Human Potential Movement

The Human Potential Movement is about Being everything you are capable of. I went through Peer Counselor Training around the year 2000. The way in which I found it helped me most was that I was able after going through 2 levels of training to be better able to separate what my problems were from everyone else's.

There is a tendency of people in general to project their problems on others without realizing it. For example, if everyone you meet is always wrong about everything usually there are issues you are not facing or dealing with in a useful way in your life.

So, the way the training has helped me most is to help keep my marriage together for 16 years now. My wife has been through two levels of training as well. So, if we begin to argue about something we will check in with both each other and ourselves and make sure that whatever we are bickering about isn't just a projection one of us is making upon the other. Then we check to see if we are scapegoating the other for something. Once we have both done this then if we continue to disagree we know likely we are arguing about something that one of us isn't just projecting upon the other and that this disagreement is about something objective not subjective.

I can definitely say that this kind of training has helped us stay together 16 years. We are still best friends and treat each other with respect. I did not have this kind of mutual respect for longer than 7 years in my life in a relationship before this one outside of my parents and a few male friends and relatives. But it must be said that we work seriously towards being friends and being respectful to each other every day because we value our friendship and relationship and family that much. But to make a relationship work long term one must first always have mutual friendship and mutual respect.

Obviously, the Human Potential Movement has to fall within your beliefs and belief structure to be relevant to you and your friends and family.  Many people also approach the Human Potential movement much like they do AA or NA or SLAA or to address problems of having been molested either inside or outside of a church setting or many of the other problems people have to deal with in their everyday lives. Many find Peer Counseling useful in a myriad of ways. However, I would caution people taking Peer counseling Training to also have a private Therapist like a Psychologist, or MFCC or counselor of some sort. Because during the training often issues arise as one changes and alters the way they see things in order to become more healthy in their attitudes towards themselves, their attitudes towards others etc. So, I consider it very useful while taking peer counseling training to also be seeing a counselor of some kind that they trust in case one begins to face something that one cannot deal with alone or in a group.