A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE LA JOLLA PROGRAM Excerpts from Carl Rogers' ENCOUNTER GROUPS (Harper & Row, Publishers, 1970), show some of the background of The La Jolla Program and a basic tenant of its philosophy: "At this writing (1970) the La Jolla Program is entering its fourth season, and by the end of the summer of 1970 will have provided significant learning’s for more than six hundred potential facilitators who are involved in one way or another with back-home groups. The three co-directors of the program are Dr. Bruce Meador, Dr. William Coulson, and Rev. Douglas Land. The background of these men includes both education and experience in such varied fields as counseling, pastoral counseling, clinical psychology, psychotherapy, group facilitation, education, philosophy, philosophy of science, theology, and administration. They have gradually developed a clear-cut yet flexible policy for providing experiences, which will build facilitative skills, leadership skills, and new methods of personalizing educational processes, encouraging inventive freedom on all occasions of human interaction. Philosophy and Policy Most basic to the program is a point of view centered in the relationship of persons to persons. One of their announcements states this well: Permeating the program - in the style of leadership exemplified by the majority of the staff and also presented in the content sessions - is a person-centered philosophy of group leadership, a view which emphasizes that there is maximum growth for both group and facilitator when the facilitator participates as a person in his group rather than as any sort of expert. This philosophy explains why every effort is made to avoid the word training (and why I have omitted it from the title of this chapter). "Training" implies making a person proficient in some trade or art or work, which he can then use occupationally. But one cannot "train" an individual to be a person. It seems most unfortunate that for historical reasons (explained in Chapter 1) man facilitators of groups are called "trainers." To the extent that they live up to this term they are, in my judgment, unfitted to be with intensive groups. So the La Jolla Program emphasizes the humanness of the person who is perceived as the facilitator, and the fact that he is more effective as he is more real in his interactions with others. All this means that the quality and atmosphere of the La Jolla Program is informal and personal, with distinctions between staff and participants kept to the absolute minimum. I realize that this statement may be misunderstood. The knowledge and experience of the staff member is in no way hidden from the participant. He knows, for example, that embarrassed silence is a characteristic of the beginnings of a group, and regards this neither as privileged information nor as background he must share with the group. He is a staff member, but he is first of all a human being. Growing out of these general beliefs is another distinctive feature of the program. So far as humanly possible, the staff completely avoids putting any formal stamp of approval on those who have participated in the program. There are no diplomas, no certificates, no written guarantee of any kind that the participant has now become an "expert." It is the hope and belief of the staff a person leaving the program will be somewhat better qualified to deal with any of his back-home groups than he was when he came. That is the total goal. These back-home groups may be classes, staff organizations, family constellations, or groups labeled as encounter groups. There is no intent, however, to establish the participants as encounter group gurus! One of the reasons for this strongly held policy is that it is simply impossible to guarantee that every participant will become an adequate group facilitator. If he has no diploma to put on his wall, no certificate of expertise, individuals will judge him for what he is and will make the decision as to whether he is helpful to a group. If his is not, there will be little demand for his services. He cannot awe people by his diploma. Closely related to this whole policy is the fact that little attention is paid to the paper credentials of those who attend. Thus, there are Ph.D.'s in various fields, M.D.'s and individuals who have not completed college. They are all on an equal footing as persons." (End of Quote) The La Jolla Program recognizes that some individuals come primarily for their own personal challenge, for their own growth, and some come for information and experience in working with others. The program includes the interests of both groups.  It is a chance to learn in many areas of one’s life.