Co-Counselling International (UK)

West Yorkshire Co-Counselling (WYCC)

Survey December 1996

A questionnaire and sae were sent to all addresses where there is a subscriber to the WYCC Newsletter. The intention had been to send one to every subscriber ("on the list"). In households where there are more than one Co-coer some may not have received a copy as only one copy may have been sent. 34 returned completed questionnaires. The total responses to some questions may be more than 33/34 because more than one response was possible. Some people did not answer every question.

1. In what year did you complete your Fundamentals?

1996: 4; 1995:11; 1994:2; 1993:4; 1992:3; 1991:3; 1990:3; earlier: 3; not answered: 1

2. Do you still practise Co-counselling?

21 do. 13 don't; of these 2 completed Fundamentals in 1996, 5 in 1995, 3 in 1993, 1 in 1992 and 2 in 1991. The 1995 dropout rate might seem high, but it is a smaller proportion of the whole for that year than 1993. See also responses to Question 12.

3. What is your current reason for being active or inactive?

active

Inactive

4. Co-counselling sessions: regular and irregular

Those Co-coers having sessions irregularly:

Those cocoers having sessions regularly:

5. Average number per annum of Co-coers who've contacted me for a session

Comment: These figures seem to show that about half the respondents haven't ever been contacted and the other half have been contacted by between 1 and 3 cocoers per year.

6. Average number per annum of Co-coers who I have contacted for a session

Comment: Twice as many people seem to have attempted to contact other cocoers (albeit only 1 or 2 per year) than not make any contact at all.

7. Is the contacts list useful?

28 yes; 4 no

Comment The very high positive response to the list being useful is of interest when compared to the actual low usage of it in terms of how often respondents have either been contacted for a session or contacted others for a session. The comments below possibly help explain.

8. Comments on the list

All active Co-coers considered the list useful; even some of the non-active did. There seems to be little initial contact via the list; most contact is with people from the same Fundamentals, with some hesitancy about whether it's OK to call someone on spec. "It's there if I need it", "security", or words to that effect was a common theme. Another theme was the feeling of belonging, or of keeping in touch: not purely for Co-counselling. Some people find it useful for contacting Co-counsellors who they have met at functions, and for checking who is available locally.

9. What do you see as the advantages of Co- counselling?

10. What do you see as the disadvantages of Co- counselling?

11. Do you feel that Co-counselling is enabling you to develop your potential in your personal life? How?

25 stated that it is. 7 stated that it is not; these tend to be those not currently practising (i.e. except one) Answers to the question: 'How?' Comment: Almost all those who said they were active cocoers said that coco was enabling them to develop potential in their personal life. Those who said the converse were those who stated that they were inactive.

12. Having completed your Fundamentals course, how satisfied were you with it?

7 rated it 10; 1 rated it 9; 2 rated it 8; 3 rated it 7; 1 rated it 6; 3 rated it 5; 1 rated it 3.

Comment Almost everyone rated their course as satisfying them (i.e. rated it over 5). Just under half of respondents rated their course highly.

N.B. For questions 12, 14 and 15, the score 5 OK; and the score 10 very

13. How could your course be improved on?

14. How competent did you feel after your fundamentals course to use the skills you learned as a Co- counsellor?

15 rated themselves as 5 or more ; 5 rated themselves as below 5. Comment: More respondents seemed to have felt competent after their course to use their skills.

15. How competent do you feel now with your skills ?

13 rated themselves as 5 or more; 6 rated themselves as below 5. 15 rated their current competence as being higher (and 13 rated as lower) than when they had completed their Fundamentals. 5 respondents gave the same score for questions 14 and 15.

Comment: The responses in questions 14 and 15 naturally indicate that respondents do vary in their feelings of competence both after a course and now. Almost half of replies were saying they are now more competent than after completing their course, whilst the other half's scores suggest they feel less competent than they did after their course. Some of the latter responses were from those people who stated that they were no longer active in Co-Counselling. It would have been interesting to have asked why people felt their competence had increased or lowered. In addition it may be possible to find out a connection between someone's rating and their level or frequency of Co-Counselling activity.

16. Tick any Themes/Topics for Workshops, Gatherings and Peer Groups you would be interested in coming to.

Workshops

Gatherings

Comment: All topics received requests for peer groups and gatherings. All other than the above had fewer than 5 requests. This question had space to add suggestions. Topics mentioned were:sexuality and celibacy; fear of emotional intimacy; loneliness; panic attacks; politics and social action; post-natal depression; no theme.

17. Tick any of the following skills workshops you would be interested in.

Comment: It is surprising that more ideas for skills or themes for workshops or gatherings weren't suggested. On reflection, skills such as assertiveness or NLP were missed off on the original list; these probably would have interested cocoers unless, of course, everyone is satisfied with their sense of assertiveness! Some may have found questions 16 and 17 unclear as to what some of the themes or skills actually meant; given more information people may have ticked more. It's important to note that the list of workshop themes and skills are by no means prescriptive. Anyone could put anything on as long as it complements and is able to be utilised in Co-Counselling.

18. If you were to attend a workshop or gathering, which days/times would you prefer?

(Asterisk most preferred) Comment: One whole Sat or Sun was clearly the most popular time to hold a Gathering or Workshop. in fact weekends in general were preferred including (as expected) residentials and non-residentials. Despite low numbers, weekday evenings would be quite feasible for Workshops or gatherings especially as people's availability changes and even if 7 turn up, this is a good enough size for a group.

19. Tick the amounts you might be willing to pay for a workshop of differing lengths.

One Day

Two Day Res

There was an error in this section ; the column headed "For two days residential" should have read "Two days non-residential". We have ignored the responses for that column. Comment: It may be impractical to run residentials for the kind of maximum amounts that people seem prepared to pay (from £21). Compare prices for advertised events from other areas and national/international events (typically over £50 min for a weekend). West Yorkshire's annual residential at Barmoor is an exception because of the very low cost of the venue (£35).

One day workshops and Gatherings could also very feasibly be run with the amounts respondents were prepared to pay. A typical venue's fee could be covered by fees with even a smallish group of between 5 and 10 people turning up.

20. What gender/sexuality focus (if any) would you prefer?

Comment: About 75% of respondents preferred mixed gender/sexuality focus for workshops. 50% of people preferred peer groups to be mixed gender. Approximately 25% of cocoers preferred either women or men only workshops and peer groups. Responses for gay/lesbian/bi workshops and peer groups were minimal. Despite the lowere numbers for single sex workshops and peer groups if those cocoers came together there would be enough to form a group.

21. How would you prefer a workshop or a gathering to be run?

Comment: Most people seemed to want an event to be part facilitated and part peer-led.A pity this question was not split between workshops and gatherings. Maybe more might feel OK about peer-led gatherings, but the question does not allow the difference to show. The lower response for peer-led workshops/gatherings may be because of the lacking in experience of this way of working even though it fits with the fundamental principle that in Co-Counselling we have the resources to resolve our own issues and make our own choices and not only be led by others and have coices made for us.

22. Would you be interested in coming together with other Co-coers for social events?

23 said yes and 8 said no.

Comment: Just under 75% of replies were interested in coming together with other co-coers for social events.

23 Suggestions for social events and comment's or why not interested

Suggestions: walking( 5 ); games ( 4 ); bring and share meals ( 2 ); demonstrate cooking favourite meal then eating and talking; pub or movie evening; treats; celebrations; surreal evening; massage; music ( 2 ); drums; picnics; quizzes; story-telling; cycling; camping; just socialising.

Reasons why not: other commitments; time ( 3 ); may shift focus away from Co-co; was taught that Co-coers must not socialise with each other; would exclude non-Co-coing partner; need to trust people a lot more before feeling comfortable in social gatherings (my stuff); missed an event cos not local.

24. What would you like covered in the WYCC Newsletter?

Most responses indicate that it is doing more or less what people want and are happy with 3 issues a year, including, overall, the amount of humour and poems. There was a reluctance to pay more. Respondents would like: Respondents would prefer to have: Comment: less of nothing? The newsletter hasn't had them. The responses in this section were extremely varied, with no clear patterns emerging, especially not enough to lead to any major changes. The only significant reequest is more on descriptions of workshops as they are advertised and more on reviews of them. The request from respondents for more of the above may be at conflict with how much people are prepared to pay for the newsletter, since putting more in and not taking very much out will probably mean more pages and therefore a slightly increased sub.

25. If you were interested in a 1-day or evening workshop, gathering or peer-group,where would you be willing to travel to?

There was a balance between Bradford and Leeds for both attending a day or evening event. One or two mentioned their interest or willingness to travel to other parts of West Yorkshire.

26. If the theme/skill, fee and location suited you, how often would you be willing to come to workshops, gatherings and peer-groups?

Respondents overwhelmingly stated that they would attend these. The average stated frequency for workshops and gatherings was 4 per year and 6 for peer-groups.

Comment: Was the question unclear here? It invited frequency as a number per year, and yet for a peer-group once every two months doesn't seem very often at all. Peer-groups that have operated in the past (and maybe now) have tended to have weekly or bi-weekly meetings where Co-coers meet for Co-counselling. Maybe there was a lack of understanding of what a peer-group is.)

Although the average frequency of attending workshops and gatherings was 4 per year, this doesn't necessarily mean that this is how many there should be in a year. More could be put on since people might choose to attend 4 in a year but not the same 4 as everyone else ! Remember also that there are many more who did not return their questionnaire and who would add therefore to the numbers attending any event.

27. If you answered no to any of question 26, please say why.

Living out of the area/finances; only if very local ( 2 ); not able currently to participate in Co-co events; depends on the nature of the group.

Offers of help

Comment: An appreciation of thanks needs to be noted and given to all the 13 people who completed the form and said they could help in some way. there were between 8 and 10 people who offered to co-facilitate, help with or offered their house for a workshop, gathering, newsletter or (in the case of the house) a peer group. It's interesting that only a small proportion (3 people) offered to sole facilitate something.
Dennis Green: 15c@iname.com
Keith Lander: K.Lander@Bradford.ac.uk
WYCC: wycc@iname.com
May 1997

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