How does CCI operate?
As a peer network, with individuals taking responsibility for
leadership, singly or by getting together with others, as they see
fit. There are some pockets of hierarchy and more conventional
organisation but overall the peer network is the norm. [John Talbut]
How are the various CCI communities are set up (What structures CCI
communities use)?
See How does CCI
operate?. I prefer not to use the word "community" to refer to
parts of CCI since I don't think it reflects the nature of CCI.
John Heron in his teachers' manual
describes three types of community and I don't think CCI even
reflects the most loose of these.
See also Independent
Co-Counselling Communities.
Local networks tend to be set up by someone taking the initiative to set up fundamentals classes. [John Talbut]
What guidelines do CCI communities use to
define their objectives and operation?
See How are the various CCI communities are
set up. The only "guidelines" which I think are generally
applicable, and I think they are generally accepted, is John Herons Definition of CCI which is on the CCI(UK) web site. [John Talbut]
Why hasn't CCI grown as vigorously as RC over the last 25 years? (Although one can hardly call RC's growth meteoric either.)
Good question. My guess would be two things. One is that we do
not have so many expansionist patterns in CCI. The other, perhaps
more important, is that CCI may be a lot more challenging. It can
be pretty difficult to run dependency patterns in CCI, and yet many
people come to personal growth with a fair amount of dependency stuff.
It is also noticeable in Europe that CCI has not got off the ground
in France or Germany (although things are beginning to happen in
Germany) where society perhaps tends to be more authoritarian and
conformist. [John Talbut]
What communication is there between CCI
communities?
Newsletters, see What literature ...
below. Workshops and other events: Generally activities in CCI are
open to all members of the CCI network. Sometime this means that
local events are attended by CCIers from other localities or even
other countries. Then there are the national and international
workshops to which people from different localities and countries
are encouraged to and do attend.
If you were setting up a new co-counselling community, what key things would you do?
Run fundamentals, run fundamentals, run fundamentals.......
[John Talbut]
What literature/ journals etc are published by CCI communities, and how might we obtain some of it?
There are a number of local newsletters produced by groups of
CCIers and these tend to be circulated to other localities. These,
however, are internal to CCI and have confidentiality requirements.
Externally what is available is a number of manuals of
co-counselling, including Richard and Rose's which is on Jane
Heald's web site, some publications by Co-Counselling Phoenix and
John Heron's works. [John Talbut]
What works well in CCI?
I am very excited about the way things work in the UK. Most of the
country has access to some level of CCI activity and there are six
or seven areas where there is a good deal of activity. We have two
regular national gatherings, attracting 80 -120 ish participants, we
actively participate in and host every fourth year the European 7
day workshop, we have a national, two well established local and a
number of other newsletters, there are regular training courses for
teachers of co-counselling. All without any fixed organisation or
organisational hierarchy. Some years ago we tried to have regular
national business meetings, but they faded out. We seemed to manage
perfectly well without them and few people wanted to take part.
What does not seem to work well is where there is more formal organisation or hierarchy. These seem to get beset by splits and power struggles, often to the detriment of co-counselling activity.