RC Drug and Alcohol Policies An excerpt of a letter by Tim Jackins

Dear X—,

I’m glad you learned RC in a place where the Guidelines* are well-established as standard functioning. (Unfortunately, sometimes in such places the reasons for the Guidelines aren’t talked about so that people don’t get to understand them, even though they follow them.)

 All RC Community members are expected to follow the no-socializing policy. RC teachers and Reference Persons, who are giving a “certified” picture of RC to others, are also required to not use alcohol or mind-altering drugs. If people haven’t discharged enough on drugs and alcohol to understand how harmful they are, and to be able to resist the patterned pulls to use them, they are not good examples of rational thought standing against the pull of patterns and addictions. In our societies, because all sorts of patterns about using alcohol have been installed on people throughout their lives, alcohol can seem to be something enjoyable or beneficial. Unless people have a chance to discharge on this, talking to them about it may not get you anywhere.

Members of the RC Community are not required to follow the policy against using alcohol and drugs, but teachers and Reference Persons, who have the Community’s permission to give a view of RC, need to have faced these issues. Leaders need to be able to get people counseling on all of their memories about alcohol—wanting to drink when they were young to show they were “adult,” the advertisements, alcohol as a way to have friends, and so on—and also on their memories of people being drunk around them.

I look forward to hearing more from you.

With love and appreciation,
Tim


* The Guidelines for the Re-evaluation Counseling Communities, the official working rules of the International RC Communities


Last modified: 2022-12-25 10:17:04+00