More about the Guidelines
by Tim Jackins, International Reference Person for the Re-evaluation Counseling Communities
The discoveries that led to Re-evaluation Counseling began in the early 1950s. Two decades later, RC ideas had developed sufficiently, and enough Co-Counselors were involved, some of them outside of Seattle (Washington, USA) where RC began, that we had to think about forming RC Communities.
In 1972 we put out the first Guidelines for the Re-evaluation Counseling Communities. These Guidelines aren’t rules; they are guidelines. They are not absolute; we need to apply them flexibly. They also need to change sometimes—so we have an opportunity to revise them every four years at the World Conference (it will be five years this time, because of COVID).
The Guidelines exist to help us think in places where we have difficulty thinking because of distress. For example, if I made a mistake as an RC leader, or someone is upset with me and I can’t think clearly about it, I might find useful thinking about such a situation in the Guidelines.
It was clear early on that we needed a no-socializing guideline. It simply didn’t work to set up a social relationship or go into business with one’s Co-Counselor. The Co-Counseling relationship would become less safe. And the non-Co-Counseling relationship would be compromised, too—for example, a person would act as a client in a business relationship. Therefore, the Co-Counseling relationship had to be kept separate from other relationships.
The Guidelines are now a large document. Beginning Co-Counselors need not be aware of all the sections. However, they need to understand some sections—for example, those on handling upsets and maintaining relationships—from the beginning.
Newer Co-Counselors also need to know that we are trying to think about challenging phenomena that occur repeatedly in our societies—oppression, attacks, all kinds of mistreatment. Some of these phenomena are accepted behavior outside of RC, but we get to question them here. And the sooner our basis for questioning them is made clear, the easier it will be for people.
Those of us who are RC teachers and Reference Persons have agreed to make our collective experience, including the Guidelines, available to our constituencies. Co-Counselors need to know early on that they can get help from the Guidelines and from someone—their teacher, Area Reference Person, Regional Reference Person—who’s had the experience and resources to be able to think more clearly about what they are struggling with.
(Present Time 205, October 2021)