Circling and authentic relating

1. Introduction

Version followed: Circling as the Circling Institute ("Circling Method" / "Original Circling Approach", Guy Sengstock) and Circling Europe (now Transformational Connection; five-principle, "Surrendered Leadership" style) present it in their public event listings, with the movement history given by the Circling Guide; Authentic Relating (AR) games as AR co-founders and press describe them. Course content beyond public descriptions is not reproduced.

Circling and authentic relating are a family of group relational practices, not a psychotherapy and not a single trademarked programme. Practitioners call AR a "secular awareness practice" that helps people notice more of what is happening in themselves, others and the group; its own writers say it "isn't therapy", while noting that people report therapeutic effects and that humanistic therapy schools look similar [source: Digges, What is (and isn't) Authentic Relating?]. Circling itself is described as a practice of un-withheld, present-moment connection, with an agreement to "welcome everything" and a focus on "getting each other's worlds" [source: Circling Guide, History of Circling]. The Circling Institute frames it, in a phrase it attributes to Sengstock, as being "in a deep relationship with what is" [source: Circling Institute Berkeley listing].

The implied theory of change, as practitioners state it, is that being accurately seen and heard in the present moment, hearing one's impact on others, and not being advised or fixed, lets people feel less alone and expands awareness and self-acceptance over time [source: Circling Institute Berkeley listing; Digges]. Evidence status in one line: no controlled outcome studies of circling or AR are known [uncertain: not verified]; the older research on large-group awareness trainings (LGATs) concerns different, larger and more confrontational formats and cannot be transferred directly [source: Wikipedia, Large-group awareness training; uncertain: secondary, unverified].

History and organisations, as the Circling Guide (a practitioner-run site) reports them: the practice emerged in several groups from about 1995; the name and the first paid groups date to 1998 in the San Francisco Bay Area (the Arete Experience weekend, Guy Sengstock and Jerry Candelaria, to 2008); Bryan Bayer and Decker Cunov built Authentic SF and the Integral style with the Integral Center in Boulder (Robert MacNaughton and Cunov from 2011; closed 2019), and founded the Authentic Man Program (2004), which applies circling to sexual and romantic partnership; Sengstock and Alexis Shepperd founded the Circling Institute; Sean Wilkinson and John Thompson founded Circling Europe (Netherlands, 2012); Sara Ness and Jordan Myska Allen founded the Austin community (Authentic Revolution; Relateful); Jason Digges and Ryel Kestano founded ART International (2017). Named influences include Landmark Education, Gestalt, Rogers's encounter groups, David Deida, Holotropic Breathwork, Almaas's Diamond Heart and Heidegger. In 2020 "Circling" and "Circling Method" were trademarked by a group of schools, with community controversy about licensing; "Authentic Relating" is treated as open-source [source: Circling Guide, History of Circling; Circling Organizations]. The Circling Institute states it trains under a licence from an International Circling Federation and is one of three schools licensed to certify [source: Circling Institute Berkeley listing]. Founders' dates and roles rest on this practitioner source [uncertain: secondary].

Cross-references: 251 Radical Honesty (disclosure harms); 249 Nonviolent Communication (see III 036); 225 est and Landmark and 223 Esalen (lineage influences); 245 ManKind Project (men's work, touch and consent); Domain III for Gestalt and encounter groups.

2. Framework

Circling has no clinical phases. What follows is (A) the participation pathway as organisations publish it, and (B) the therapist's frame around a client's participation [synthesis].

A. Participation pathway (as published)

Entry: drop-in evenings and meetups. Small groups (the Circling Institute gives about 4 to 10 people) sit in a circle with a facilitator; an evening opens with introductions and an AR exercise, then circling rounds in which attention rests mainly on one person at a time [source: Circling Institute Berkeley listing]. AR evenings run structured exercises in pairs, small groups and the whole group, each followed by group discussion; facilitators go over agreements first, including confidentiality and respecting one's own and others' needs [source: Philadelphia Inquirer, 2019]. Published prices in these sources were modest per-event fees (around $20 to $45) [source: Circling Institute listing; Inquirer].
Courses. Multi-week introductory series, for example a five-workshop series built on the five principles, combining AR games, embodiment practices in pairs or small groups, and circles [source: Circling Fundamentals listing, Circling Europe lineage].
Immersions. Weekend immersions (historically Arete; the Integral Center's Aletheia; the Authentic Man Program and Authentic Woman Experience) [source: Circling Guide, History].
Advanced and facilitator training. Year-long programmes (e.g. the Circling Institute's training; earlier the Integral Center's T3), Circling Europe's six-month intensive facilitator training, Authentic Revolution's Facilitator Academy, and online platforms with many weekly sessions [source: Circling Guide, History; Circling Organizations; Circling Fundamentals listing]. Certification and the right to use the trademark are tied to licensed schools [source: Circling Institute Berkeley listing].
Movement between stages is self-selected; the public event listings cited here state no entry screening or readiness criteria [uncertain: not verified].

B. The therapist's frame [synthesis]

Before: explore meaning and motive, screen, prepare consent and boundaries (interventions 6 to 11).
During: the client attends; the therapist does not attend, observe or co-facilitate (intervention 21).
After: debrief, integrate, assess any destabilisation, track dependency, cost and pressure to train (interventions 12 to 20).

Move from "before" to attending when the client can name what they want from it, has a plan for opting out, and has no active contraindication (section 4, intervention 7). Return to a more protective stance if after-effects appear.
Session counts: none are published for therapist work around circling; set them clinically [synthesis].

3. Guiding principles

The practice's principles (as published)

Commitment to connection. One of the five principles of the Circling Europe lineage [source: Circling Europe-lineage course listings]. Practical meaning: the group's task is contact with each other, not problem-solving; ask the client whether that is what they want.
Owning your experience. Speaking from one's own perception and feeling as one's own [source: same listings]. Practical meaning: clients may arrive with stronger "I" language and also with a tendency to treat others' impressions of them as facts that must be owned; help them sort the two.
Staying with the level of sensation. Attending to bodily, moment-to-moment experience [source: same listings]. Practical meaning: useful for interoceptive awareness; for trauma survivors it can lower the threshold to flooding (section 5).
Trusting your experience. Treating one's perceptions as valid data [source: same listings]. Practical meaning: supports self-trust; watch for it being used to override another person's "no".
Being with the other in their world. Empathically entering another's perspective; the Circling Institute calls a core skill "getting someone's world" [source: same listings; Circling Institute Berkeley listing]. Practical meaning: overlaps with empathic attunement in humanistic therapy; it is a peer practice, not clinical containment.
Welcome everything; no advice or fixing. The group stays with what is happening rather than offering solutions [source: Circling Guide, History; Circling Institute Berkeley listing; Digges]. Practical meaning: clients may feel deeply accepted, or left alone with distress that needs active help.
Sharing impact; speaking the moment. Participants say how the focus person is affecting them, honestly and vulnerably [source: Circling Institute Berkeley listing]. Practical meaning: rich interpersonal feedback that can also land as criticism, attraction or exposure.
You are the expert on your own experience; facilitators on equal footing. Facilitators make the power dynamic explicit and often join in [source: Digges]. Practical meaning: flatter hierarchy, but power does not disappear; ask who holds it.
Choice and opt-out. Participants choose how deeply to take part and may opt out of or adjust any exercise (e.g. declining a hug or eye contact); disclosure of painful matters is not expected [source: Inquirer, 2019]. Practical meaning: rehearse using this right before attending.

The therapist's principles [synthesis unless tagged]

Curiosity before judgement. The client's interest in circling is explored in their own words, as a relational or community choice, not a symptom.
Neither endorse nor dismiss. Do not recommend or prohibit attendance; help the client decide with full information.
Therapy and circling stay separate. The therapist does not circle the client, run AR games in sessions, attend the client's group, or facilitate groups the client attends.
Consent is ongoing and specific. To touch, eye contact, disclosure depth, being the focus, and being given impact feedback; it can be withdrawn at any moment.
Screen proportionately. A weekly peer evening and a residential immersion carry different load; adjust preparation and aftercare to intensity.
Name power. Facilitators, senior members, trainers and charismatic figures hold influence even in egalitarian groups; attraction and romantic or sexual interest arise in intimacy-focused practices and need explicit handling.
Watch cost and time. Pathways lead to paid courses, immersions, year-long trainings and facilitation careers; track money, time and relationships.
Use the Cultural Formulation Interview (DSM-5-TR) to understand the community's role in identity, support and values, including its spirituality, religion and moral traditions supplementary module where the client frames the practice spiritually [uncertain: not verified].
Competence. Seek consultation or supervision when the work touches group dynamics, spiritual framing or alleged misconduct; spiritual and religious competencies are described by Vieten et al. (2013) [uncertain: not verified].

4. Intervention inventory

Items 1 to 5 are the practice's own formats, given in outline so the therapist knows what the client will meet; they are not for use in therapy sessions, and no facilitation wording or exercise sequences are given. Items 6 to 23 are the psychotherapist's work.

1. Focus ("birthday") circle (practice format, outline)

Purpose and when used: the group explores one person's world in depth; offered at evenings and courses [source: Circling Europe-lineage listings; Circling Institute Berkeley listing].
Structure (outline): one participant is the focus; with a facilitator, others notice that person moment by moment, share the impact the person has on them and their observations, and ask about the person's experience; the round closes and the group may reflect [source: Circling Institute Berkeley listing].
Example language for the client's preparation (illustrative): "Being the focus means a small group gives you its full attention and says how you are affecting them. Is that something you want, and what would you need to feel free to stop?"
Watch for: exposure and shame when impact feedback is negative or intimate; a sense of being "seen" that becomes idealisation of the group; whether the client chose to be the focus or felt it was expected.

2. Surrendered leadership circle (practice format, outline)

Purpose and when used: a whole-group circle with no predetermined focus, exploring what emerges moment to moment; associated with the Circling Europe school [source: Circling Europe-lineage listings; Circling Europe, John Thompson page].
Structure (outline): the facilitator follows the group's attention rather than a plan; anyone may become the centre of attention at any time [source: same].
Example language (illustrative): "In an open circle, attention can land on you without warning. How would you let the group know you want it to move on?"
Watch for: clients who freeze or fawn when attention lands unexpectedly; group pressure towards emotional intensity.

3. Authentic Relating games and embodiment exercises (practice format, outline)

Purpose and when used: "little structured social interactions" that make connection easier, used at entry evenings and as warm-ups for circles [source: Digges]. A games manual by Sara Ness and team is published by Authentic Revolution [source: Circling Organizations; uncertain: not verified].
Structure (outline): facilitators state agreements (confidentiality; respecting one's own and others' needs); exercises in pairs, small groups and the whole group, such as sustained silent eye contact, saying feelings aloud, active listening, and asking and answering personal questions, each followed by group discussion; any exercise may be skipped or adjusted [source: Inquirer, 2019].
Example language (illustrative): "Some exercises involve long eye contact or personal questions with strangers. Which ones would you be glad to try, and which would you rather adjust?"
Watch for: social anxiety spikes; trauma survivors for whom eye contact or touch are triggers; closing rituals involving hugs [source: Inquirer] and whether the client felt able to decline.

4. Immersions, informal relating and partnership programmes (practice format, outline)

Purpose and when used: weekend immersions intensify the practice; "informal authentic relating" means practising with people outside an explicit agreement; some programmes (e.g. the Authentic Man Program) apply circling to sexual and romantic partnership [source: Circling Guide, History]. No content of such programmes is given here.
Structure (outline): residential or weekend group formats run by named schools; content as published by each school [source: same].
Example language (illustrative): "A weekend immersion is a bigger step than a weekly evening. What do you know about how this one is run and what happens if someone becomes upset?"
Watch for: higher emotional load, fatigue and reduced ability to opt out in residential settings [synthesis]; programmes focused on sexuality or dating, where consent and power need particular scrutiny (item 16); informal relating used on friends, colleagues or partners who never agreed to it.

5. Training, certification and facilitation pathway (practice structure, outline)

Purpose and when used: clients may move from participant to trainee to facilitator; schools offer six-month to year-long trainings and licensed certification [source: Circling Guide, History; Circling Fundamentals listing; Circling Institute Berkeley listing].
Structure (outline): successive paid courses; certification by licensed schools; some trainees then run their own paid groups or coaching [source: same; Circling Europe, John Thompson page].
Example language (illustrative): "What draws you to train as a facilitator now, and what will it cost you in money, time and relationships?"
Watch for: identity and income becoming tied to the community; facilitators practising beyond their competence with distressed participants; coaching offers from facilitators the client already sees in groups.

6. Exploring meaning and motive (client-led)

Purpose and when to use: at first mention of circling; to understand what the practice offers this client (belonging, intimacy, honesty, a spiritual path, a career) before any assessment [synthesis].
Steps: (1) Ask how the client found circling and what happens for them there, in their own words. (2) Ask what they hope to get that they do not get elsewhere. (3) Ask what has been hard or uncomfortable. (4) Reflect the relational need underneath, without interpreting it as a deficit. (5) Agree whether and how circling will be part of therapy conversations.
Example language (illustrative): "Tell me about the last circle you went to. What happened in you while it was going on?" / "What does this group give you that feels hard to find anywhere else?"
Watch for and signs it is working: the client speaks freely, including about doubts; avoid turning curiosity into a hunt for pathology. Working: the client can hold both what circling gives and what it costs.

7. Pre-attendance screening

Purpose and when to use: before a first event, an immersion or a training; proportionate to intensity [synthesis]. The LGAT review by Finkelstein, Wenegrat and Yalom (1982) advised that borderline or psychotic patients not take part in LGATs, and later studies reported a minority of stress reactions, including a transitory psychotic episode [source: Wikipedia, Large-group awareness training; uncertain: secondary, unverified]. Circling is smaller and less confrontational, so these findings are a caution, not a direct estimate [synthesis].
Steps: (1) Ask about current or past psychosis, bipolar disorder (including recent sleep loss or rising energy), PTSD and complex trauma, recent bereavement or separation, current suicidality or self-harm, dissociative episodes, eating disorders where the group involves body focus, and pregnancy for residential events. (2) Ask about current stability: sleep, substances, supports. (3) Weigh format: a drop-in evening versus a residential immersion. (4) Share your view of risks and options; the decision stays with the client. (5) If risk is high, suggest postponing, choosing a lower-intensity format, or attending with a safety plan.
Example language (illustrative): "Because circling puts a lot of attention on you and on feelings in the moment, I'd like to check a few things about how you are doing right now, so you can decide what pace makes sense."
Watch for: minimising ("it's not therapy, so it's safe"); the client concealing symptoms to be allowed to attend; mania-spectrum signs such as urgency to sign up for a whole training at once.

8. Cultural Formulation Interview, with community and spiritual frame

Purpose and when to use: when the community is central to identity, values or support, or when the client frames circling as spiritual practice (some lineages draw on Diamond Heart, Deida and Heidegger [source: Circling Guide, History]). Use the DSM-5-TR CFI and its supplementary modules on social network and on spirituality, religion and moral traditions [uncertain: not verified].
Steps: (1) Ask how the client and their community understand their difficulties. (2) Ask what role the circling community plays in support and identity. (3) Ask about values the practice holds (honesty, "welcome everything") and how these fit the client's other commitments. (4) Ask what help the community suggests and what the client thinks of it. (5) Integrate into the formulation without ranking worldviews.
Example language (illustrative): "How would people in your circling community make sense of what you are going through? What do you make of their view?"
Watch for: the community's language ("owning", "resistance", "not welcoming everything") being turned against the client's own judgement.

9. Informed consent preparation: what to expect and the right to leave

Purpose and when to use: before the first event or a step up in intensity.
Steps: (1) Go through the format as the organiser publishes it (items 1 to 4). (2) Encourage the client to ask the organiser for its agreements, confidentiality rules, facilitator training and what it does if someone becomes distressed. (3) Name the published right to opt out of or adjust any exercise and that painful disclosure is not expected [source: Inquirer, 2019]. (4) Agree how the client can leave the room or the event without explanation. (5) Note that peer confidentiality is not legally protected [synthesis].
Example language (illustrative): "You can say no at any point, sit out, or leave, and that is part of the practice, not a failure of it."
Watch for: events with no stated agreements or opt-out; costs that are non-refundable once the client is inside.

10. Boundary and consent rehearsal

Purpose and when to use: for clients who struggle to say no, trauma survivors, people-pleasers and socially anxious clients. This is preparation, not role-play of confrontation [synthesis].
Steps: (1) List the elements the client may meet: eye contact, hugs or other touch, personal questions, being the focus, receiving feedback about attraction or appearance. (2) For each, mark yes, maybe, no. (3) Plan short phrases for declining or pausing. (4) Plan a body cue that tells the client to pause. (5) Review after the event what was easy and hard.
Example language (illustrative): "What would you say if someone asked for a hug at the end and you didn't want one?" / "What is the first sign in your body that you've gone past what you want?"
Watch for: the client treating their own boundaries as "resistance" to growth; touch consent must be before and during, with a right to stop, and never sexual.

11. Choosing a group and facilitator

Purpose and when to use: when the client is choosing among drop-ins, courses or trainings.
Steps: help the client ask organisers: (1) facilitator training and which school certified them; (2) written agreements or code of conduct, including on romantic or sexual contact between facilitators and participants; (3) how complaints are handled and by whom; (4) what happens if someone becomes very distressed, and whether facilitators know local crisis routes; (5) total costs and refund policy. Published codes of conduct for these organisations are not documented in the sources cited here [source: Circling Organizations; uncertain: not verified].
Example language (illustrative): "It's reasonable to ask a facilitator what they would do if someone became overwhelmed. How did they answer?"
Watch for: vague or defensive answers; groups where the leader is also the client's coach, landlord, employer or partner.

12. Debriefing after a circle or event

Purpose and when to use: at the first session after any event, and especially after being the focus or after an immersion [synthesis].
Steps: (1) Ask for a factual account: what happened, who was there, what role the client had. (2) Ask what the client felt during and since, including in the body and in sleep. (3) Ask whether any boundary was crossed and whether they used their opt-out. (4) Separate what the client learned from what they were told about themselves. (5) Ask what they want to carry forward and what to leave.
Example language (illustrative): "What from that evening is still with you today?" / "Was there a moment you wanted to stop and didn't?"
Watch for and signs it is working: lingering shame, intrusive replay, poor sleep, or an elated certainty that everything has changed; working when the client can describe the experience with both warmth and some distance.

13. Working with impact feedback the client received

Purpose and when to use: when the client brings home what others said about their effect on the group ("sharing impact" is a core skill [source: Circling Institute Berkeley listing]).
Steps: (1) Ask for the feedback in the client's words. (2) Distinguish the speaker's own reaction from a claim about who the client is. (3) Ask what fits, what does not, and what the client already knew. (4) Link useful parts to the client's goals; let the rest go. (5) If feedback was sexual, about appearance or demeaning, treat it under item 16.
Example language (illustrative): "That tells us how you landed for that person in that moment. How much of it matches how you see yourself?"
Watch for: clients who take group impressions as verdicts; core shame reinforced by one comment; the pull to return to "fix" the impression.

14. Aftercare after a peak or opening experience

Purpose and when to use: after intense intimacy, a sense of being fully seen, or a spiritual-feeling opening [synthesis].
Steps: (1) Welcome the experience without inflating or deflating it. (2) Check sleep, appetite, energy and functioning. (3) Advise against big life decisions (quitting work, ending relationships, enrolling in long trainings) until things settle. (4) Help the client name what in daily life could carry some of the experience. (5) Plan ordinary grounding routines and contact with people outside the community.
Example language (illustrative): "That sounds like it mattered a lot. Let's give it some time before you decide anything big because of it."
Watch for: a crash after the high; idealising the group as the only place of real contact; hypomanic signs (item 15).

15. Differential assessment after destabilisation, without pathologising

Purpose and when to use: when a client returns with unusual experiences, sustained elation, depersonalisation or trauma symptoms. Lindahl et al. (2017, PLOS ONE) documented challenging experiences in contemplative practice that can inform this [uncertain: not verified]; the LGAT literature records stress reactions in a minority of participants [source: Wikipedia, Large-group awareness training; uncertain: secondary, unverified].
Steps: (1) Describe the experience in the client's words and the community's meaning for it. (2) Assess duration, distress and functioning. (3) Screen for psychosis (fixed unusual beliefs, perceptual changes), mania or hypomania (reduced need for sleep, pressured speech, grandiosity), dissociation and depersonalisation/derealisation, and PTSD reactivation (flashbacks, hyperarousal). (4) Consider grief, intoxication or medical causes. (5) If acute, arrange urgent psychiatric review; if not, plan follow-up and stabilisation. Where a spiritual frame is central, ICD-10-CM Z65.8, Other specified problems related to psychosocial circumstances, which includes 'Religious or spiritual problem' [source: Unbound Medicine ICD-10-CM], may describe a non-disordered difficulty; DSM-5-TR wording [uncertain: not verified].
Example language (illustrative): "Many people have strong experiences in groups like this. I want to check whether this one is settling or getting harder, so we know what kind of help fits."
Watch for: framing symptoms as "growth" in a way that delays care; equally, labelling ordinary emotional intensity as illness.

16. Intimacy pressure and sexualised dynamics

Purpose and when to use: when the client reports attraction voiced in circles, pressure towards touch or closeness, romantic or sexual approaches from facilitators or senior members, or partnership-focused programmes (item 4). No court, regulator or major-news report of specific misconduct in circling communities was found in the sources consulted; the risk is addressed here clinically [synthesis].
Steps: (1) Ask neutrally what happened and how the client felt. (2) Distinguish mutual adult interest among peers from approaches by people with role power (facilitator, trainer, coach). (3) Explore whether "welcome everything" or "owning your experience" made it harder to refuse. (4) Affirm that consent can be withdrawn and that a boundary is not a failure of openness. (5) If coercion or assault is described, follow item 17.
Example language (illustrative): "Being open to whatever comes up in a circle doesn't mean you have to agree to anything you don't want."
Watch for: facilitators dating or sleeping with participants; invitations to private "one-to-one" sessions outside the group; secrecy; the client blaming themselves for being "closed".

17. Responding to a disclosure of facilitator misconduct

Purpose and when to use: when the client describes sexual, financial or emotional exploitation by a facilitator, trainer or community leader [synthesis].
Steps: (1) Listen, believe the account as the client's experience, and avoid pressing for detail. (2) Assess immediate safety and any ongoing contact. (3) Explain options: the school that trained or licensed the facilitator, the venue, police for assault, a lawyer, and, if the facilitator is also a licensed clinician, their professional regulator. (4) Respect the client's choice about reporting, except where your jurisdiction mandates reporting (e.g. a minor or vulnerable adult at risk). (5) Offer trauma-focused support and document carefully.
Example language (illustrative): "Thank you for telling me. You decide what happens next, and I can walk you through the options."
Watch for: community pressure to resolve things through an internal "circle" with the person accused; the therapist naming the person outside lawful channels.

18. Transfer of skills to daily relationships

Purpose and when to use: when the client uses circling-style disclosure or impact statements with partners, family or colleagues ("informal authentic relating" [source: Circling Guide, History]). Cross-refer 251 Radical Honesty.
Steps: (1) Identify where the skills help (noticing feelings, curiosity, not advising). (2) Identify where others have not agreed to the practice. (3) Weigh consequences of disclosure at work, in families and with a partner, including safety where there is a risk of partner violence. (4) Plan when, with whom and how much to share. (5) Review outcomes.
Example language (illustrative): "Your circle agreed to that kind of honesty. Has your partner agreed to it too?"
Watch for: honesty used as aggression or as a way to avoid responsibility; disclosures that endanger the client.

19. Dependency, enmeshment, cost and pressure to train

Purpose and when to use: when attendance escalates, social life narrows to the community, or the client feels pushed towards immersions, trainings, coaching or bringing others [synthesis].
Steps: (1) Map weekly time and yearly spend on events, trainings and coaching. (2) Map relationships inside and outside the community. (3) Ask what would happen if the client stopped attending. (4) Explore any debt taken on for trainings. (5) Support balanced choices, including a pause.
Example language (illustrative): "If you took a month off, who would you still see, and how would that feel?"
Watch for: guilt or fear about leaving; a leader's approval governing decisions; money problems hidden from family.

20. Family and partner concerns

Purpose and when to use: when a partner or relative is worried about the client's involvement, or a client is worried about a family member's.
Steps: (1) Ask what the family has seen, not what they fear in general. (2) Encourage curiosity and staying in contact rather than ultimatums. (3) Separate concerns about the practice from concerns about a specific group or person. (4) Give signs that would justify more concern (item 19 and section 5). (5) Offer couple or family sessions if wanted.
Example language (illustrative): "What has changed in the way they relate to you since they started?"
Watch for: couples where one partner uses circling language to override the other.

21. The therapist's own boundaries and dual roles

Purpose and when to use: when the client invites the therapist to a circle, asks for endorsement, or the therapist also practises or facilitates circling [synthesis].
Steps: (1) Decline to attend, observe or facilitate any group the client attends, and do not run circling or AR exercises in therapy. (2) Do not refer clients to your own groups or coaching. (3) If you practise circling privately, keep it separate and consider whether self-disclosure serves the client. (4) Do not certify the client as ready for training; help them decide. (5) Seek supervision where roles blur.
Example language (illustrative): "I'm glad you'd like me to see it. My role works best if I stay outside the group so we can think about it together here."
Watch for: the therapy hour turning into a circle; the therapist being drawn into the community's hierarchy.

22. Crisis response and resources

Purpose and when to use: when a client reports suicidal thoughts, self-harm urges or acute distress after an event.
Steps: (1) Ask directly about suicidal thoughts and intent. (2) Use standard risk assessment and safety planning, including lethal-means safety (storage and removal). (3) Arrange urgent care if needed. (4) Give crisis lines: 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (US); Samaritans 116 123 (UK and Ireland). (5) Follow up within an agreed time.
Example language (illustrative): "Sometimes after intense groups people feel very low or have thoughts of ending their life. Has anything like that come up for you?"
Watch for: facilitators or peers handling a crisis inside the group without professional help.

23. Referral and alternatives

Purpose and when to use: when the client is seeking from circling what a clinical service could provide more safely, such as treatment for social anxiety, trauma or loneliness [synthesis].
Steps: (1) Clarify the need. (2) Offer options: interpersonal or process group psychotherapy with a trained group therapist, trauma-focused therapy, social anxiety treatment, couple therapy, or community activities without an intimacy focus. (3) Explain differences: screening, clinical containment and professional accountability. (4) Leave the choice with the client; circling and therapy can coexist.
Example language (illustrative): "A therapy group also works on how people affect each other, with a clinician holding the safety. Would that be worth considering alongside, or instead?"
Watch for: the client hearing referral as disapproval of their community.

5. Handling problems

Published circling and AR sources describe opt-out and confidentiality agreements but say little about problems; guidance below is [synthesis] unless tagged.

Overwhelm during or after a circle (flooding, panic, flashbacks). Practice framing: "staying with the level of sensation" can intensify trauma responses [synthesis]. Response: in therapy, ground first (orientation to the room, slower pace), then debrief (item 12); help the client plan to opt out earlier next time (items 9, 10); consider trauma-focused therapy before further intensive formats; if symptoms persist, assess under item 15.
Dissociation, depersonalisation or derealisation. Response: assess duration and functioning (item 15); pause intensive events; use grounding and stabilisation; refer for psychiatric review if persistent or accompanied by psychotic features. Contemplative-practice literature on such effects (Lindahl et al. 2017) may help normalise without minimising [uncertain: not verified].
Elation, sleep loss, urgent big decisions. Response: screen for hypomania or mania; advise postponing enrolments and life changes; involve psychiatry if bipolar disorder is known or suspected.
Shame after feedback. Response: item 13; separate impact from identity; check for self-harm risk if shame is intense (item 22).
"Resistance" language turned on the client. When the client says peers or facilitators called their boundary "withholding" or "not owning it", reflect that published practice lets people opt out [source: Inquirer, 2019] and that a boundary is information, not a defect; rehearse declining (item 10).
Sexual or romantic pressure, or misconduct by a facilitator. Response: items 16 and 17; never mediate between client and accused; support reporting options. A separate harm account is not given because no court, regulator, case-report or major-news documentation of harm in these communities is known [uncertain: not verified]; if such reporting appears, state it factually and name people only where those sources name them.
Escalating involvement, cost or debt; pressure to train, facilitate or recruit. Response: item 19; map money and time; invite a deliberate pause; explore what the community meets in the client's life and how else it could be met.
Loss after leaving, or exclusion from a community. Response: treat as a real relational and social loss; grief work; rebuild outside connections; examine any coercive dynamics described, without labelling the group.
The client brings circling into therapy (wanting to "circle" the therapist, giving impact feedback about the therapist). Response: welcome the honesty as relational material; name the difference in roles (item 21); use it to explore the therapeutic relationship and any ruptures; repair by acknowledging impact without converting sessions into a circle.
Rupture over the therapist's caution. If the client hears screening or referral as disapproval, acknowledge the impact, restate that the decision is theirs, and return to what they want from both settings.
Stuck clients who use circles to discharge rather than change. Response: ask what has changed outside the group since they began; link insights to concrete goals; consider whether therapy, not circling, is the right place for the difficult work.
Non-adherence to agreed plans (attending an immersion against a safety plan). Response: non-judgemental review; reassess risk; adjust aftercare; keep the relationship open.
Partners or family distressed by "radical" disclosure. Response: item 18; couple work if wanted; cross-refer 251 Radical Honesty; prioritise safety where violence is possible.
Children and adolescents. Circling is generally an adult practice; if a minor is involved in intimacy-focused adult groups, or a parent's involvement affects child care, consider safeguarding duties under local law and seek consultation [synthesis].
Therapist uncertainty or own involvement in circling. Seek supervision; keep roles separate (item 21); avoid self-disclosure that pulls the client towards or away from the community.

Sources

Web pages:

Works cited:

Finkelstein, P., Wenegrat, B., and Yalom, I. (1982). Large group awareness training. Annual Review of Psychology, 33, 515–539 [uncertain: secondary, unverified].
Lindahl, J. R., Fisher, N. E., Cooper, D. J., Rosen, R. K., & Britton, W. B. (2017). The varieties of contemplative experience. PLOS ONE.
Vieten, C., et al. (2013). Spiritual and religious competencies for psychologists [uncertain: not verified].
Ness, S., and team. Authentic Relating Games Manual (Authentic Revolution) [uncertain: not verified].

← Previous · XIV-248Family and systemic constellations Next · XIV-251 →Radical Honesty