In my own vision of peer to peer, this new relational dynamic is not a panacea for all human problems, and the last thing we want is a kind of totalitarian Commons-type of society. P2P is appropriate in some circumstances, will influence other modes, and will often exist in hybrid combinations.
In our new topical pages on facilitation, we recently posted an excellent overview by Rosa Zubaretta, who will help maintain these new pages. I’m excerpting in particular, what she has to say about the mixture of ‘pure p2p-mentoring’, and the need for teachers, coaches, etc..
Excerpt 1:
“A second significant lesson that can be gained from the existence of these peer-to-peer movements has to do with the value of BOTH “peer-to-peerâ€? AND what I will be calling “coachingâ€? or mentoring relationships . On the one hand, it is clear that facilitating (or creating a supportive context for) another person’s growth and creative expression is a powerful lay practice that each of us can learn to do, and can practice with one another in a peer-to-peer context. This kind of lay, peer-based practice has many benefits on a personal level, including accessibility, as well as the value of being able to offer and contribute, rather than just receiving help. At the same time, there is another kind of benefit to lay peer-based practice. Each of these peer-to-peer communities is engaged in an on-going, collaborative process of learning and development with regard to their models, theoretical understandings, and refinements of their practice. This process is greatly stimulated by the experience of repeatedly being on “both ends” of the process, the offering and receiving of human attention within a given format.
AT THE SAME TIME, it is clear that the great value of these peer-to-peer communities does NOT replace nor do away with the need for a different kind of relationships, which, for want of a better word, I will call a facilitative “mentoring” or “coaching” relationship. I am using the word “mentoring” or “coaching” here to refer to something that is NOT presently a ‘relationship between peers’, but rather, is designed to support a future peer-to-peer relationship. Think, for example, of a facilitative parent, or a facilitative teacher, or a facilitative therapist. Their goal is for the child, or student, or client, to grow into maturity and peerness with the parent or teacher or therapist. Yet for some kinds of growth to happen, a certain continuity, depth of relationship, and dedication are necessary, that are not easily available if we limit ourselves solely to “peer-to-peer” kinds of interactions.
In this regard, 12-step movements are clear that they seek to complement, rather than replace, individual therapy. Similarly, Focusing Partnership is a valuable experience in its own right, and might easily serve as an adjunct to therapy, but it is not envisioned as a “replacement” for therapy. I don’t know what the current position of the Co-counseling communities is in this respect, but I do know there are therapists who offer co-counseling to their clients. This means that a co-counselor who wanted to experience the practice within the framework of a “mentoring” or “coaching” relationship would be able to do so.
The relationship between “peer facilitation” and “facilitative mentoring” is not just complementary, however, but also synergistic. For example, members of peer-to-peer communities in the emotional healing/personal growth field are much more self-confident, knowledgeable and empowered when seeking any kind of “mentoring” or “coaching” assistance from a therapist. We become naturally resistant to any kind of prescriptive, manipulative, or controlling therapy, and more discerning about finding a therapist who has a truly facilitative stance.
In turn, I believe that the existence of peer-to-peer models in field of emotional healing and personal growth has contributed (even if indirectly) to the creation of new therapeutic models that are deeply facilitative at their core. One example in this regard are the Internal Family Systems model created by Dick Schwartz, where the therapist works as a partner with the client, assisting the client in learning to listen deeply and offer supportive presence to the various aspects of their own inner experience. Another example is the “accelerated experiential-dynamic psychotherapy” model of Diana Fosha, where the therapist’s intention is to create a space where the client can naturally connect with their own deeply felt experience, while the therapist primarily follows the client’s lead, accompanying them closely and authentically throughout the process.”
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Excerpt 2:
“Group facilitation approaches also have the potential to develop as valuable lay networks, in a manner similar to the methods for facilitating personal growth.
There is another parallel that may be even more significant. I mentioned earlier that there is an inherent joy and wonder in the listening work of Focusing or Co-counseling, as we witness the natural movement of life that takes place as we “hold space” for another person. Of course, this process of “holding space” also includes offering presence to painful and distressing aspects of life. Still, we are not charged with “fixing”, but only with offering presence, and when we do so, we are blessed by witnessing all of the “small miracles” and natural transformations that are part of the inherent movement of life.
This is very analogous to what happens when we are “holding a non-directive listening space” for each person in a group. What we may be “holding” will at times include the difficult feelings of frustration or overwhelm that people can experience in a group, just as it will also include the joy and magic of shared discovery. Yet there are certain kinds of “man-made” frustration that we do NOT experience: we are NOT attempting to “herd cats”, we are NOT struggling to get people to stick to a predetermined agenda, we are NOT burdened with the need to “label” or “diagnose” or “prescribe” or “fix” anyone. We are doing a very different kind of work that can have its own intricacy and complexity at times, yet that offers the deep satisfaction and grounding of aligning ourselves with a naturally-unfolding life process.
For both of these reasons, I feel strongly that these new forms of facilitating the flow of co-intelligence in a group lend themselves particularly well to the growth of a lay network of peer-to-peer facilitators. We have found that lay people can learn to “hold space” for people in a group in much the same way that lay Co-counselors or Focusers can learn to effectively hold space for a single person. Of course, people who are already able to “hold space” for another person will find much that they can apply from that experience, to their work with groups. At the same time, there is still much “unlearning” that needs to take place in most of us. Just as we all have ‘learned’ what a classroom is supposed to look like, from all of our own painful experiences with traditional education, so too we have all ‘learned’ what an ‘effective meeting’ is supposed to look like, with equally limiting results.
With regard to group facilitation, these nascent peer-to-peer networks are still in a very early stage of development. Still, based on what has taken place in the personal growth and healing field, I do NOT expect that the growth of these lay networks will lead to a reduced demand for people who have the training, temperament, and inclination to work in an in-depth “coaching” or “mentoring” relationship with a group or an organization. Instead, the two forms (lay peer-to-peer, and professional “coaching” or “mentoring”) are likely to be synergistic, just as they have been in the personal growth arena.
I see the development of these (or similar) lay peer-to-peer movements, whose purpose is to create wide-spread capacity for facilitating the emergence of self-organization and practical co-creativity at a group level, as a vital and necessary “next step” for our human evolution. In addition to a host of other benefits, they also have the potential to help raise the standards for the kind of facilitative coaching and mentoring that groups and organizations will seek out, whenever they choose to engage in a more intensive and in-depth growth process.”
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If you have some time, do read the whole text, and her conclusions.