Workshops List

1. Touchstone Talisman and the Unknown Remembered Gate

1. Mo Felton. MSc (TA Psychotherapy) TSTA (P); Rob Lynch. BA(Hons) PGCE QTS

In this workshop we will present an explanatory concept which outlines human development and identity formation whilst differentiating from defensive and pathological psychological structures. A theory to describe human psychological life plans based on Eric Berne’s original writing on Life Positions and Physis. Developing this theory in new paradigms and applications including neuroscience and neurodiversity To address all fields of Transactional Analysis: Counselling, Educational TA, Organisational TA and Psychotherapy. Didactic and experiential presentation with discussion in breakout rooms

2.  Rechilding, Deconfusion and Redecision. What’s the difference and how does TA help us to support personal change at depth?

Beren Aldridge, MSc, PTSTA(P)

Some might say that a distinguishing feature of a psychotherapist is the capacity to work with someone beyond insight and clarification to offer psychotherapy and change at depth, in realms of the personality that are less easily verbalised or consciously known.

Petruska Clarkson and Sue Fish made an addition to TA theory in offering Rechilding as an important stage of psychotherapy and change. ‘Rechilding’ describes the process of creating new Child ego states that are congruent with the developmental stages where a person experienced distress or misattunement. It is a different technique to Deconfusion of Child ego states, and of Redecision within Child ego states. All three are important aspects of the work of psychotherapy.

This workshop will offer a brief tour through the theory that distinguishes these concepts, and offer guidance on techniques a practitioner may use. It will be enriched by a created case example based on my work in private practice.

3. Diagnostics and Therapy of Authentic Feelings

Hanna Yavorska, PhD, TSTA (p)

A racket (script) feeling is a substitute feeling that replaces a real, authentic feeling, real sensation or need. People’s task is to learn to recognize and distinguish authentic feelings from script ones, make a decision to reveal them openly, admit that all these four feelings are necessary. Relying on scientific research, I will tell you how the constructive expression of authentic feelings is formed or prohibited at different stages of personality development. I will represent the diagnostic cards that will help you identify authentic feelings of a person. They will foster understanding of which script feelings, sensations or behaviors cover real experiences; will have a therapeutic effect in the work of a person with psychological emotional blocks.

4. The inclusion of the unconscious in the process of contract work to stimulate autonomy

Bertine Kessel, TSTA Counselling, CTA Counselling and Psychotherapy, Germany

Contract work is part of creating a constructive professional human encounter. In this process, clients often search in vain for the right words to describe their goals, because their needs and ideas are partly unconscious. In order to discover and use these hidden resources and thus stimulate the process of autonomy from the beginning, I use selected images. In the workshop I show how to use this projective method, called ZRM Zurich Resource Model (based on research and effectiveness study by Storch/Krause, University of Zurich, Switzerland).

5. An Introduction to E.N.G.A.G.E-M.E.N.T: Where the Science Meets the Self; A Way of Connecting From The Inside Out

Nicole Addis MSc, Int Psych DIP DTC

In this workshop I will present E.N.G.A.G.E-M.E.N.T, (EM) a two part integrative model, I have developed. E.N.G.A.G.E is based on core concepts from Transactional Analysis. M.E.N.T integrates the teachings from, modern day attachment, trauma focused therapy and interpersonal neurobiology, to bring the science and the ‘self’ together. At the heart of EM lies a framework for therapeutic love I call, ‘empassion.’ I will demonstrate the application of EM and show how effective we can be as therapists, whether it be counselling in time limited settings or long term psychotherapy, when we work from the inside out, as the therapist we are M.E.N.T to be; Moment by Moment, Empassion, Now in response to past, Therapist.

6. Developing autonomy and resilience by engaging with unconscious processes in psychotherapy

Danijela Budiša Ubović, PhD in Psychology, CTA-P, PTSTA-P

„Tough situations“ in psychotherapeutic work with clients are unavoidable (as well as necessary?), no matter how experienced we are in our work, or how many hours we have invested into personal therapy and supervision. Described through the lens of transactional analysis, these are the situations wherein a psychological level exchange (Berne, 1961) takes place which we either do not notice, or do not fully understand. Difficulties of this kind are often a manifestation of a “meeting” between the therapist’s and the client’s scripts, i.e. between the unprocessed contents of their Child and Parent ego states (Stuthridge, 2015).

While many of us have done a fair amount of reading and thinking on these subjects, it seems to me that engaging with unconscious processes through experience always constitutes an additional step towards autonomy and developing resilience. Every time, we discover something new about ourselves, our client, and the process.

In this workshop, we will be focusing on transference and countertransference within the enactment process (Novak, 2015., Cornell, 2016., Stuthridge, 2006, 2012., 2015, Chinnock & Minikin, 2015.), and how to employ them as tools for growth and development.

The aim of the workshop is to allow participants, through short theoretical presentations and various experiential tasks, to understand the unconscious dynamics of psychotherapeutic work, and how these can be created by both sides involved. Particular emphasis will be placed on the significance of countertransference, and how psychotherapists can use what is happening within themselves as a precious source of information about the process.

7. The Identity Table

Gill Dawson – TA psychotherapist trainee – Clinical Year 2

Imagine all of your different identifiable ‘selves’ gathered around a table where the dinner party chat is of solving a problem in your current situation. All of these ‘selves’ (parts of your ego states) start to discuss which ‘self’ normally turns up in this given situation and how that tends to play out? What would our other ‘selves’ (ego states) want to say if they were given the problem to solve, who would be best to deal with it and more importantly, who wouldn’t.

This experiential workshop explores a novel, fun and creative tool to help our clients discover their different identities or ‘selves’. By gaining insight into the impulsions and responses of each ‘self’ (ego state), our clients can approach situations with more resilience and autonomy.

This unique series of questions and its creative application provides a framework to identify different selves or ego states, their unique characteristics, their underlying associated emotions and the role and purpose for their existence. Once the separate identities are fully described, this tool leans into its therapeutic use for diagnostics and treatment planning and may help with understanding the origins of trauma.

As a trainee psychotherapist I have developed this tool from my interest in Dissociative Identity Disorder where alternative identities or ‘alters’ with amnesic walls between them, are formed as fully identifiable personalities, each with a unique purpose and role. Could it be that a similar, less amnesic phenomenon be part of the system of us all, where our ego states exist as identifiable different selves that we present in our world?

I look forward to the opportunity of sharing and developing this novel approach within the TA community.

8. Meanining of Autonomy and Resilience in India

Anna Chandy TSTA (Counselling); Sudha Thimmaiah PTSTA (Counselling)

In Indian family system, the individual development of a ‘sense of self’ is largely bound to the system. The family system follows the principles of collectivism. The need for individuation is stifled and repressed from which arise emotional difficulties and issues relating to the system. The lack of stimulation in ignoring/minimising one’s individual needs and need for individuation and autonomy can lead to as cited in «Culture and Borderline Personality Disorders» in their article by Shalini Choudhary and Rashmi Gupta.

We look forward to exploring Berne’s perspective on ‘Autonomy’ within a collective, systemic framework.

9. Story Options 

Aruna Gopakumar, PTSTA (P)

In this 2 hour workshop, participants experience a developmental process called Story Options. Story Options is a collaborative and empowering process of meaning making. It is a process of recomposing the stories that we have made up about who we are. While allowing “facts” of the stories to remain the same, participants look at interpretations forgotten or suppressed. They liberate potential stories and construct new meanings, in the process both surface repressed emotions and construct newer emotions. Clients re-author their stories to serve them better. This process can be seen as a therapy of possibilities. Clients and group members access resources that strengthen their resilience, through this process.

In the session, participants see the process in action, followed by a discussion on how they could use TA theory to explain change experienced by the client.

10. WHEN TA THEORY DIALOGUES WITH “SOCIAL-COGNITIVE”, Let’s Practice the Theory

Rosanna GIACOMETTO (TSTA-P); Laura BASTIANELLI (TSTA-P)

The workshop offers to approach Social-Cognitive Transactional Analysis (SCTA), introduced by Pio Scilligo, and recently awarded with the 2020 ITAA Research Award to LaRSI, which is the research group that conducts research with and through this model.

We will explore it in an experiential way, through direct experiences with case studies.

We will create together a learning journey through which we will discover this development in TA theory and practice.

11. The «game of the hut» and the Free Child: how to transform the limitations of the anticovid norms into creativity.

Silvia Patrussi Psychotherapist PTSTA; Cinzia Andreini Psychotherapist PTSTA

In this historical period, where we are called to live new and difficult living conditions due to the pandemic and the anticovid norms, we propose an experiential workshop through the «game of the hut». The goal is to experiment with a useful technique to activate the energy and creativity of the FC, develop autonomy and resilience in managing limitations in daily life, and promote new adaptation processes

12. THE THERAPY ROOM HAS NO MORE WALLS, BUT INFINITE TREES. New spaces and new horizons open up in TA work.

Andreini Cinzia PTSTA

The experiential workshop aims to reflect on how the natural environment affects the processes of resilience and wellness, taking inspiration from TA work experiences carried out outdoors, in the forest. A conceptual framework will be proposed that integrates the TA with other disciplines, such as Environmental Psychology, Biophilia, Affective Ecology, Plant Neurobiology, in the light of recent Neurophysiological research. There are environments, such as the forest, which naturally stimulate the physis (Berne, 1968) and enhance the work of the Transactional Analyst. The stimuli offered by the forest reactivate archaic memories of experiences lived by our ancestors, handed down genetically, which are able to promote the reactivation of neural patterns of wellness, typical of resilience. Providing educational, clinical, organizational or counseling experiences, outdoors, in nature, could open TA to new opportunities for growth and development.

13. Autonomy and resilience in the work team

LAUGERI Madeleine O-TSTA

Amongst the many parameters which influence performance and sustainabilty, autonomy and resilience are becoming more and more obviously inevitable elements of sustainability, in whatever professional context. To be able to work autonomously in cooperation in a work team, relational needs of every member need to be fulfilled. They need to be expressed and lead to an ongoing contracting process between team members and with the leader or leading team. 

In this workshop we will be practivcing this contracting process, observing and reflecting on our group experience while we are applying a simple systemic tool for structuring organisational dialogue called «the Emerging Change» which is used to acknowledge and improve group relational many processes. The concept of the tool is based on the foundations of what makes an organization survive in its Environment…: satisfy quickly and efficiently a request for service or product in the Environment (clients, procurement, partners, …). 

The pionneering aspect of the presentation is related to the positionning hardly developped of the work team rather than the individual as partner to the leadership, thus providing a simple, sustainable dialogue frame ensuring personal well being and continuous improvement of efficiency. 

The participants will be familiarised with the use of the contracts and will deduct the main rules of application the a work team. Theoretical references will be provided.

14. Dynamic TA in the Treatment of Personality Disorders (with Emphasis on BPD): Theory, Practice and Research

Ales Zivkovic MSc (TA Psych) PTSTA(P)

The talk will present theory and practice in the treatment of personality disorders from the perspective of dynamic TA psychotherapy. We will look at the topic from the perspective of integration of findings from other approaches—predominantly those of object relations theory—into TA. The focus will be on the use of TA as dynamic psychotherapy and how such approach can be used to promote structural and functional personality change, resulting in what Berne referred to as the psychoanalytic cure. The talk will also present some of the research findings associated with various approaches used in the treatment of BPD and how they may be seen through the lens of TA.

The content of the talk will include:

  • The developmental perspectives underpinning personality impairments and their role in the development of dynamic and structural characteristics of personality.
  • The relationship between intrapsychic and interpersonal manifestations in individual’s adult life, along with the utilisation of intrapsychic and interpersonal defensive strategies.
  • Re-enactments in the therapeutic setting; understanding transference and countertransference in the work with personality disorders and the use of these concepts diagnostically.
  • Understanding symptomatology from the perspective of intrapsychic processes and the defensive role of symptomatology.
  • The importance of contracting, boundaries and the therapeutic frame.
  • Characteristics of the interpretative process as the main vehicles of change.
  • What are some of the common therapeutic stalemates.
  • Etc.

15. Home Safe Home: promoting autonomy and resilience in women victims of domestic violence in isolation

Erika Cardeti, PTSTA, Psychotherapy; Arianna Ascenzi, PTSTA, Psychotherapy

According to the «Report on the gender perspective in the COVID-19 crisis and post-crisis period» of 20\11\20 prepared by the European Commission for Women’s Rights and Gender Equality, there has been «a worrying increase in domestic and gender-based violence, including physical violence, psychological violence»; The Commission also noted that «confinement measures make more difficult for victims of domestic violence to seek help because they are often confined with the perpetrator» and recognizes that «public measures have been insufficient in addressing violence against women and girls». Given the exhortation to member states «to share national innovations and best practices,» we therefore wondered how to support women, making them aware towards a process of resilience and autonomy, by creating ad hoc online support groups. The goal of the workshop is to share our way of working, outlining the path of intervention within the TA framework, helping participants to read their own processes through the theories of devaluation and symbiosis, and to increase the degree of awareness and relational effectiveness. In accordance with the andragogical training model (Knowles, 1980), the way in which we will address the issue will be strongly experiential: to encourage, in participants, the process of learning and understanding intervention techniques, we will alternate practical activities to theoretical insights. The experiential activity is designed for a group of 13 people maximum, the rest of the audience can observe the process and ask questions or share reflections at the end of the work.

16. Transactional Analysis meets Acupressure: The Art of Jin Shin

Alexis Brink, TAP trainee

Alexis will lay the foundation for understanding the relationship between Energy Medicine and Transactional Analysis. She will demonstrate how therapists can help their clients on a somatic level. Alexis will share how to use the Art of Jin Shin – a simple, hands-on healing modality – which therapists can share with their clients when they need to calm and regulate their nervous system. Therapists can also apply Jin Shin to themselves when they feel triggered in a session.

17. Towards Autonomy & Resilience; The Use of Outcome Measures in Counselling & Psychotherapy

Carol Remfrey Foote CTA(P), MPhil, BSc(Hons), Dip.TA Practice, RHV, SRN Doctoral Student, The University of Salford

The use of Outcome Measures (OM) in Transactional Analysis (TA) counselling and psychotherapy has begun to gain some traction among TA researchers and the wider TA community. The Transactional Analysis Journal (TAJ) has, over the last few years, witnessed a plethora of research studies where OM’s have been utilised in evaluating client’s response to focussed interventions, such as anxiety and depression ( van Rijn, Wild and Moran, 2011; van Rijn and Wild, 2013; Benelli et al, 2016/2017; Gentelet and Widdowson, 2016; Widdowson, 2011/20). There remains some scepticism among TA and other modalities practitioners as to the worth of OM’s and anecdotal evidence that the use of OM’s in some way interferes or interrupts the therapeutic relationship and working alliance or that administering the OM delays or eats into the session time available (Cooper, 2012; Tryon et al, 2007; Green and Latchford, 2012;Boisvert and Faust, 2006; Macdonald and Mellor-Clark et al 2014). As counsellors and psychotherapists we are experiencing a rapid growth in the numbers of “the expert client”, knowledgeable consumers of therapy who want to see an evidence base of effective therapies and want to see themselves “getting better”. Sadly, many clients don’t benefit, and 5-10% deteriorate (Lambert and Ogles, 2004; Cooper, 2012; Lambert, 2013; Reese et al , 2009), and 35-40% don’t improve (Hansen et al., 2002; Lambert, 2007), and almost 20-47% leave or drop-out from therapy (Wierzbicki and Pekarik, 1993; Swift and Greenberg, 2012). Therapists are not accurately able to judge when a client isn’t doing well (Chapman et al, 2012; Hannan et al., 2005), and overestimate their effectiveness, estimating that 85% of their clients have positive outcomes, and see themselves as being well above average compared to their peers ( Dew and Reimer, 2003; Walfish et al. 2012). The good news is that the use of OM’s mitigate and detect early deterioration or a plateauing of improvement, reduce drop-out rates and alerts the therapist when a client isn’t doing well (Duncan, 2012; Lambert,2017; Whipple and Lambert, 2011; Boswell et al., 2013; Ostergard, Randa and Hougaard, 2018; Duncan and Reese, 2015). 

Developing clients autonomy and resilience is a key part of counselling and psychotherapy. 

How do we measure our clients movement towards autonomy and resilience? How do our client’s gauge their sense of growth? Boswell et al (2013) state; 

“… the detection of even slight improvements can reassure skeptical clients that they are making recognizable progress in treatment and further improve the therapeutic alliance” (Youn, Kraus and Castonguay, 2012). In this workshop I will take participants through the current research on OM’s and the types and range of OM’s available. I will give the participants experience of the use of OM’s , and how they might offer the OM to their clients, then score and interpret the data. I will also explore during the workshop how OM’s might support the client’s autonomy and resilience in counselling and psychotherapy practice.

18. Resilience – a new framework for individuals, groups and systems

Rosemary Napper TSTA O E C

Ecologist Brian Walker developed a definition and theory of resilience which goes far beyond the common-place ideas of ‘bounce-back’ to transformative change – and through his work in the English speaking parts of the world, realised that it is applicable not only to the natural world, but also to societies and to individuals. Looking at his ideas with a TA lens provides exciting ways to think about the process of reslience for individuals, groups and organisations, and the experience of COVID provides rich material to consider in this workshop real examples of resilience using this framework.

19. Group memory, structure hunger and resilience: ways of developing autonomy in team meetings

Mandy Lacy PhD, TSTA (O)

This presentation offers an overview of group memory phenomena. Through research into group memory, learning and knowledge practices in team meetings this phenomena emerged in the form of spontaneous ‘looking back acts’. These phenomena were the catalyst to investigating group memory in depth and how it served the need to deal with uncertainty, provide confirmation and a sense of structure. The sense of structure group memory phenomena will be discussed in relation to the Transactional Analysis concepts of structure hunger both from the aspects of spontaneous emergence and meaningful application. Albeit confined to the context of team meetings for the purposes of this PhD research, group memory consciousness and practices are transferrable to any group wishing to develop autonomy and resilience.

20. Workshop Team Agility and Innovation

Sari van Poelje, TSTA-O

Once upon a time a focus on production and planning was enough to stay ahead of the curve. But we live in a turbulent world, with increasing complexity and uncertainty. So we have to come up with new answers. 

To thrive in a turbulent environment, we have to move from an individual leadership focus to an agile team and business innovation focus. Business innovation has to keep pace with the product innovation accelerate your time to market. 

Based on 7 years of literature research and reviews of implementation I created a model for agile business innovation. 

During the workshop you will get an initial tools to create an: 

• Agile structure 

• Innovative culture 

• Inspiring leadership teams 

You will also understand what signals to look for if your organisation is in ‘innovation” distress.

21. Three Paths to Autonomy and Self Actualisation

Linda Gregory Ph.D. TSTA, ITAA

This workshop will be presenting a new and cutting-edge treatment plan for reaching Autonomy and Self-actualization. Treatment plans of action to reach Autonomy and work towards self-actualization, for self and clients will be presented. Conscious awakening to awareness of being part of the universe is an outcome of this workshop. 

Autonomy, Self-Actualization and Transcendence are deep inner needs that all people have, albeit for many that need is unconscious. Aware connection to spirituality, and learning how to work within the Quantum Field, are necessary to self-actualize. 

This workshop explores our inherited and developed belief systems, and how they have stopped people from reaching Autonomy and Self-Actualization; finding our purpose, which is our deep longing and desire to reach. Many have an “Unsung song Syndrome,” a fear of not reaching their full potential. Our deep longing to be aware of “Who I am,” Aware of connection to the universe, reaching Autonomy is the focus of this workshop. 

In Transactional Analysis theory, Scripts are often ‘stoppers’, stopping us from reaching our full potential, reaching autonomy and self-actualization, finding our purpose, and/or having a deep connection to our inner spirituality. 

People want to create abundance and happiness in their lives, but don’t realize that early negative beliefs about self, others and life, may well be blocking positive intentions. Unconscious negative beliefs carry strong energy vibrations effecting the Quantum Field and may well sabotage our attempts to manifest on a conscious level. 

Quantum physics is currently being talked about in wide circles; and is proposing that our awareness and thinking plays a large part in creating our world. 

This workshop explores how to identify old beliefs from past that can block efforts to manifest in the Now; it also offers many experiential meditative exercises into how to clear the past and manifest our intentions. Our present state of consciousness/awareness creates our world, either positively, or negatively. 

Not being aware of this need to self-actualize often creates anxiety, depression, feeling a ‘hole inside,’ something is missing. These feelings often drive people to therapy and/or counselling, however they are not aware inner unmet needs, and thus the cause of their problems.This workshop presents a psychotherapy/counselling/ coaching plan to use with clients to discover inner needs and desires. This program looks at various areas in life to discover longings, and facilitate movement towards autonomy and self-actualization. 

Spirituality, I feel has to a large degree been missing from Transactional Analysis Theory and practice. I believe that what I am presenting here will be the next cutting edge and evolution of the practice of Transactional Analysis. 

This program is intended to be used in conjunction with all the excellent TA theory and tools, and used when clients are ready and willing to move towards autonomy, self-actualization, spirituality and learning how to positively use the Quantum Field. I also feel for a psychotherapist/counsellor/coach to practice this work with clients, they also have to do, or have done this work themselves. 

We can’t take clients where we have not gone ourselves. 

Questions are discussed, and proposed answers are given in this workshop. What does the universe want from me? What is my path, my purpose? Who am I, and Why am I here? Many of us, I’m sure, have asked those questions. 

This workshop has application for all four fields of Transactional Analysis.

22. TA organization

Günther Mohr, Economist and Psychologist, Training and Supervising Transactional Analyst

The workshop is about a study on the organization of international professional associations. How should an organization be designed to achieve good quality? The content of the workshop is about the question, which aspects do national forms of organization with one or more TA associations bring along? What are the advantages and disadvantages of different organizational forms? In this context, roles, relationships, communication channels are interesting. An importance has more offices, more presidents, shorter ways, more familiarity, flocking around a leader (guru), more identification in small organizations, culture: e.g. language differences, legal reasons. Other questions are: What role does history play in the formation. Which narratives support which organizational patterns? How does the output of different organizational patterns compare to each other? This can be measured, for example, by the number of 101 graduates, candidates in training, or even degrees (e.g., CTA). Models used Various organizational theories that are useful for characterizing organizations will be used. An example of this is systemic organizational analysis. 

Analogies and metaphors, such as the franchise principle, can also be used as descriptive patterns. Methodologically, a survey will be conducted via interviews in a representative number of countries with different organizational forms. The workshop will present the project in its initial phase. 

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