Re-evaluation counselling

Domain III · Humanistic, existential & experiential · Harvey Jackins · 1950 · Seattle

What it is

RC is not a professional psychotherapy: it is a peer self-help method plus a worldwide membership organisation. Two trained lay people meet and split time equally, one as client and one as counsellor, then swap. It was formulated by Harvey Jackins in Seattle in the early 1950s, out of a schism in…

Format

• RC has no treatment phases; it has a participation pathway and a within-session sequence.
• Session format. Pairs meet regularly; each takes an equal turn as client, commonly about an hour each way, with a break before switching. In a group of three or more, each member gets an equal client turn, choosing one counsellor or working with the group's silent attention.

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Fundamentals class. About 40 hours of basic training is the usual entry requirement in co-counselling organisations; each organisation requires its own course even of people trained elsewhere. In RC, entry is by invitation and classes are usually held in members' homes; one practitioner describes an 8-week introductory class found via the RC website.
• Ongoing class, support groups, workshops. Certified teachers run beginning and ongoing classes, support groups and local workshops; larger regional, national and international workshops follow.
• Community structure. Local areas of roughly 30 co-counsellors led by an Area Reference Person (who certifies teachers, edits the newsletter and ensures policy is followed); regions with a Regional Reference Person; about 40 International Liberation Reference Persons for constituencies; an International Reference Person at the top. From 1975 to 1990 Harvey Jackins appointed teachers, area and regional leaders, and…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• Emotion rising as details sharpen; that is the cue to hold there.
• Counsellor over-playing a hurtful figure; client freezing. De-role explicitly.
• Validation that is generic or pushed; it should fit the person and be welcomed.
• Clients leaving still flooded; in clinical use, do not end with the client dysregulated.
• Clinically this is transference work; your professional boundaries override any peer-group norm.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.