Resources for
Workshop Organizing

Workshops play a key role in developing RC communities. They assist participants to increase their understanding and expertise to use the theory and practice of co-counseling for themselves and for others. Workshops provide opportunities for individuals to identify and move through chronic and societal distresses, to back participants taking on new leadership roles, and to support those who are already leading. The resource offered by a workshop provides more of a contradiction to chronic material experienced in everyday life than a one-on-one session or a class. Workshops are designed to allow participants to try things they don't usually have the resource to do, and to bring up and discharge feelings they often ignore or suppress in order to keep functioning.

Organizing a workshop is an important job. It is an opportunity to make an event go well, to think about what will allow the workshop leader to do their best work, and to develop connections and deepen relationships among people within the workshop constituency.

Every workshop is unique, and needs to be thought about freshly. However, there is a great deal of experience that can be drawn upon to make the workshop organizing go smoothly.

A workshop begins when an organizer agrees to put their mind to the work of organizing. Choosing the wording used to advertise the workshop, thinking about how to make the workshop accessible to co-counselors from constituencies underrepresented in the RC communities, and personal calls to potential attendees contribute to participants showing up connected and ready to take full advantage of the workshop.

Often taking on roles or tasks within the RC Communities restimulates and makes accessible feelings from old undischarged hurts. Organizing can act as a contradiction to those early hurts by setting up conditions for the work to go well, such as deepening connections among people working together, and using the tools of co-counseling. Isolation is one of the key early distresses that interferes with our functioning, and bringing in a buddy or a team is an effective way to support our own re-emergence and engage with other people's minds while doing the work.

As stated in Guideline G.1. Workshops - Overview, workshops are to be led by one leader and organized by one organizer. The Organizer is in charge of all that is involved in making the workshop go well. However, the Organizer may use an Assistant, Buddy, or Organizing Team and is encouraged to delegate or elicit volunteers for specific tasks.

Registration Sites

Organizers are encouraged to use the RC Community Website to securely collect applicant information in accordance with Guideline K.5. Handling of Personal and Sensitive Data by Organizers and Co-Counselors. Use the registration site request form if you need a workshop site created for a Regional or International workshop.