Changes are afoot. Whether I happen to be gazing through a personal, professional, or Scottish Transactional Analysis Association (STAA) lens, this is an exciting period of transition at all levels of attention.
Following in the wake of a highly successful STAA Conference and long-anticipated affiliation with EATA, there are various changes within the composition of the STAA Committee; new faces to take in and new relationships to build, while casting a grateful glance back towards those whose involvement is receding into recent history. Our external relationships are in flux, too; the parameters of our interaction with national and international bodies being re-negotiated and reconfigured with the aim of mutual enrichment of the TA community.
On a personal level, having gone through the factious and secretive machinations of TUPE legislation and eventual redundancy- an unenviable experience common to many thousands of people in the UK just now- I am about to embark on the next phase of my career as a full-time, self-employed TA practitioner, which will require careful adjustments in both my private and professional life to ensure a smooth and harmonious transition to a condition of total freedom and, with it, total responsibility.
Looking wider again, there are also a whole raft of social and political shifts on the immediate horizon. Like it or not, we may be witnessing the dying throes of the Euro and, with it, the ambitions of those looking for greater fiscal and political integration. Is the exchange of promissory capital- the dominant duplex transaction in our society- about to implode, or is it just postcolonial hand-wringing in response to the cold hard fact that China and India are playing an increasingly effective 'NIGYSOB' these days, while we slide inexorably into decadent 'Kick Me' and passive 'Poor Us'? (Berne, 1964)
And, looking through the TA glass again, there are still ideological battles to be fought, research to be conducted and recognition to be won in the aftermath of the recent failed attempt to introduce statutory regulation of our profession and the ongoing checks and imbalances of the 'Increasing Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT)' programme.
So, what's it going to be, then, eh?....How do we position ourselves within this massive palimpsest of turmoil?....The TA familiar at my side replies, “With our selves firmly grounded in the only dimension we can effect and negotiate change- the present, marshalling all the skills and emotional resources afforded by a robust Adult.
David Harford www.harfordtherapy.com
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