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Ann Weiser Cornell, A rough History of Focusing
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(Notes on the concomitant development of Changes by Kathy McGuire shown indented and in blue. )
Subj: Re: [FOCUSING-DISCUSS]: Re: history of stages of focusing
Date: 7/9/99 10: 51: 15 PM Central Daylight Time
From: Awcomell@aol. com
Reply-to: focusing-discuss@rivertown. net
To: focusing-discuss@rivertown. net
Dear Neil,
Good idea! Let's do a timeline, “History of Focusing". I'll put in what I know or think I know, others add or make corrections.
195?: Gendlin writes Experiencing and the Creation of Meaning
195? -6?: Gendlin's research on successful psychotherapy, leads to development of the Experiencing Scale, and Focusing
1964: publication of classic paper by Gendlin, E. T., Beebe, J., Ill, Cassens, J., Klein, M., and Oberlander, M. " Focusing Ability in Psychotherapy, Personality, and Creativity. " This paper summarizes the research, and gives a version of Focusing instructions to be read to a client.
1969: Experiencing scale training manual published. Gendlin's paper " Focusing" published in Psychotherapy, Research and Practice, VI, 1.
May 4, 1970: first meetings of what will become Changes. Response to Kent State massacre.
1971: " Changes" started in Chicago by Kristin Glaser, Linda Olsen, Kathy McGuire, and others. (Elfie, were you in this group? ) Changes was started as a crisis hotline, a phone for people to call who needed help and support in their lives. The Sunday evening meetings started as training for people answering the phones. They became a place to learn and exchange Focusing and listening skills on a peer basis.
1971: Changes peer counselling community formalized.
1972: A linguistics graduate student starts going to Changes meetings (me). Her teachers there include Elfie Hinterkopf and Les Brunswick. Joining at the same time: Jim Iberg.
1973 - 1976: Gendlin in New York. The " steps" are being developed. The collection of writing which will become the book Focusing is assembled. Neil Friedman gets on board.
1974 – 1978: Changes International Conferences
1978: Publication of Focusing in hardcover.
197?: Gene Gendlin asks Doralee Grindler to create a Focusing Institute and be its Director. Reva Bernstein works with Doralee to create the first Focusing training program.
Elfie Hinterkopf travels to Germany and Japan.
1979: Kathy McGuire and Zack Boukydis found Center for Supportive Community to carry on the Changes model.
1979: Gendlin travels to Japan. Focusing training begins in Japan, led by Takao Murase, Shoji Murayama, and Akira lkemi.
1980: Weekend Focusing workshops begin, six times a year. Assistants for these workshops are called " trainers. " They include: Doralee, Reva, Bebe Simon, Mary McGuire, Ann Weiser. (Who else? )
1981: publication of Focusing as a paperback by Bantam. Publication of Jim lberg's article " Focusing" in Corsini's Handbook of lnnovative Psychotherapy.
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1981: Publication of Kathy McGuire’s Building Supportive Community: Mutual Self-Help Through Peer Counselling.
198?.: The journal, The Focusing Folio, begins publication.
198?: Mary McGuire takes over from Doralee as Director of the Focusing Institute, which incidentally has no location and no budget. Mary dreams of finding a location for the Institute.
1983: Ann begins analyzing linguistically what the trainers are doing, offers the first workshop on " guiding. "
1984: Having moved to California, Ann starts publishing the first Focusing newsletter in English, The Focusing Connection, in order to stay in touch.
1984: Publication of Kathy McGuire’s The Experiential Dimension in Therapy
Summer 1984: The first advanced Focusing weekend is given in Chicago, attended by Bala Jaison. Bala and Mary McGuire begin to brainstorm about creating a weeklong Focusing retreat.
1985: First weeklong. Publication of Peter A. Campbell and Edwin M. McMahon's Bio-Spirituality: Focusing as a Way to Grow.
1986: Publication of Gendlin's Let Your Body Interpret Your Dreams.
1989: Ann attends a weeklong, is inspired by a presentation by Reva and Lakme Elior on “Steps and Skills. " Begins to change her teaching from " six steps" to other ways.
1991 - 1993: Ann publishes three editions of The Focusing Student's Manual and The Focusing Guide's Manual.
199?: The Focusing Institute moves to New York, Mary Hendricks Gendlin takes over from Janet Klein and Mary McGuire as Director.
1995: Publication of Neil Friedman's On Focusing.
1996: Publication of Gendlin's Focusing-Oriented Psychotherapy. Publication of Ann's The Power of Focusing.
199?: Publication of Elfie's Integrating Spirituality in Counseling: Using the Experiential Focusing Method.
A very biased timeline. We need others to add to this. A lot happened with Focusing in Germany and Switzerland, very early, but I don't know the details or the dates. Apologies to whoever l've left out, please add yourself in.
Also, I'm aware Neil that you were talking about " stages" of Focusing, actual differences in how Focusing is presented. In my timeline, I'm trying to get down the " events. " I think we'll find that the " stages" grow out of the events, especially the people involved and how they learned and taught.
Love,
Ann
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