the roots
One of the major political and cultural trends of the twentieth century was emancipation - the expansion of basic human rights, the freedom to be self-determining. For example, women gained the vote, former colonies became self-governing, there was a great levelling of class structures, we experienced women's liberation, the men's movement. These were all twentieth century phenomena - and the process has not ended yet. CCI co-counselling is also a form of emancipation. Many of the goals and guiding principles are the same: equality, self responsibility, respect for individual differences, the fulfilment of human potential, and so forth.

There are also some precursors to the CCI co-counselling method in the growth of psychology over the twentieth century. For example there was a  Hungarian psychologist and friend of Freud, Sandor Ferenczi (1873-1933)¹ who, in 1932 reported a way of working with his clients in equality. Each would take turns to relate their 'life story' - the psychologist and the client sharing and changing roles.

Then, in the middle of the century, the Second World War intervened, and in 1945 the world was left in great chaos and confusion.

restoration
The world wide need for a listening ear and caring attention must have been enormous after 1945. Given the scale of devastation and destruction in Europe and the Pacific, there must have been an unbelievable communal need for emotional healing, to disgorge the pain, to be heard - even if there were few words able to express the horror. So it is all the more astonishing to appreciate the big silence that almost everybody adopted at that time! Did they cope by shutting it all out, somehow choosing to ignore what was going on inside? Perhaps it was just all too big to deal with?
In the 1950s the emphasis was on rebuilding - homes, roads, jobs, nations. The restoration of personal lives was largely seen in these outward terms. The interest in emotional health seemed to have to wait until the next generation, those born after the war, who came of age in the 1960s.
The 60s was a time of social ferment with all kinds of new ideas rising to the fore - in politics, in education (particularly among university students), in labour unions. It was a time of rebellion against political arrogance and rigid social structures. There arose an emphasis on individual self-expression, the 'me generation' - this was the time of the sexual revolution.  It was the beginning of recognising and valuing emotional discharge.
This era saw the advent of humanistic psychology with its more optimistic view of the human condition and its emphasis on

what makes humans unique. Abraham Maslow, one of the pioneers of humanistic psychology, asked: 'Where are the researches on unselfishness? Lack of envy? Will power? Strength of character? Optimism? Friendliness? Realism? Self-transcendence? Boldness, courage? Lack of jealousy? Sincerity? Patience? Loyalty? Reliability? Responsibility?'²
Maslow's questions were in reaction to the earlier prevailing behavioural psychology which deplored 'unobservable' inner mental processes and advocated instead the study of outward behaviour. Thus humanistic psychology broadened the whole subject matter of interest to psychologists: 'Why is there so much neglect of the fact that leadership in democracies is very often sought for the opportunity of service rather then to have power over other people?' ³
The historical and cultural climate in which CCI co-counselling has its roots continues to evolve. The 'Truth & Reconciliation' phenomenon, such as seen after the fall of the apartheid regime in South Africa, is in marked contrast to the lack of opportunity for emotional discharge after WWII. Nowadays, de-briefings and offers of counselling support are expected official responses after larger civic emergencies or traumatic events. Yet even so, it is still 'not done' to openly discharge traumatic experiences and emotions in public! It seems our society still has some way to go toward total freedom and acceptance of emotional expression.

the forerunner
The immediate forerunner of CCI co-counselling was an American self-help growth movement known as Re-evaluation Counseling (RC), which spread to Europe in the early seventies. In contrast to CCI Co-counselling, RC is a highly hierarchical organisation. It favours a directive approach in sessions, rather than self-responsibility - the counsellor is in charge and responsible for the session of the client. There is no room for a more intuitive or personal approach. The inventor and director of Re-evaluation Counselling was Harvey Jackins (1916-1999), whose ideas were inspired by Ron Hubbard's 'Dianetics, The Modern Science of Mental Health'.⁴   
CCI co-counselling grew out of Re-evaluation Counselling, but

with a much keener emphasis on autonomy and self-direction. In 1974 John Heron left RC and began to teach CCI co-counselling. John had been RC's European representative. He was a psychologist and lecturer at the University of Surrey, UK, and was the founder and director of the Human Potential Research Project at that university, 'the first publicly funded 'growth centre' working on humanistic lines in Europe'.⁵

At the same time, two North Americans, Dency and Tom Sargent (1926 - 2007) also left RC, and these three people - John Heron, Dency Sargent and Tom Sargent - were the pioneers of what came to be called Co-Counselling International, or CCI.

CCI emerges
There are several definitions of CCI co-counselling. For example, this was published by John Heron in 1994 in 'One to One', the UK CCI newsletter:

'CCI is a planet-wide association of individuals and local networks committed to affirm a core discipline of co-counselling while encouraging, on an international and co-operative basis, the advancement of sound theory, effective practice, network development and planetary transformation. Local networks of co-counsellors within CCI are independent, self-governing peer organisations, exploring ways of being effective social structures while avoiding all forms of authoritarian control'.

Here is another, written in 2001 and taken from the Dutch-based internet site CCI World News Service, (www.cciwns.com):
'CCI stands for a range of shared practices, based on indi-

                                         
vidual responsibility and self direction. It is used to manage our emotions, to grow in self understanding, and to develop our human potential. We create a peer-based culture of validation and respectfulness to support, discover and express our actual beings as well our human spirituality.

These two definitions try to capture some of the features that make CCI co-counselling distinct.
*  The method is non-directive. In sessions, the counsellor has
    only a supportive role to play and the client is always in
    charge of his/her own process.
*  There is room for the 'non-rational', for intuition inventions,
    creativity, play.
*  The organisation is non-hierarchical, based on equality of
    peers. This is an expression of the importance of autonomy,
    self-responsibility, and respect for individuals.   continue     

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