Dream

Imagine the joy of a co-counsellor on discovering another person with whom to have meaningful and relevant co-counselling meetings.

The challenges of making this dream happen

  • What opportunities can be created that increase the likelihood that a co-counsellor will discover that other person(s)?
  • What can be done to support people in establishing these connections e.g. workshops, CoCo Open Spaces, Community Days, Special Interest Groups?
  • What further skills (if any) need to be developed to empower people to use networking effectively and to engage in meaningful connections with other people?
    • What network infrastructure can be developed that facilitates co-counsellors establishing connections among themselves without requiring the forum’s presence or effort?
      Infrastructure means
      • basic facilities  that can be easily used by co-counsellors to find and meet other people e.g. web sites, magazines,  electronic newsletters and contact lists
      • a set of guidelines facilitating the use of these various facilities
      • the availability of instructional documents and videos, that can be used by people to organise their workshops, CoCo Open Spaces, Community Days etc. themselves  
    • How can the forum folk nurture wider community awareness as well?
    • How can co-counsellors be kept informed about what the Forum has on offer?

CoCo Network Forum (in Scotland so far)

Any co-counsellor is welcome, who is interested in:

  • offering workshops, CoCo Cafés or CoCo Open Spaces and looking for support with  getting people attending them
  • encouraging people to contribute to the new magazine or other publications
  • developing support and instructional materials for CoCo Cafes, CoCo Open Spaces and other coco networking activities, so that other Co-Counsellors can set up these activities successfully and independently of the Forum
  • developing a network infrastructure with basic facilities and guidelines, so that other Co-Counsellors independently of the Forum can easily find and meet other people with whom to have meaningful and relevant co-counselling meetings successfully
  • supporting the above people for instance by recording minutes of meetings, providing venues, supporting with writing and editing, etc.

The Forum is a space where co-counsellors can ask for constructive feedback and support with any networking project they are involved in. Before acting upon our own ideas, it can be inspiring to share them and listen to other people’s ideas. This in turn can lead to healthier decisions.

Having said that, the Forum is not a decision making body. The people who attend the Forum stay in charge of their own project(s) regardless of what other Forum members might think about it.

The Forum will meet on a roughly monthly basis.

Critical for the success of the Forum

In order to maintain a welcoming openness and transparency, the following points need to be met:

  • All Forum meetings are announced in the CoCoScotland newsletter well ahead of the meeting so any co-counsellor can attend.
  • Any co-counsellor can ask to be sent the announcements and the minutes of Forum meetings by email.
  • Any co-counsellor can read past Forum minutes through the CoCoInfo website: http://co-counselling.info.

Financial Aspects

The CoCo-Foundation will support this Forum financially when needed and if possible.

Any expenses for attending the Forum (e.g. for travel) need to be agreed beforehand.

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