Co-counselling

Co-counselling (spelled co-counseling in US English) is a grass-roots, low-cost form of helping other individuals and oneself to re-emerge from the negative effects of past emotional tensions and hurts, known in co-counselling theory as "discharge". Co-counseling was originally formulated in 1957 by the American Harvey Jackins, by a combination of his personal experiences gained in counselling sessions, personal adaptations of earlier theories such as Dianetics and the input of other members of his early circle, particularly Mary McCabe, Katie Kauffman, Ellen Deacon and Ellie Putnam. Jackins travelled extensively and authored many books. His son, Tim Jackins, is currently the international leader of Re-evaluation Counseling and its main affiliates.

Re-evaluation Counseling

 * See main article at Re-evaluation Counseling 

The core organization structure of RC consists of classes and local communities set up by experienced co-counselors, which are in turn organized by regions and country. The term "re-evaluation" apparently refers to the client's potential to rethink their past distress experiences 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 and as failed attempts to bring about relief from distress using methods that do not focus on discharge and re-emergence.

Co-Counselling International

 * See main article at Co-Counselling International 

In the UK in the 1970s, a small breakaway group from Re-evaluation Counselling called "Co-Counselling International" was started by a UK psychotherapist and humanistic psychologist, John Heron and others in the USA. CCI is a peer network with no core structure. Classes and activities are organised by individuals or groups acting self-directedly.

General description
Co-counseling training involves basic guidelines for the peer counseling relationship and regular peer supervision in classes and workshops. Participants meet regularly in pairs to give each other peer-to-peer counselling, in turn playing the role of counselor and client, with equal amounts of time allocated to each. It is largely centred around the concepts of adultism and distress patterns, with therapeutic activity occurring during "emotional discharge" of past hurt experiences. Such cathartic discharge includes crying, screaming, sweating, trembling, yawning, laughing and relaxed, non-repetitive talking.

In RC 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.