Harvey Jackins
Encyclopedia
Carl Harvey Jackins was the founder, leader and principal theorist of Re-evaluation Counseling
(or RC).
During the 1930s he was a member of the Communist Party of America. Between 1939 and 1941, he organized a Young Communist League at the University of Washington
in Seattle. Never completing his undergraduate degree, he became a labor organizer in the 1940s. He was expelled from local 46 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
, from the Building Service Employees' Union, and from Lodge 751 of the Aero Mechanics' Union for alleged Communist activities. In 1954 he was brought before the House Un-American Activities Committee
as part of its investigation into Communist activities in Pacific Northwest after being named by three witnesses. He took the Fifth Amendment
and refused to name former associates.
s or "hurts" accompanied by various types of emotional catharsis. He called these effects "discharge", which he came to believe led to clear thinking or "re-evaluation". He held that rational thinking was prevented by the accumulation of past hurts, which could be removed by repeated discharge through co-counseling. The objective of RC became the dissemination of this method of creating rational thinking, a process called "re-emergence". Re-evaluation counseling, it is held, can remove "opression", which it considers to lie at the root of most of the problems in the world.
In the early 1950s, Jackins became acquainted with L. Ron Hubbard
's theory of Dianetics
. In 1952 Jackins formed Personal Counselors Inc. to "engage in, conduct and teach the art and science of Dianetics." While practicing Dianetics, he developed the concepts of "re-evaluation" and "discharge" and came to believe that they could be encouraged by the "exchange of aware attention" in the "co-counseling process". At this time, Jackins used some of the terminology of Dianetics, such as "clearing up patterns", "rationality", "present time" and "passing distress by contagion". Psychiatrist Richard M. Childs claimed that Jackins' book The Human Side of Human Beings (1965) plagiarized Hubbard's Dianetics (1950), saying that Jackins "paraphrased Hubbard's terms by recasting them in his own jargon. Hubbard's 'Engrams' became Jackins' 'distress patterns', 'release' became 'discharge', and 'to become clear' became RC's 'to re-emerge'." In 1957, Hubbard's Scientology
organisation claimed that Jackins was describing himself as a "Dianetics Auditor".
During the late 1950s and early 1960s, Jackins systematized his views and in the 1960s and 1970s took RC beyond Seattle to the rest of the US and to Europe. From 1975 to 1990, he appointed local teachers, area representatives, regional leaders and representatives of groups such as blacks and gays. He wrote RC's Guidelines and decided on all major issues. His policies were ratified by a biennial conference. Tourish and Iriving compared his system of management to the Communist state model of democratic centralism
. Jackins supervised the involvement of RC members in external organisations. Jackins is said to have claimed that several governments were influenced by RC and to have thought that eventually religion will be replaced by Re-evaluation Counseling.
In the mid-1990s, Jackins was criticized within RC for his views that homosexuality may be a form of "distress" arising from the mistreatment of young children that may be "recovered" or removed. In a 1974 article entitled "Is Homosexuality a Distress Pattern?", Jackins said that homosexuality, "as distinct from the desire to touch or be close, is irrational, is the result of distress patterns (often very early in origin and chronic), and will disappear by the free choice of the individual with sufficient discharge and re-evalution." This caused some critics to leave the movement and to form breakaway co-counseling groups.
From the beginning of the 1980s Jackins was accused of sexual misconduct, which was said to range from favoring attractive young women in the organization to rape. The first allegation of sexual abuse was made in 1981 by RC member Deborah Curren. Her claims were reported in the Seattle Sun and on a local TV station, KIRO TV
. Following the allegations, Jackins was strongly criticized by the Minneapolis-St Paul RC group. Jackins disbanded the group and forty-five members of RC resigned in protest. Jackins wrote that "The use of these rumors to attack me and through me the Community has been a very nasty problem in the last few months, and there is some indication that some of the spook agencies of the government and their dirty tricks department have been involved in this." Curren took out a lawsuit against Jackins but withdrew it when Jackins filed for costs.
Jackins advised people within RC to ignore criticism, which he characterized as "attacks". This advice became a part of RC policy, which defines "attacks" as "attempts to harm a person, usually a leader, or an organization, in the guise of disagreeing and discussing". People making such "attacks" "should be asked to apologize and, if unresponsive, should be made to leave the group and their attacks ignored." The 1981 World Conference of the Re-evaluation Counseling Communities resolved unanimously to "reject and condemn, as completely contradictory to the spirit and practice of Re-evaluation Counseling, the vicious gossip and slanderous circulation of written attacks upon Harvey Jackins." RC says that "People playing this role should not be 'counseled' but should be asked to apologize and, if unresponsive, should be made to leave the group and their attacks ignored." "To counter attacks on RC and its leaders, RC members are instructed to interrupt the person, approach the accusation as the personal problem of the accuser, and vigorously come to the defense of the person or people being attacked."
, who took over the leadership of Re-evaluation Counseling on his father's death.
With other authors
Re-evaluation Counseling
Re-evaluation Counseling or RC is an organization founded by Harvey Jackins in the 1950s and led by him until his death in 1999. It introduced a procedure called "co-counseling", which Jackins said was a new and effective method of helping people and bringing about social reform. RC teaches...
(or RC).
Early life
Jackins was born in Northern Idaho on June 28, 1916.During the 1930s he was a member of the Communist Party of America. Between 1939 and 1941, he organized a Young Communist League at the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
in Seattle. Never completing his undergraduate degree, he became a labor organizer in the 1940s. He was expelled from local 46 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers is a labor union which represents workers in the electrical industry in the United States, Canada, Panama and several Caribbean island nations; particularly electricians, or Inside Wiremen, in the construction industry and linemen and other...
, from the Building Service Employees' Union, and from Lodge 751 of the Aero Mechanics' Union for alleged Communist activities. In 1954 he was brought before the House Un-American Activities Committee
House Un-American Activities Committee
The House Committee on Un-American Activities or House Un-American Activities Committee was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. In 1969, the House changed the committee's name to "House Committee on Internal Security"...
as part of its investigation into Communist activities in Pacific Northwest after being named by three witnesses. He took the Fifth Amendment
Fifth Amendment
Fifth Amendment may refer to:* Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, part of the Bill of Rights* Fifth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland, a referendum related to the Roman Catholic Church and other religious denominations...
and refused to name former associates.
Development of Re-evaluation Counseling
Jackins is said to have developed Re-evaluation Counseling after observing a troubled friend change through being patiently listened to while he cried. Curious about the effect of this crying, he worked with others to develop a method of reciprocal counseling based on the recollection of psychological traumaPsychological trauma
Psychological trauma is a type of damage to the psyche that occurs as a result of a traumatic event...
s or "hurts" accompanied by various types of emotional catharsis. He called these effects "discharge", which he came to believe led to clear thinking or "re-evaluation". He held that rational thinking was prevented by the accumulation of past hurts, which could be removed by repeated discharge through co-counseling. The objective of RC became the dissemination of this method of creating rational thinking, a process called "re-emergence". Re-evaluation counseling, it is held, can remove "opression", which it considers to lie at the root of most of the problems in the world.
In the early 1950s, Jackins became acquainted with L. Ron Hubbard
L. Ron Hubbard
Lafayette Ronald Hubbard , better known as L. Ron Hubbard , was an American pulp fiction author and religious leader who founded the Church of Scientology...
's theory of Dianetics
Dianetics
Dianetics is a set of ideas and practices regarding the metaphysical relationship between the mind and body that was invented by the science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard and is practiced by followers of Scientology...
. In 1952 Jackins formed Personal Counselors Inc. to "engage in, conduct and teach the art and science of Dianetics." While practicing Dianetics, he developed the concepts of "re-evaluation" and "discharge" and came to believe that they could be encouraged by the "exchange of aware attention" in the "co-counseling process". At this time, Jackins used some of the terminology of Dianetics, such as "clearing up patterns", "rationality", "present time" and "passing distress by contagion". Psychiatrist Richard M. Childs claimed that Jackins' book The Human Side of Human Beings (1965) plagiarized Hubbard's Dianetics (1950), saying that Jackins "paraphrased Hubbard's terms by recasting them in his own jargon. Hubbard's 'Engrams' became Jackins' 'distress patterns', 'release' became 'discharge', and 'to become clear' became RC's 'to re-emerge'." In 1957, Hubbard's Scientology
Scientology
Scientology is a body of beliefs and related practices created by science fiction and fantasy author L. Ron Hubbard , starting in 1952, as a successor to his earlier self-help system, Dianetics...
organisation claimed that Jackins was describing himself as a "Dianetics Auditor".
During the late 1950s and early 1960s, Jackins systematized his views and in the 1960s and 1970s took RC beyond Seattle to the rest of the US and to Europe. From 1975 to 1990, he appointed local teachers, area representatives, regional leaders and representatives of groups such as blacks and gays. He wrote RC's Guidelines and decided on all major issues. His policies were ratified by a biennial conference. Tourish and Iriving compared his system of management to the Communist state model of democratic centralism
Democratic centralism
Democratic centralism is the name given to the principles of internal organization used by Leninist political parties, and the term is sometimes used as a synonym for any Leninist policy inside a political party...
. Jackins supervised the involvement of RC members in external organisations. Jackins is said to have claimed that several governments were influenced by RC and to have thought that eventually religion will be replaced by Re-evaluation Counseling.
Criticism
In 1989 a group of RC leaders, led by Daniel le Bon, resigned from RC, stating in their resignation letter that RC had no scientific basis. They said that Jackins made improbable claims, took a dogmatic stance and ignored evidence. They said that the process of "discharge" did not work and that Jackins knew it, which was why he had extended the purpose of RC from discharge to "general liberation from all oppressions".In the mid-1990s, Jackins was criticized within RC for his views that homosexuality may be a form of "distress" arising from the mistreatment of young children that may be "recovered" or removed. In a 1974 article entitled "Is Homosexuality a Distress Pattern?", Jackins said that homosexuality, "as distinct from the desire to touch or be close, is irrational, is the result of distress patterns (often very early in origin and chronic), and will disappear by the free choice of the individual with sufficient discharge and re-evalution." This caused some critics to leave the movement and to form breakaway co-counseling groups.
From the beginning of the 1980s Jackins was accused of sexual misconduct, which was said to range from favoring attractive young women in the organization to rape. The first allegation of sexual abuse was made in 1981 by RC member Deborah Curren. Her claims were reported in the Seattle Sun and on a local TV station, KIRO TV
KIRO-TV
KIRO-TV, virtual channel 7, is the CBS affiliate television station in Seattle, Washington. It broadcasts on digital channel 39. The station's offices and broadcasting center are located near Seattle Center in Belltown, and its transmitter is located on Queen Anne Hill...
. Following the allegations, Jackins was strongly criticized by the Minneapolis-St Paul RC group. Jackins disbanded the group and forty-five members of RC resigned in protest. Jackins wrote that "The use of these rumors to attack me and through me the Community has been a very nasty problem in the last few months, and there is some indication that some of the spook agencies of the government and their dirty tricks department have been involved in this." Curren took out a lawsuit against Jackins but withdrew it when Jackins filed for costs.
Jackins advised people within RC to ignore criticism, which he characterized as "attacks". This advice became a part of RC policy, which defines "attacks" as "attempts to harm a person, usually a leader, or an organization, in the guise of disagreeing and discussing". People making such "attacks" "should be asked to apologize and, if unresponsive, should be made to leave the group and their attacks ignored." The 1981 World Conference of the Re-evaluation Counseling Communities resolved unanimously to "reject and condemn, as completely contradictory to the spirit and practice of Re-evaluation Counseling, the vicious gossip and slanderous circulation of written attacks upon Harvey Jackins." RC says that "People playing this role should not be 'counseled' but should be asked to apologize and, if unresponsive, should be made to leave the group and their attacks ignored." "To counter attacks on RC and its leaders, RC members are instructed to interrupt the person, approach the accusation as the personal problem of the accuser, and vigorously come to the defense of the person or people being attacked."
Personal life
Jackins had a son, Tim JackinsTim Jackins
Tim Hugh Jackins is the International Reference Person of Re-evaluation Counseling , known officially as the "International Re-evaluation Counseling Communities". Formerly a math teacher and union negotiator at the Mission College, Santa Clara, California, he succeeded his father Harvey Jackins...
, who took over the leadership of Re-evaluation Counseling on his father's death.
Publications
- Affection, Love, & Sex at the University of Maine (2011)
- A Better World (1992)
- Counselor/Client Notebooks(1989)
- Fundamentals of Co-counseling Manual (1962)
- Start Over Every Morning (1989)
- An Unbounded Future (2009)
With other authors
- Harvey Jackins: A Memorial (2000)
- Quotes (1975)
- Rough Notes from Buck Creek I (1971)
- Rough Notes from Liberation I & II (1976)
See also
- ScientologyScientologyScientology is a body of beliefs and related practices created by science fiction and fantasy author L. Ron Hubbard , starting in 1952, as a successor to his earlier self-help system, Dianetics...
- Re-evaluation CounselingRe-evaluation CounselingRe-evaluation Counseling or RC is an organization founded by Harvey Jackins in the 1950s and led by him until his death in 1999. It introduced a procedure called "co-counseling", which Jackins said was a new and effective method of helping people and bringing about social reform. RC teaches...
- Co-Counseling
- Tim JackinsTim JackinsTim Hugh Jackins is the International Reference Person of Re-evaluation Counseling , known officially as the "International Re-evaluation Counseling Communities". Formerly a math teacher and union negotiator at the Mission College, Santa Clara, California, he succeeded his father Harvey Jackins...
- United to End RacismUnited to End RacismUnited to End Racism is an ongoing program of the Re-evaluation Counseling Communities , whose publicly stated aims are "dedicated to eliminating racism in the world" and "to illuminate the damage done to individuals by racism and to undo this damage on an individual basis, using the resources and...
- Anti-psychiatryAnti-psychiatryAnti-psychiatry is a configuration of groups and theoretical constructs that emerged in the 1960s, and questioned the fundamental assumptions and practices of psychiatry, such as its claim that it achieves universal, scientific objectivity. Its igniting influences were Michel Foucault, R.D. Laing,...
Further reading
- Jackins, Harvey, Fundamentals of co-counselling manual, Seattle: Rational Island Publishers, 1970 ISBN 1-58429-073-0
- Jackins, Harvey, The human situation, Seattle: Rational Island Publishers, 1973 ISBN 0-911214-04-6
- New, Caroline and Kauffman, Katie, Co-Counselling: The Theory and Practice of Re-Evaluation Counselling, Brunner-Routledge, 2004 ISBN 1-58391-210-X
- Rosen, R.D., Psychobabble, Avon Books, 1979 ISBN 0-380422-91-3