Saturday Workshops

Workshop Session 2: 11.00 – 13.00  

(choose 1 workshop from 6 available)

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   1. Beyond language in Relational Psychotherapy

Examining the development of neurodivergent script beliefs in a neurotypical world

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Helena Hargaden (Dr): TSTA / TTA / STA

Referring to my book 'Beyond Language in relational Psychotherapy' I will teach using a Powerpoint illustrating the development of the brain/mind drawing on neuroscientific research. I will follow this will an experiential workshop using the Balint Chair to illustrate the language that can emerge from the unconscious mind.

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Workshop outcomes:

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To become more deeply reflective of self and clinical work with clients.

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Presenter:

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I am a relational psychotherapist from a diverse cultural background.  My Jungian analyst, who was also a Rabbi, enabled me to follow the ‘Royal road’ to my unconscious. In turn that has focussed my therapeutic work on following the journey towards the multiplicity of our true selves.

My qualifications: BA Hons, TSTA, MSc, Doctor in Relational Psychotherapy.  I now live in Sussex and have a small practice and continue to teach internationally and locally.  My latest book "Beyond Language in Relational Psychotherapy" will be published in paperback by the end of the year (currently in hardback).  I have two grandchildren who have changed me in a multiplicity of ways!

Level of prior experience required: None

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Focus: Psychotherapy and Clinical

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Style: Didactic Teaching; Experiential Work

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   2. Epilepsy ; The feared and misunderstood illness

An opportunity to demystify this neurological condition

Gemma Mason (She/Her): TSTA / TTA / STA

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Epilepsy is on of the most common neurological conditions and yet those who have the condition face cultural stigma and misunderstanding. This workshop will provide an opportunity to discuss our perceptions of the condition, and I will share some findings from my doctorate research on this topic. Epilepsy may present in the therapy or training room or our workplace. Many individuals with this condition keep their diagnosis hidden from fear of a shame response.

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Workshop outcomes: 

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​I would hope that delegates will leave the workshop with a clearer understanding of the neurological condition epilepsy and to have updated the stereotypes that they hold about the condition.

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Presenter:

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I had epilepsy for the first 24 years of my life, when it was cured by pioneering surgery. Once the cure came, I was left with a psychological imprint of the condition.

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Gemma Mason is a TSTA (P) based in Wiltshire, where she runs a psychotherapy, supervision and training practice. She has a clinical interest in hidden disability and shame, and this comes from a historical, personal and professional experience. She is currently completing a PhD in this topic.

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Level of prior experience required: None

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Focus: Education and Training; Counselling and Coaching; Psychotherapy and Clinical; Organisational

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Style: Didactic Teaching; Discussion and Small Group and Pairs work

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   3. Working with boundaries during organizational change

Expanding Berne's boundary concept with Systems Thinking

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Anca Popa (She/Her): Other Professional Status

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Boundaries are used to make sense of our experiences and to define what/ who belongs to the system. By setting boundaries, we create space for self-organisation and for new structures to evolve from bottom-up. Management involves establishing, maintaining and changing  boundaries between people, activities, and also responsibilities.

Understanding an organisation requires studying how boundaries are interpreted and how they can be redrawn and redefined.

This is a practical workshop on expanding current TA theory with additional meaning and understanding from Systems Thinking and Organisational theory on the types of boundaries consultants encounter in organisations and what how these are perceived and enacted by practitioners in Change initiatives.​

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Workshop outcomes: 

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An updated definition of boundary, reframing and enriching the boundary types that Berne has written about and an understanding of the impact of language and decision making on workshop participants.

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Presenter:

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My diversity is bourn out of my professional field, I am a Principal Consultant in Portfolio, Programme and Project Management, delivering industry initiatives in Transport sector. I also feel sometimes that I am no longer Romanian or fully British. My background, unlike most of TAs I met is in Change Management rather than Human Resources; therefore, I tend to have different points of view on TA-O. I also am part of the generation who grew up in Romania post communism so life experience has been significantly different from my British peers and it also came with coping mechanisms that I need to grew out of through TA informed psychotherapy. All of these shaped who I am and my thinking, giving colour to the way I apply TA in my work.

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I am a conductor of people and activities in Rail change programmes, helping clients in my Consultant role to build structure, foresight and sustainability in their teams and initiatives.

I integrate Transactional Analysis and Change Management with the programme and project governance in ways that keeps in foreground the impact on individuals and the quality of their change experience.

My goal is to make a difference in others people's lives, creating ripple effects of hope and empowerment amongst us and for the future of our planet.

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Level of prior experience required: Advanced Level - Towards CTA and beyond

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Focus: Organisational

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Style: Didactic Teaching; Discussion and Small Group and Pairs work; Experiential Work

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   4. All we need is love?

Self love in a challenging world

Mike Meleady (He/Him): PTSTA, Samia Nelson (She/Her): PTSTA

Understanding more contemporary themes around our personal narratives, our differences, and the impact of these themes on self and others, brings a focus on how our intersectional identities may interfere with how we feel about "self". What insight around care and love may we need to grow to ensure Okayness, love and care for ourselves, be that physical, emotional, psychological, or spiritual. 

We aim to ask the question: What are the blocks to self love? What may we need to grow within, in order to do this  successfully? What may we need to reach out to, so we can be well, and continue to offer care & support to the individuals we work with. 

Workshop outcomes: 

Our hope is that individuals leave our workshop with an understanding of their own personal blocks to self love, while also understanding how holding elements of ‘difference’ in a white, hetero normative world can impact a true sense of okayness.

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Presenters: 

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Samia is a culturally sensitive psychotherapist in private practice in North London. Her work is grounded in a philosophy of inclusiveness, embracing the necessity of difference and acknowledging the importance of belonging. Her interests lie in the dynamics of power in relationships and the impact of cultural, societal, historical and political influences on the self. She is drawn to the healing nature of groups and the urgent calling to rebuild connection with ourselves, each other and the world around us.

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Mike is an relational TA practitioner, who draws on various psycho-therapeutic models to support an individualised approach to therapy & supervision, dependent on expectations and needs of those he works with be that 1:1 or in group. 

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Level of prior experience required: None

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Focus: Counselling and Coaching;Psychotherapy and Clinical

Style: Didactic Teaching; Discussion and Small Group and Pairs work; Experiential Work 

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   5. Reparenting and the shift to Secure Attachment

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Zoë Stephens (They/Them): Other Professional Status

An introduction to Jacqui Lee Schiff's Reparenting model when working with clients that have experienced significant/prolonged childhood abuse. How does this help/hinder the therapeutic alliance and what impact does this have on their patterns of attachment?  

Workshop outcomes: 

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1) A deeper and much richer knowledge of not only ACEs but also the very real impact of these on the lives of clients and how the application of Reparenting can aid clients in real terms to thrive rather than just survive. Further to this, using lived experience of having utilised this type intervention as both a client and, later, as a therapist, this workshop will also seek to aid therapists' understanding and, hopefully, avoidance of the harm that can come with using reparenting within the therapy space.

2) An awareness not only of how ACEs can hinder the recovery of clients but also a deeper understanding of how the ego states are influenced by ACEs and how this impacts a client's relationships and behaviours (e.g. ego state dominance - if the Adapted Child is the dominant force, this will undoubtedly explain why the client is in survival mode and requires nurturing).

3) An awareness of harmful game play and not only how this can become evident within the therapy space as a result of ACEs but also how the adoption of reparenting techniques can help empower the client to engage in healthier ways of relating to the therapist and the space in general.

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Presenter:

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This workshop would be delivered through the lens of lived experience of significant abuse (both physical, sexual, psychological as well as neglect) and will draw on my own experiences of not only being subjected to abuse that was excessive in the extreme but also how reparenting saved my life.

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As an experienced trauma specialist and integrative therapist, Zoë is highly intuitive in her approach. Notably, it was never her dream to work in mental health but her passion to make a difference and her lived experience of trauma has led her to contribute to academic texts, guest lecture to PhD Counselling Psychology students and sit on 3 NHS/IAPT boards.

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Level of prior experience required: Early Level - TA101, Foundation, Year 1

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Focus: Counselling and Coaching; Psychotherapy and Clinical

Style: Didactic Teaching; Discussion and Small Group and Pairs work

   6. The Appetite for Understanding

Extended Applications of the Appetite Pathway Model

Katy Jones (She/Her): TA Trainee registered with an RTE

This workshop delves into clients' needs through the lens of Eric Berne's Six Psychological Hungers, exploring how the Appetite Pathway Model explains how these needs are met in healthy or unhealthy ways and the possible outcomes of this. We'll examine case studies where this model has helped understanding of issues such as alcohol dependency, feeling 'stuck' in life, and neurodiversity. Participants will explore the role of social norms in influencing how needs are met (or not)and will reflect on how to apply these insights in their own field of Transactional Analysis.

Workshop outcomes: 

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Attendees will discover a way in which the Appetite pathway Model can offer understanding of their clients in any of the four fields and provide a blueprint for behavioural change where appropriate. 

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Presenter:

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I am a white, cis-gender, married female, with a daughter, a step-daughter, two stepsons and two grandchildren. I come from a military family and consequently led a nomadic-lifestyle until I attended boarding school from the age of 12. After leaving university where I studied Marketing, and discovering a deep need for professional autonomy, I set up my own media and design agency at the age of 26 that ran for over 20 years until I changed career. My tendency to 'adapt' as both a child and adult, has often led to me satisfying my hungers in unhealthier ways, and my recent ADHD diagnosis has allowed me to see how systemic failings failed to support me in meeting my needs and satisfying my hungers. 

I am now a qualified counsellor working in private practice in Hampshire. I hold a MSc. in Applied Psychology, and both a Foundation Degree and Diploma in Integrative Counselling. Alongside my private practice, I am also a CPCAB academic tutor, and manage a support group for people with eating difficulties. I am in my final year at The Link Centre, working towards my CTA and UKCP registration.

Level of prior experience required: Suitable for all levels of TA experience or none at all

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Focus: Education and Training;Counselling and Coaching; Psychotherapy and Clinical; Organisational

Style: Didactic Teaching;Discussion and Small Group and Pairs work

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Workshop Session 3: 14.00 – 17.00

(choose 1 workshop from 6 available)

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   1. Is Masculinity Toxic? 

The lonely world of men

John Paradise (He/Him): PTSTA

The term toxic masculinity has caught the zeitgeist. In exploring our collective experience of toxic masculinity the workshop will aim to develop, thinking, awareness and practice in working with men and simply being in relationship with men. The internal world of men in therapy is typically lonely as men seek to reconcile the intrapsychic conflict between longing for tenderness and connection and expectations of hegemonic masculinity.

Workshop outcomes: 

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- Understanding of the historical context of Toxic Masculinity
- Explain the challenge for (some) men in navigating their own internal world
- Understand the impact upon men of the term Toxic Masculinity
- Describe what is meant by gamma bias in relation to gender
- Understand how masculinity itself can impede a man entering therapy

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Presenter:

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I am a white male with both English and Maltese heritage. A long career in a male dominated public service and personal experience of the Family Court system have been influential in my developing a professional interest in mens mental health.

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John Paradise CTA(P) PTSTA(P) lives and works in Devon. I hold a professional interest in working with men in therapy, in part borne from my own experience as a man. I do believe that masculinity itself plays a particular role in the mental ill health men may experience. 

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Level of prior experience required: Suitable for all levels no experience required

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Focus: Education and Training; Counselling and Coaching; Psychotherapy and Clinical; Organisational

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Style: Didactic Teaching; Discussion and Small Group and Pairs work; Experiential Work

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   2. Spaces for awareness and freedom

How to practice Counselling, coaching, short term psychotherapy

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Alexandra Piotrowska (She/Her): TSTA / TTA / STA

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Counselling provides people with spaces for awareness and freedom in which they can reflect, feel and rethink themselves.

As practitioners we ask ourselves what can be done in a short - term work for example with NHS, EAP or in coaching, where often are a part of three cornered contracts limiting the number of sessions.

How do we create a meaningful and effective encounter within imposed conditions ?
What tools and techniques are useful for strengthening Adult, bringing to awareness context of availability, accessibility and social justice.

We will work with case study and bring examples from your own practice.
 

Workshop outcomes: 

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Ability to address in the own practice

-dealing with the expectation of the clients
-specific of contracting for short term work
-key problems that need to be addressed
- Skills allowing to  make a meaningful encounter
-accountability and responsibility of a practitioner
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Presenter:

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I am an a Polish living in the UK for last 25 years teaching in international contexts.

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Alex Piotrowska is TSTA both in Psychotherapy and Counselling fields of TA, by embracing the both areas of application she is aware of where they overlap and areas of difference.
 

In her own practice she has worked for a school, NHS, EAPs in London. Now she runs private practice and coaching as well as is supervisor and trainer.

Her main focus is on working with the system in which the client functions - family, social and political - as well as unconscious communication and projection processes.

Her teaching is influenced by systemic theories  and her gift is to explain complex processes in simple way.
 

Level of prior experience required: Developing Level - Middle Years of Training

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Focus: Education and Training; Counselling and Coaching; Psychotherapy and Clinical; Organisational

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Style: Discussion and Small Group and Pairs work; Experiential Work

   3. Am I my brother's keeper?

Making use of the co-creative principles to facilitate co-regulation, empowerment and a co-loosening of the bonds of trauma.

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Enid Welford (She/Her): TSTA / TTA / STA

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The impact of sibling relationships is rarely mentioned in TA theory, yet we may spend more time with them in our childhood than with our parents. Older siblings may give permissions or transmit injunctions. They are our first experience with groups, and sibling transference may affect our performance at work, success in education, and our friendships.

This workshop will be an exploration of different aspects of sibling relationships, both negative and positive. We will account the impact of systemic difficulties caused by dead or missing siblings, honour the importance of the sibling bond, and note how sibling difficulties impact the family system.

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Workshop outcomes: 

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The impact of siblings on injunctions, drivers, script. How this might show in adult life. Understand the effect of siblings on the family system (and classroom and workforce). Some ideas of how to help with the difficulties arising.

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Presenter: 

I am white, heterosexual. I am not neurodiverse. I am middle class from working class parents. I embrace cultural and neurological diversity in my family and my social life. The material of the workshop crosses all these divides. 

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Enid Welford is a TSTA(P) based in Manchester. She began her TA training while working in a probation setting with clients who had mental health problems. Her interest in family systems began there and was further stimulated when she came across Family Constellations as a therapeutic approach. She has for many years woven together the theory and practice of Family Constellations and Transactional Analysis.

She has five children of diverse heritage. The impact of a sibling has been powerful in her script, and she believes sibling relationships should be given more attention as a source of strength and source of difficulties

Level of prior experience required: Developing Level - Early Level - TA101, Foundation, Year 1

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Focus: Education and Training; Counselling and Coaching; Psychotherapy and Clinical; Organisational

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Style: Didactic Teaching; Discussion and Small Group and Pairs work; Clinical Demonstration; Experiential Work

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   4. Dreams: Gateway to Secret Gardens

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Karen Minikin (She/Her): TSTA / TTA / STA, Jane Kibblewhite CTA,PTSTA, UKCP reg. Dip COT. HCPC

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This workshops explores the theory and practice of working with dreams and the rich revelations and learning from delving into them.

Workshop outcomes: 

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Relatedness of conscious and unconscious processes 

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Presenter:

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External worlds meet the internal as we embody the contexts we have lived in. I am a postcolonial child with roots in Asia and Europe and lived experience in Africa and England/

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Karen Minikin TSTA (P) is Head of Psychotherapy at Iron Mill College in Exeter and is author, supervisor, trainer and psychotherapist.

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Jane Kibblewhite is a Psychotherapist, Supervisor and Tutor on the Advanced TA course at the Iron Mill College. She is also an Occupational Therapist. 

"I am a Psychotherapist, Supervisor and Tutor on the Advanced TA course at the Iron Mill College. I am also an Occupational Therapist. 

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I have over 20 years experience working in the private practice and the NHS in specialist services such as Palliative Care,  Adult, Adolescent and Child Mental Health as well family services including somatic expressions of distress. I have personal and professional experience of working with neuro-diversity.

My interest in dreams has been stemmed from my own vivid dream life and how discussing them with supervisors and in personal therapy has helped me understand myself and others and expanding my insights. Consequently this has helped to inform my practice and how I work with Clients and Supervisees."

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Level of prior experience required: None

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Focus: Education and Training; Counselling and Coaching; Psychotherapy and Clinical; Organisational

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Style: Discussion and Small Group and Pairs work

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   5. "From Conflict to Compassion: Navigating Relationships with Imago, TA,               and an Intersectional Lens"

Organisational perspectives

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Ian Tomlinson (He/Him): CTA

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This workshop is all about digging into Imago Relationship Therapy and Transactional Analysis from a fresh, inclusive perspective. We'll look at how the world around us and our own experiences affect our relationships. By combining these two theories, therapists can better understand the complicated mix of personal and societal factors that influence relationships. The goal is to help therapists become more effective and welcoming in their work.

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Workshop outcomes: 

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Level Up Your Therapy Skills: You'll leave this workshop with a solid grasp of Imago and Transactional Analysis, plus practical ways to blend them into your work, creating a more inclusive and effective approach.

Get to the Heart of Relationships: Uncover the hidden forces shaping relationships - from personal experiences to societal pressures. This will help you pinpoint and address core issues with more empathy and impact.

Create a Welcoming Space for Everyone: Learn to spot and challenge any biases in your practice, adapt your approach to suit each client, and build a safe, inviting space for everyone seeking help.

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Presenter:

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Ian Tomlinson is a UKCP registered psychotherapist working with individuals and couples.  He is an Advanced Imago Relationship Therapist, Workshop Presenter and Member of The Imago International Training Institute.  Ian is one of two people in the UK training therapists and counsellors to become Certified Imago Relationship Therapists.  He practices from, and is co-director of The Affinity Centre in Manchester.

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Level of prior experience required: None

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Focus: Education and Training; Counselling and Coaching; Psychotherapy and Clinical; Organisational

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Style: Didactic Teaching; Discussion and Small Group and Pairs work; Clinical Demonstration; Experiential Work

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   6. 'Dependency' through a different lens

Life scripted boundaries for care 

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Kate Hardy (She/Her): PTSTA

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Participants will use the lens of ethics of care to explore what happens when personal Boundaries, which in TA theory are created and re-created in Life Script, meet the challenges posed by health changes, illness and the giving and receiving of care.

Experiences of care are at the heart of the human life story and life journey, especially are the beginning and the end, significantly shaped by culture, age and gender amongst other factors. Traditional systems of ethics, including TA ethics, are based on questions of 'what is right, or just, for an individual person?'. Since the 1980s, feminist ethicists such as Carol Gilligan have focused on a different question, 'how should one person respond to another?'

This question can be seen as inherently transactional, and also co-creative.

"Boundary Work" in therapy arguably originated with TA. Boundaries can be firm, permeable, rigid or diffuse. They can be argued to be scripted in childhood, shaped by early experiences, and be partially a legacy received from families, ancestors, culture and the wider society. How do cultural values shape experiences of giving and receiving care? How might valued and valuable TA concepts such as Symbiosis, Rescue, Dependency, Nurturing Parent look different through the lens of an ethic of Care?

It is a fascinating question to consider where Boundaries are held in TA terms. In the Child, Adult or Parent? Possibly all three. This workshop will consider Boundaries scripted by the Child ego state and held in the Parent, Cultural Parent and Cultural Script with specific reference to the situations of health changes, 'dis/ease' and care giving.

The workshop will invite participants to consider a very personal journey. How has the legacy of the Boundaries we have, shaped by our families, culture and the wider society, shape our experience of the challenges of the "bodymind" - pain, exhaustion, disability, and the cycles of healing and recovery? How does it shape the way we experience and respond to others? What happens when our Boundaries are overwhelmed by our own needs or the needs of others? What are the personal, professional, and ethical dimensions of the legacy of Boundaries?

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Workshop outcomes:

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Awareness of their own boundaries as givers, providers or recievers of care; Awareness of how these have been and contunue to be shaped by evolving Script.

Presenter:

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I am presenting the material as a woman, a family carer and cancer survivor. I am also presenting from the privilege of being a professional psychotherapist and educator.

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I am a learning facilitator in the seventh decade of my own learning journey. I have worked in the field of health and social care for 40 years, the last 20 as a TA psychotherapist, educator and counsellor. I also have lived experience as a cancer survivor and family carer. I have helped people to cross the threshold into many different journeys of learning over those years, and I have learned a lot myself. The journey I am on myself right now, is inviting people into learning about different aspects of TA, which I see as a way to change lives and our world.

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Level of prior experience required: ​Developing Level - Middle Years of Training

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Focus: Education and Training; Counselling and Coaching; Psychotherapy and Clinical; Organisational

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Style: Didactic Teaching; Discussion and Small Group and Pairs work; Experiential Work

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