Harvey Jackins

Carl Harvey Jackins (born June 28 1916 – died 12 July 1999 ) was the founder and principal theorist of Re-evaluation Counseling (or RC), the main movement for co-counselling. Originally a trade unionist and radical-left labor organizer, after a few years of association with the theory of Dianetics invented by L. Ron Hubbard in the early 1950s, Jackins conducted his own experiments with the Dianetic concepts of auditing, clearing and restimulation and developed new theories that human beings could substantially improve their lives and emotional well-being by the systematic process of discharge, eg, crying, laughing, yawning and others. This he came to believe would be actively encouraged by mutual exchange of affectionate attention, which became the co-counseling process.

Born in Northern Idaho, Jackins attended but did not graduate from the University of Washington. He was a labor organizer in Seattle, Washington, during the 1940s, a role he said that he withdrew from after a severe beating. In RC publications, Jackins stated that he was repeatedly and sometimes viciously attacked in this period; some RC members who later met Jackins ex-colleagues have stated that he was well liked and was not physically attacked. As there is no firm evidence either way, this and other aspects of Jackin's own version of his origins remain subject to some doubt.

Jackins first incorporated Personal Counselors Inc. in 1952, to "engage in, conduct and teach the art and science of Dianetics." "Co-Counseling was the "brain-child" of Harvey Jackins in the 1950s in America where he [eventually] labelled it (at some point after 1958) Re-evaluation Counseling (RC). It has been said that RC is "the most successful Squirrel Organization" (eg, a breakaway group of Scientology) but as his break with Dianetics pre-dates the development of Scientology, this is technically inaccurate. L. Ron Hubbard Scientology's founder first published his book Dianetics in 1950 and the first church of Scientology was founded in 1954, after Jackins had separated from Hubbard, but before Jackins' method was known as "re-evaluation counseling" . Harvey Jackins may however have still have been describing himself as a "Dianetics Auditor" in 1957, if L Ron Hubbard's documented denunciation of Jackins to the FBI, released under the Freedom of Information rules in the US, dating from October 8, 1957, is to be believed. "It is our desire that this gentleman be investigated as to Communist activities; whether or not he stirred up or caused the labor disputes in that area is not for me to say" wrote Hubbard. The reaction of the FBI to this and other accusations was to recommend that Hubbard be investigated for psychiatric illness.

On June 14 1954, Jackins testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee, which persecuted people accused of Communism in the United States.

Early development of co-counselling and Re-evaluation Counselling
Jackins says in his own publications to have discovered co-counseling essentially accidentally during prolonged efforts to help unionised co-workers whom he was attempting to assist as a local union convenor in Seattle, WA, USA. Repeated efforts to help them failed, he wrote, until one day a particular client repeatedly cried and then felt better - after many attempts to stop him crying, Jackins relented and found that the client's condition and life improved. Interested, Jackins began to experiment in encouraging others to cry, then found that laughter, shaking and other types of emotional discharge were useful in relieving or venting pent-up old emotional feelings. These he theorised led to limitations on the flexibility and intelligence / rationality with which people approached everyday situations. He and his helpers (he soon identified others who were capable of sharing the work of co-counselling with him on an equal basis of exchanging attention and time and thereby encouraging each other to discharge) experimented with different approaches and discovered that effective discharge frequently led to improved clarity of thought, a process they dubbed re-evaluation. The process of discharge helped to alleviate or remove distress, a term Jackins used to describe apparently organised and structured distortions, blockages or patterns of pent-up emotional hurt and their consequences in the mind; Jackins became convinced that these could with persistent, thoughtful and aware attention from another committed helper, be discharged, causing very considerable relief and (potentially) empowerment for the person discharging.

During the late 1950s and early 1960s Jackins systematised these views into a new system or disciplined approach to encouraging discharge and re-evaluation which he dubbed "Re-evaluation Counseling" (often known as "RC" - it is not clear when this term was first used, but the first books and the journal of Re-evaluation Counseling, "Present Time", appeared in the late 1960s.) In the late 60s the embryo RC movement spread beyond Seattle through a series of teaching workshops run by Jackins. In the mid-70s, Jackins travelled outside the US, teaching RC to people first in the UK, then Scandinavia and the rest of Europe.

Liberation theory and re-emergence
During the 1970s Jackins himself and a number of other "RC'ers" he had recruited began to work on specific "oppressions" which they noted tended to create a persistent and chronic tendency for people to remain stuck in patterned states; these oppressions he and others identified--the results of upbringing and child rearing in society--centred around the objectification of treatment of people for each specific element of themselves, for example, people are oppressed as women, by skin color, men, children, young adults, workers, by class background and in other ways. These ideas are not original to co-counseling but borrow much of their thinking from left-leaning and progressive "liberation" movements of the 60's and 70's for example women's liberation, class liberation, and socialism. RC ideas developed with, and in some cases, pre-date, these movements, but there were exchanges of ideas between them. The unique view of co-counseling is that the effects of such oppressions can be "discharged" (eg relieved via emotional catharsis) leaving people re-empowered.

During the 70s and 80s there was considerable disagreement and controversy within RC (including sometimes from Jackins himself) as to the precise way in which these should be dealt with; the movement gradually evolved a focus on meeting within identity groups (working class, women, etc) specifically as co-counsellors to work on distresses arising from each category of oppression. Jackins held the belief that by working in this way, people would come to be freed from the original patterns and feelings of helplessness/hopelessness sometimes inherited and/or taught to and within their identity groups and would then be able to connect better and have more meaningful relationships both with other members of the same group and other groups.

Later developments in RC
During the period 1975 - 1990, Jackins created a considerable organisational structure for RC, which consisted of local teachers (qualified and approved), area representatives (area reference persons), regional leaders (regional reference persons), international representatives of each "liberation group" or sub-category of people identifying in a particular way (international liberation reference people) and himself as the overall leader, or "international reference person". The structure of the organisation was that he approved leaders formally suggested to him by a group of RC'ers (in the case of some ARPs and Teachers), whilst directly appointing most other roles, including ILRPs and RRPs, usually without consultation.

Jackins wrote a set of Guidelines for the organization and held bi-annual international conferences to confirm his proposed changes to Guidelines. Before he died in 1999, Jackins was keen to extend RC rapidly and supervised a number of efforts to connect the views and activities of RC members with what are (within RC) dubbed "wide world organizations". (eg, mainstream organizations.) Typically he did this by encouraging RC members to implement RC theory and ideas within liberation organizations that had specific political agendas, thus exposing people who were not members of the RC communities to theoretical and actual aspects of RC; sometimes RC theory was directly introduced and other times, the information was taught within the organizations without introducing its basis as being from RC. The best known example is the National Coalition Building Institute, founded by RC'er Cherie Brown. A more recent attempt to directly introduce and implement RC into NGO activist conferences has been through the RC-sponsored project named "United to End Racism" (UER), created in November 2000. UER uses the tools of RC, namely that of discharge and reevaluation, as a means to heal from the hurts of racism. Delegates of the UER group attended the World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa, in August 2001, and a number of other NGO and activist meetings since then. It is stated publicly and clearly linked on their website that RC and UER are closely connected to one another.

Jackins achievements
Total numbers of co-counselors worldwide are debated; Jackins himself once claimed more than 1 million people worldwide had passed through RC basic "Fundamentals" classes. The April 2007 edition of Present Time listed 243 organized areas worldwide, which consist of roughly 30-60 people, as well as 428 teachers outside of organized areas, which usually accounts for a small group of RC'ers--about 4-15 people--that are in the process of growing an organized area. Present Time is circulated to around 5,000 people. The central office of RC, recently renamed (15 February 2007) "Re-evaluation Counseling Community Resources, Inc", in Seattle, WA, does not publish or comment on exact figures. Despite this figure ambiguity, both Harvey Jackins himself and RC are fairly widely regarded as being influential in a number of psychological, therapeutic, social and cultural fields.

Jackins influence and the influence of RC
In humanistic psychology and general psychotherapy, RC has been influential. Commonly used phrases and words first coined in RC or by Harvey Jackins like "distress", "re-evaluation" (as applied to human thinking), "co-counselling", and others have moved into quite common usage. In other areas, concepts of RC liberation theory like "internalised oppression" (the tendency of oppressed people to oppress themselves on behalf of their oppressors) have moved into common parlance in areas such as pop psychology, political debate and radical-left politics. Interestingly, a number of previously hotly disputed views originating from RC publications or individuals have now passed virtually into the mainstream, for example, key RC concepts or "postulates" like the need for "survivors" of specific oppressions to get together and work, or discharge, on their issues, has become a very widespread aspect of the self-help and therapy movements. In addition, particular individuals who have trained in RC have gone on to have a significant impact in a range of other organisations, particularly those involved in campaigning on rights issues in the US and elsewhere.

Jackin's political and social views
Harvey Jackins never made any secret of his radical-left views; his books and journals frequently extol the virtues of Marxist or neo-Marxist thought, he was a keen admirer of Chairman Mao and his talks or classes often referred to these leaders. However, he also championed independent thinking and re-evaluation or re-definition of their views and was sometimes scornful of particular aspects of socialist history or theory, particularly those advocating violence towards, or rejection of, people of non-working class backgrounds, and what he perceived as the tendency of left organisations and leaders historically to focus on the masses rather than the individual.

Although Jackins did not frequently mention influences on him other than those from socialist history, he also appears to have been strongly affected by strands within US and international science fiction; also by early forms of what later became the techno-progressive movement; and by the popular and influential General Semantics theory. Some people have discerned in particular the style and interests of US science fiction authors A.E. van Vogt and Robert A. Heinlein in his published writings, particularly those dwelling on the evolution of mankind and the development of supermen. Jackins was photographed with Van Vogt in the 50s at a meeting of the Board of Dianetics. There are also some similarities between Jackins theories and those of Zen Buddhism (for example, the reaching of "clear" states of mind), a connection either derived from California new age philosophy or Jackins' own (broad) reading of religion and philosophy. Perhaps the key point is that the same rich mix of cultural, social and philosophical trends in postwar US west coast culture which gave rise to movements like Scientology and New Age religions also stimulated Jackins, although he was later contemptuous of some of them, and refused to declare Re-evaluation Counseling a religious viewpoint, insisting instead that it was rational.

Jackins was also strongly motivated to create opportunities for, and develop, leadership skills and leaders in the movements of the left and of radicalism. Much of his personal work, especially in later years of his life, focused on these efforts; he felt that through extensive discharge and skilled counselling, leaders would emerge who would be stronger and more able to sustain forward progress in human society in what he considered to be desirable directions; he was particularly focused on what he perceived to be threats to the long-range survival of the human race from capitalism and industrial society, and regarded working class organisations such as trade unions as cornerstones in the battle to save humanity; therefore he particularly attempted to foster and encourage leaders in these and similar areas of activity.

Criticism of Harvey Jackins
A number of criticisms have surrounded Jackins since fairly early in his development of RC. These are difficult in some cases to disentangle from criticism of RC itself as a theory or practice (more at Re-evaluation Counseling). Jackins had a forceful personality and a direct way of speaking that sometimes offended or angered people. It is also clear that in some cases Jackins went out of his way to provoke, either to pressure people to discharge on what he saw as their distresses or (in some cases) to assist people in leaving RC who he felt were disruptive or detrimental to it. Jackins advised ignoring "attacks" (defined in RC as patterned attacks of individuals, policies or the leadership arising out of distress), and later had this principle included in RC official policies. He believed that the persistent nature of critical distress patterns would eventually weaken when ignored. Such criticisms included disagreement with some policies: famously the gay policy, the "no socialising" rule, and the "no-attacks" policy. To some extent this appears to have further annoyed his critics, and those of RC. A number of websites, contain extensive material on the issues and criticisms listed below; these are further cited by mainstream anti-cult sites. The result is either a believable critique of Jackins and RC or a mess of competing critical "distresses", depending on the viewpoint of the observer. Perhaps the final impression is of a strong, appealing personality who also made enemies through outspoken and sometimes controversial views, some of whom are persistent in condemning his methods and ideas.

Personality cult
Critics have contended that Jackins ran RC (and set it up) as an authoritarian structure or even a cult. These critics focus on aspects of RC such as the perceived inability of the organisation to constructively deal with any challenge to leadership decisions, reluctance of leaders to discuss basic theory or guidelines in the organisation as not being fixed, or specific greviances about the conduct of particular leaders, including Jackins himself. Some cult websites (primarily referring to Steven Hassan's Freedom of Mind web site) list Re-evaluation Counseling as a cult; these invariably refer back for justification to a Phd article by Dr. Dennis Tourish (then at Aberdeen Business School) and Pauline Irving (then at University of Ulster) written in 1994 - a close reading of which casts doubt on the status of RC as a cult. Some typical cult characteristics, including attempts to restrain people from leaving, use of fear, removal of substantial sums of money from the cultee, etc, have not been substantiated in relation to RC. Others maintain that characteristic features of cults such as the use of covert techniques to induct members, personality cult, use of withdrawal of love to control members, insular authoritarian thinking and organisational structure, seem to be present, although each of these is explained within RC as having a place in promoting the discharge process. Jackins encouraged RC'ers within the structure of the RC community to "naturalize" his ideas - repackage them into other forms that kept the basic theory but that used terms that might be more accessible to a wider audience. This has been taken both as evidence that he was relaxed towards the centralisation of control of RC and as proof that he used the tactics of entryism.

Jackins did however tend to focus all decision making within RC on himself, and in RC published Guidelines reserved the right to change rules or make decisions without reference to others. He appointed all Regional Reference People, who in turn held authority over decisions affecting lower levels within RC and who "approved" his decisions at international meetings. This system continues with Jackins' successor as International Reference Person, his son Tim Jackins. Within RC, these controls are seen as necessary to limit the effect distresses have within the organisation; the leadership, culminating in the International Reference Person, are seen as being more able to think well and counter the effects of distress on decision making in areas such as classes, appointment of teachers and policies. Outside RC, the system has been compared to the Communist state model of "democratic centralism" and this may have been an influence on Jackins' view of how the organisation should be structured.

Lies or distortions
Some claims are made that Jackins had a tendency in written word or public statements to distort facts or tell outright lies. A good example was his oft-repeated story of the origins of RC (see above). There is good independent evidence (including Jackins' own statement to HUAC in 1954) that Jackins actually was involved in early Dianetics and was a contact for L Ron Hubbard (founder of Dianetics and later Scientology) in the West Coast of the USA, most probably during the period 1952-4. As has been often pointed out, much of the basic terminology in RC, such as "clearing up patterns", "rationality", "present time", "passing distress by contagion" and so on, particularly in the early days of RC, is broadly the same as that of Dianetics. Jackins appears to have re-worked the story of the origins of RC away from the Dianetics background, presumably because of the growing bad reputation during the 60s of L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology, and because he wanted to copyright the brand and have it assume its own identity. Hubbard's Scientologists declared RC to be "suppressive" (eg, an enemy organisation) on their internal list using the name Re-Evaluation Counselling Applied Philosophy which was in use as the official name of RC at some point before 1965. Clearly by this time Jackins and Hubbard had fallen out.

Jackins did privately tell RCers internally that he had once had connections with Hubbard, "had tried to help his son and had been treated badly as a result of it - so gave up". It is a mistake to view RC as currently connected with Scientology; RC theory is radically different, it does not use auditing or other Scientology "technology" and the theoretical views of RC are distant from Jackins's Dianetics origins. The "origins of RC" debate is mainly of interest because it shows that (a) Harvey Jackins could have potentially repeated a lie or half-truth often and (b) it has not subsequently been challenged by his successors, either because they unquestioningly believe his version or because they choose not to admit it publicly.Critics maintain that a tendency to distort and manipulate "truth" pervades RC thinking and practice. Some RC'ers in turn believe that whilst some of Jackins' distresses were not adequately challenged by the organisation during his lifetime, the core theoretical basis of the organisation is correct.

Improbable claims or anti-science
Some claims of Jackins or made by him on behalf of RC, are viewed by some as improbable or anti-scientific. For example, Jackins claimed frequently in his earlier days that he could and would live for ever; this could be seen to be a "direction" to self, and based on scientific research into extending longevity. Jackins also believed (and at one time had included in the official table of RC Policies) that all past extinct creatures and flora should be re-generated using genetic science. He was not specific about how far into pre-history this should apply) In another book he argued that in the future everyone would live underground and that all future societies would be managed with endless committee meetings. He also claimed that RC was wholly self-proving and internally self-consistent as a theory and that it was a valid scientific and logical system in its own right, as well as having been developed from empirical knowledge, and was therefore analogous to a pure science rather than a human discipline. These and other improbable views tend perhaps to reveal his educational and personality limitations, but also suggest that his emphasis on "rational" beliefs, "objective present time reality" - his equivalent of Marxist Dialectical Materialism - and "science before belief" had personally-set limits.

Sexuality
In the mid 1990's, Jackins was criticized within RC for his views that homosexuality was most probably the result of specific mistreatments of children, and could therefore be "recovered" from, along with other types of sexual distress. This caused a number of RC members to leave the movement and either attack it from outside or form their own organised co-counselling groups. The published views of Jackins on this subject are not included in official RC postulates or The List (1990) which contained a compendium of Jackins' views at that time. Current-day RC tends to emphasise the need to discharge on "early sexual memories" and fantasies for both "heterosexuals" as well as "lesbians gays and bisexuals (LGBs)" as a means to clear out patterned sexual behaviors.

In addition, Harvey Jackins was at various times accused of sexual misconduct, ranging from accusations that he favoured attractive young women and appointed them into leadership roles, to direct allegations of rape or sexual abuse of clients. (the latter were made specifically in a Seattle-based CBS-affiliate (Kiro TV) show shown in 1981, focusing on a young female teacher, Deborah Curren, from Seattle - after taking out a lawsuit, she later withdrew the allegations .) These allegations are extensively repeated on websites, and supported by some who participated in RC during the years in question, but given the long time that has elapsed since many of them were made it is difficult to prove their authenticity. At the time they were made, most RC leaders claimed that they were politically motivated or covert attacks from the authorities against Jackins. Several high profile RC leaders, including Shirley Segal and Nancy Kline left the organisation after (they claim) confronting Jackins with these allegations and demanding that he change. Another notable example was the Belgian leader of breakaway "Present-mindedness", Daniel Le Bon. The centrepiece allegation accuses Jackins of "wrestling", a common technique in RC (and now other therapies) aimed at inducing discharge by reminding the client of early childhood play and contact experiences. The repeated allegations did not appear to knock Jackins significantly off course and the RC organisation more or less succeeded in suppressing further mention of them internally. Some of the allegations appear to be made by specific interest groups with whom Jackins strongly disagreed, such as mental health professionals, making it additionally difficult to ascertain if they are accurate.

Mental health
Jackins often expressed a strong opposition to psychiatric medicine and the "mental health system" and encouraged RC'ers to oppose it. He repeatedly stated that skilled counselling and "aware attention" using the methods of RC should be sufficient for any person labelled as "mentally ill" or similar to recover from the effects of their distresses. No experiment has so far been set up within RC to prove this, but anecdotally a number of RC'ers claim such recovery and are actively opposed to the mental health system. This has in turn led to criticism or counter-attack against RC or Jackins in particular from some mental health professionals. To some extent, Jackins identified with the Anti-Psychiatry movement and was influenced by, and may have influenced, leading British radical psychologist R.D. Laing. This and Jackins' original Dianetics heritage partially account for the frequent confusion that Jackins was a Scientologist; the Church of Scientology shares a loathing of medical psychology, but reacts differently to it; Jackins urged sustained counselling of patients and "survivors" of the mental health system as opposed to confronting it, although he was sometimes supportive to those who did.