This letter to the editor may have arrived too late for publication, so I'd at least like to share it here:
I found Jay Efran's "In Search of New Ideas" [Psychotherapy Networker
Jan/Feb 2020] helpful and fascinating, and I appreciated his inclusion
of Re-evaluation Counseling. But to someone who practiced RC for much of
the period between 1985 and 2015, his description represents only one
facet of a multi-faceted practice. Yes I agree—as a licensed therapist
who has also sampled a variety of
modalities—that the "discharge" process could not be consistently
counted on for healing of a distress recording. But there were many
affecting factors—the experience of the counselor, the client's stage of
change, the quality of supervision—much as in any other therapy. I see
my current job as psychotherapist as motivating clients to act on their
thinking instead of their feelings. In RC settings I witnessed at least
as much, if not more, progress toward that goal as in any other
therapeutic setting. To attend an RC workshop was more than "exchanging
time." There were cutting-edge insights presented including how
oppression is experienced by different constituencies, healing trauma,
and how to be the change you want to see in the world. Whether Harvey
Jackins' insistence on operating outside the "mental health system" was
out of stubbornness or out of necessity, I experienced him as a
brilliant and compassionate innovator. I would be half the counselor I
am today had I not begun with RC.
13 February 2020
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