations that have resulted from (originally) breakaways from, or re-workings of, Re-evaluation Counseling. The principal one of these is Co-Counseling International
Co-Counselling International
Co-Counselling International is an international peer network of co-counsellors .- History :...
(CCI), which can be considered to be a fork away from RC.
General description
The main activity in co-counselling involves participants arranging to meet regularly in pairs to give each other peer-to-peer counselling, in turn taking the role of counsellor and client, with equal amounts of time allocated to each. Co-counselling functions by giving people an opportunity to work on whatever issues they choose with the accepting support of another person, with whom they have no actual relationship. The person in the role of counsellor acts a facilitator to the client, sometimes as third-party observer and sometimes as second-party confidant. While co-counselling is sometimes practiced outside a formal organisation, formal co-counselling organisations have developed leadership and support structures, including trainings and retreats.Safety (in the sense of being very low risk) and the sense that a co-counselling session is a safe space is important to the methods. There are strict rules of confidentiality
Confidentiality
Confidentiality is an ethical principle associated with several professions . In ethics, and in law and alternative forms of legal resolution such as mediation, some types of communication between a person and one of these professionals are "privileged" and may not be discussed or divulged to...
. In most circumstances, the counsellor may not talk about a client's session without explicit and specific permission by the client. This is stricter than in other practices where practitioners discuss clients with supervisors, colleagues and sometimes with all sorts of other people. The peer relationship
Interpersonal relationship
An interpersonal relationship is an association between two or more people that may range from fleeting to enduring. This association may be based on limerence, love, solidarity, regular business interactions, or some other type of social commitment. Interpersonal relationships are formed in the...
makes a considerable contribution to a sense of trust.
The nature of the co-counselling session opens up the possibility for people to get in touch with emotion
Emotion
Emotion is a complex psychophysiological experience of an individual's state of mind as interacting with biochemical and environmental influences. In humans, emotion fundamentally involves "physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience." Emotion is associated with mood,...
s that they would avoid in any other circumstance. A belief in the value of working with emotions has become a core focus of the approach. Co-counselling training emphasizes methods for accessing and working with emotions, and co-counsellors aim to develop and improve emotional competence
Emotional competence
Emotional competence refers to one's ability to express or release one's inner feelings . It implies an ease around others and determines one's ability to effectively and successfully lead and express...
through the practice. Evidence as to the actual effectiveness of this method is undemonstrated.
To get involved in co-counselling, it is usually first necessary to complete a course in The Fundamentals of Co-Counselling. The training involves learning how to carry out the roles of client and counselor. Trainers may be counsellors or simply experienced members of the community. It also covers the guidelines or rules affecting co-counselling for the particular organization. Differences in approach mean that each organization normally requires completion of one of its own courses as a prerequisite for membership, even if someone has already completed a course with another organization.
Theoretical Framework and Assumptions
The original theoryTheory
The English word theory was derived from a technical term in Ancient Greek philosophy. The word theoria, , meant "a looking at, viewing, beholding", and referring to contemplation or speculation, as opposed to action...
of co-counselling centres around the concept of distress patterns. These are patterns of behaviour, that is, behaviour that tends to be repeated in a particular type of circumstance, that are irrational, unhelpful or compulsive. The theory is that these patterns are driven by the accumulated consequences in the mind
Mind
The concept of mind is understood in many different ways by many different traditions, ranging from panpsychism and animism to traditional and organized religious views, as well as secular and materialist philosophies. Most agree that minds are constituted by conscious experience and intelligent...
of (not currently) conscious memories
Memory
In psychology, memory is an organism's ability to store, retain, and recall information and experiences. Traditional studies of memory began in the fields of philosophy, including techniques of artificially enhancing memory....
of past events in which the person was unable to express or discharge the emotion appropriate to the event. Co-counseling enables release from the patterns by allowing "emotional discharge" of the past hurt experiences. Such cathartic discharge includes crying, warm perspiration, trembling, yawning, laughing and relaxed, non-repetitive talking. In day-to-day life, these "discharging" actions may be limited by social norms, such as, for example, taboos around crying, which are widespread in many culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
s.
Having temporarily undivided supportive attention from another person often gives rise to strong feelings, apparently towards that person, typically of "falling in love" with them. This is similar to the phenomenon of transference
Transference
Transference is a phenomenon in psychoanalysis characterized by unconscious redirection of feelings from one person to another. One definition of transference is "the inappropriate repetition in the present of a relationship that was important in a person's childhood." Another definition is "the...
, particularly when one of the partners is felt to have more authority because, for instance, they are more experienced, are teachers of co-counselling, or have authority roles within the organisation. The organisations differ in the ways that they handle this. The inability to trust and feel in real relationships is often exacerbated by the pseudo-intimacy of co-counseling, making transference more likely and more dangerous.
Therapeutic context
Many co-counsellors take the view, often quite strongly, that co-counselling is not psychotherapy. In the beginning, this was because Re-evaluation Counseling decided not to draw on any discipline of psychotherapy for its theory and practice, although RC did incorporate some ideas from psycho-analysis such as "unconscious promptings" which Jackins adapted and relabeled "restimulation". A similar view is taken by some non-RC co-counsellors who regard psychotherapy as involving specialist techniques used by a therapist on a client and is therefore not peer and the client has little or no control over the process.Others consider that co-counselling is psychotherapeutic, in that it enables change or therapy to take place in the psyche
Psyche (psychology)
The word psyche has a long history of use in psychology and philosophy, dating back to ancient times, and has been one of the fundamental concepts for understanding human nature from a scientific point of view. The English word soul is sometimes used synonymously, especially in older...
, soul
Soul
A soul in certain spiritual, philosophical, and psychological traditions is the incorporeal essence of a person or living thing or object. Many philosophical and spiritual systems teach that humans have souls, and others teach that all living things and even inanimate objects have souls. The...
affect or being of an individual. Co-counselling takes a positive view of the person (i.e. we are all essentially good), considers the mind and body as an integrated whole and acknowledges the value of catharsis it is regarded as an approach within humanistic psychology
Humanistic psychology
Humanistic psychology is a psychological perspective which rose to prominence in the mid-20th century, drawing on the work of early pioneers like Carl Rogers and the philosophies of existentialism and phenomenology...
, a view that would be rejected by some (but not all) within RC.
Re-evaluation Counseling
The core organization structure of RC consists of classes and local communities set up by experienced co-counsellors, which are in turn organized by regions and country.The term "re-evaluation" refers to the client's need to rethink their past distress experiences after the emotion
Emotion
Emotion is a complex psychophysiological experience of an individual's state of mind as interacting with biochemical and environmental influences. In humans, emotion fundamentally involves "physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience." Emotion is associated with mood,...
al hurt in those experiences have been discharged, and thereby regain ("re-emerge" with) their natural intellectual
Intelligence
Intelligence has been defined in different ways, including the abilities for abstract thought, understanding, communication, reasoning, learning, planning, emotional intelligence and problem solving....
and emotional capacities. The RC organization and literature do not accept the description of its practice as psychotherapy
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a general term referring to any form of therapeutic interaction or treatment contracted between a trained professional and a client or patient; family, couple or group...
, maintaining instead that the process of developing distress patterns that dissolve through emotional discharge in the context of appreciative attention is simply a natural process that does not imply either psychopathology on the part of the individual or the need for professional treatment. Re-evaluation Counselling regards other forms of "mainstream counselling" and psychotherapy in general as frequently inadequate attempts to bring about relief from distress using methods that do not focus on discharge and re-emergence.
In RC, the client and counsellor are expected to work co-operatively, participants are expected to provide non-judgmental active listening and to "contradict" the misinformation or other conditions thought to be associated with distress patterns. RC also engages techniques such as "non-permissive" counselling, in which the counsellor intervenes to "interrupt" client patterns without the consent of the client. The structure of RC is one of clearly defined leadership, to encourage clarity in the difficult struggles many people have to achieve breakthroughs against their distresses. RC encourages counsellors to think very hard about all possible ways to assist the client in discharging.
RC approaches the issue of feelings between co-counsellors by having a strict "no-socialising" rule. RC co-counsellors are expected not to socialise or have social or sexual relationships
Intimate relationship
An intimate relationship is a particularly close interpersonal relationship that involves physical or emotional intimacy. Physical intimacy is characterized by romantic or passionate love and attachment, or sexual activity. The term is also sometimes used euphemistically for a sexual...
with other co-counsellors unless these relationships
Interpersonal relationship
An interpersonal relationship is an association between two or more people that may range from fleeting to enduring. This association may be based on limerence, love, solidarity, regular business interactions, or some other type of social commitment. Interpersonal relationships are formed in the...
pre-dated their becoming co-counsellors. RC specifically rejects the label "transference" for this phenomenon, as this is seen as part of a "symptomatic" method typical in psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
; the original theory of co-counselling (from RC) teaches that the best thing to do in these circumstances is repeatedly counsel on, and "discharge" about, such feelings. In addition, methods of "getting attention out of distress" are available which help with the difficulty of "switching roles" between counselor and client. When taught correctly, counselors are soon able to grasp the difference between counselling relationships and those from outside life. However, sometimes there is a marked pull to "socialise" or confuse the boundaries of the co-counselling relationship with other types of relationships. This is one reason why many consider a well-organised community of co-counsellors with clear rules to be essential in the successful practise of co-counselling.
Re-evaluation Counseling places a high importance on the need to understand and adhere to a comprehensive theory about the nature of the universe and of human beings (known in general as the "Benign Reality"), the best ways of assisting the discharge process and of pro-liberation attitudes in co-counseling. RCers believe that, when taken together, these enable the counselor to keep a clear picture of the client's "re-emergence" and are therefore very effective. People disagreeing with the theoretical perspective are asked to think and discharge on the points at issue before actively challenging such perspectives. The main aim is to provide a safe, stable and supportive atmosphere within which people can client skillfully and also lead "re-emergent lives" where they are not dependent in a therapeutic sense, but instead become more energetic and effective (a state known as "zestfulness" in RC).
Co-Counselling International
Co-Counselling International (CCI) was started in 1974 as breakaway from Re-evaluation Counseling by John HeronJohn Heron
John Heron is a pioneer in the creation of a participatory research method in the social sciences, called co-operative inquiry, which was based on his work in 1968-69 on the phenomenology of social encounter, and which has been applied by practitioners in many fields of professional and personal...
, who was at the time director of the Human Potential Research Project, University of Surrey
University of Surrey
The University of Surrey is a university located within the county town of Guildford, Surrey in the South East of England. It received its charter on 9 September 1966, and was previously situated near Battersea Park in south-west London. The institution was known as Battersea College of Technology...
UK, and a group of co-counsellors from Hartford
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Unlike other breakaways from RC, which involved changes of leadership but otherwise continued to practice in similar ways to RC, the CCI break was ideological, and CCI developed in significantly different ways. The differences are in practice, theory
Theory
The English word theory was derived from a technical term in Ancient Greek philosophy. The word theoria, , meant "a looking at, viewing, beholding", and referring to contemplation or speculation, as opposed to action...
and organisation.
In practice, the client in CCI co-counselling is wholly in charge of the session. In other words, client and counsellor do not work co-operatively. The counsellor only intervenes in accordance with one of three levels of "contract"—free attention, normal and intensive—which are defined in CCI's principles. The only requirement of the counsellor is that they give "free attention" (that is, full supportive attention) to the client. The other two contracts constitute invitations to the counsellor to make interventions from within those permitted if they feel it is appropriate. The intensive contract can be similar to the RC way of working, although the counsellor is still not permitted to intervene as flexibly as in RC.
The original theory of co-counselling is taught in the CCI fundamentals training courses, and participants learn techniques for releasing, or "discharging", emotions. However, the theory is not seen as a constraint within CCI, and co-counsellors draw on the whole range of psychotherapeutic
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a general term referring to any form of therapeutic interaction or treatment contracted between a trained professional and a client or patient; family, couple or group...
theory and methods including analytical
Analytical psychology
Analytical psychology is the school of psychology originating from the ideas of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung. His theoretical orientation has been advanced by his students and other thinkers who followed in his tradition. Though they share similarities, analytical psychology is distinct from...
, cognitive
Cognitive psychology
Cognitive psychology is a subdiscipline of psychology exploring internal mental processes.It is the study of how people perceive, remember, think, speak, and solve problems.Cognitive psychology differs from previous psychological approaches in two key ways....
-behavioural
Behaviorism
Behaviorism , also called the learning perspective , is a philosophy of psychology based on the proposition that all things that organisms do—including acting, thinking, and feeling—can and should be regarded as behaviors, and that psychological disorders are best treated by altering behavior...
and transpersonal
Transpersonal
The term transpersonal is often used to refer to psychological categories that transcend the normal features of ordinary ego-functioning. That is, stages of psychological growth, or stages of consciousness, that move beyond the rational andprecede the mystical...
as well as humanistic
Humanistic psychology
Humanistic psychology is a psychological perspective which rose to prominence in the mid-20th century, drawing on the work of early pioneers like Carl Rogers and the philosophies of existentialism and phenomenology...
approaches. The principal constraint is that the client must be able to work self-directedly.
Organisationally, CCI is a peer network with no core structure. Local and national networks have a variety of organisation. Classes and activities are organised by individuals or groups acting self-directedly. John Heron's status within the network has always been as an equal member, although inevitably as a founder member and activist for some 15 years and the person who developed much of the thinking behind CCI, there was a certain amount of transference on to him. Heron now lives in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and has an involvement with the CCI network there.
CCI approaches the issue of personal relationships
Interpersonal relationship
An interpersonal relationship is an association between two or more people that may range from fleeting to enduring. This association may be based on limerence, love, solidarity, regular business interactions, or some other type of social commitment. Interpersonal relationships are formed in the...
between co-counsellors as a matter for raising awareness. CCI co-counsellors may and do have the whole range of personal relationships with other co-counsellors. However, new co-counsellors are encouraged not to develop new non-co-counselling relationships with other co-counsellors until they have more experience and experienced co-counsellors will often have people with whom they only have a co-counselling relationship. Teachers of co-counselling are strongly discouraged from having sexual relationships
Intimate relationship
An intimate relationship is a particularly close interpersonal relationship that involves physical or emotional intimacy. Physical intimacy is characterized by romantic or passionate love and attachment, or sexual activity. The term is also sometimes used euphemistically for a sexual...
with people they have taught.
Relations between CCI and RC
The existence of other co-counselling organisations is generally not mentioned in RC, and RC co-counsellors are often not aware of their existence.Amongst those within RC who know about it, CCI is often seen as an "attack organisation" and was specifically condemned as such in many private and public conversations by Jackins, who claimed that Heron had started it against a specific agreement not to, and in breach of RC guidelines he had previously agreed to. In turn, Heron and many of his supporters claimed that RC was authoritarian
Authoritarianism
Authoritarianism is a form of social organization characterized by submission to authority. It is usually opposed to individualism and democracy...
and cult
Cult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
-like, and later, that Jackins engaged in sexual abuse
Sexual abuse
Sexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is the forcing of undesired sexual behavior by one person upon another. When that force is immediate, of short duration, or infrequent, it is called sexual assault. The offender is referred to as a sexual abuser or molester...
of clients. RC supporters parried that CCI fostered a sexually
Human sexuality
Human sexuality is the awareness of gender differences, and the capacity to have erotic experiences and responses. Human sexuality can also be described as the way someone is sexually attracted to another person whether it is to opposite sexes , to the same sex , to either sexes , or not being...
-liberal atmosphere that blurred the boundaries of co-counselling and relationships
Interpersonal relationship
An interpersonal relationship is an association between two or more people that may range from fleeting to enduring. This association may be based on limerence, love, solidarity, regular business interactions, or some other type of social commitment. Interpersonal relationships are formed in the...
. RC specifically bans membership to people who have participated in CCI groups actively.
The history of co-counselling including its origins with RC is normally taught on CCI Fundamentals courses. CCI, by its nature, has no corporate opinion about RC, and individual CCI co-counsellors have their own views. Most CCI co-counsellors have a benevolent view toward RC, regarding it as a different, alternative approach to co-counselling. Membership of RC is not a bar to membership of CCI, and a few people manage to do both despite the RC ban.
Other co-counselling initiatives
- Focusing Partnerships. Co-counselling based on the focusingFocusingIn psychotherapy-related disciples, the term focusing is used to refer to the simple matter of holding a kind of open, non-judging attention to something which is directly experienced but is not yet in words. Focusing can be used to become clear on what one feels or wants...
technique of Eugene GendlinEugene GendlinEugene T. Gendlin is an American philosopher and psychotherapist who developed ways of thinking about and working with the implicit. Gendlin received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Chicago where he also taught for many years...
. - The Association of Karen Horney Psychoanalytic Counsellors were the original publishers of The Barefoot Psychoanalyst, which allies the practice of co-counselling with the theories of Karen HorneyKaren HorneyKaren Horney born Danielsen was a German-American psychoanalyst. Her theories questioned some traditional Freudian views, particularly his theory of sexuality, as well as the instinct orientation of psychoanalysis and its genetic psychology...
. In 1987, the association became The Institute for Self-Analysis, a member of the International Karen Horney Society. - Dror Co-Counseling was founded in IsraelIsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
in 1998. - Peer Listeners was an organisation set up following the resignation of Belgian Daniel Le Bon from RC in 1989.
See also
- Tim JackinsTim JackinsTim Hugh Jackins is the International Reference Person of Re-evaluation Counseling , known officially as the "International Re-evaluation Counseling Communities". Formerly a math teacher and union negotiator at the Mission College, Santa Clara, California, he succeeded his father Harvey Jackins...
- Harvey JackinsHarvey JackinsCarl Harvey Jackins was the founder, leader and principal theorist of Re-evaluation Counseling .-Early life:Jackins was born in Northern Idaho on June 28, 1916....
- John HeronJohn HeronJohn Heron is a pioneer in the creation of a participatory research method in the social sciences, called co-operative inquiry, which was based on his work in 1968-69 on the phenomenology of social encounter, and which has been applied by practitioners in many fields of professional and personal...
- List of counseling topics
- Critical friendCritical friendCritical friend has its origins in critical pedagogy education reforms in the 1970s and arose out of the self-appraisal activity which is attributed to Desmond Nuttall...
Further reading
- Jackins, Harvey (1970); Fundamentals of co-counselling manual; Rational Island, Seattle; ISBN 1-58429-073-0
- Jackins, Harvey (1973); The human situation; Rational Island, Seattle; ISBN 0-911214-04-6
- Ernst, Sheila & Goodison, Lucy (1981); In Our Own Hands; The Women's Press, London; ISBN 0-7043-3841-6
- Evison, Rose & Horobin, Richard (1988); Co-counselling in J Rowan & W Dryden (eds) Innovative therapy in Britain; Open University Press, Milton Keynes; ISBN 0-335-09827-4
- Caroline New, Katie Kauffman (July 2004); Co-Counselling: The Theory and Practice of Re-Evaluation Counselling; Brunner-Routledge; ISBN 1-58391-210-X
- R.D. Rosen, Psychobabble, 1975, chapter on Jackins and Co-counselling.