Workshop Presentation for UKATA National Conference - 24th April 2021. Andy Williams TSTA(P) explores how a psychotherapist or counsellor can understand their own philosophy in order to understand their own political and social identity - this vital when working in the intersubjective field.

1. “My Philosophy”
Pluralistic Philosophy &
Transactional Analysis
UKATA National Conference, April 2021

2. Andy Williams TSTA(P)
 Director of TA Training Organisation, Yorkshire, Registered Training
Establishment.
 Many years in the NHS as a tertiary psychotherapist.
 Research Interests – the efficacy of supervision.
 Writing Interests – diversities in identities. Clients who identify as queer in all
dimensions. Embodied Culture. Suicide.
 Very interested in ancient pathways across the UK and Eco-TA.

3. Keeping ourselves grounded and safe!
 Confidentiality – protecting our colleagues and clients.
 Taking responsibility for our own psychological state – remaining
grounded and Adult.
 It is fine to “pass” and miss an activity – but attempt to stay engaged
with the process.
 Remain ethical – if you land up in a breakout room with your therapist
or client feel free to exit immediately and be reassigned.
 Share time equitably – make points clearly and concisely
 Please ask questions through chat if trainer is in flow.
andy williams tsta(p) - TA Training Organisation 3

4. Getting to know one another.

5. Getting to know one another.
Getting to know “self”
 Spend some time in the small group.
 1. Bring an imaginary or real cultural object (if you can reach for it) as a way
of introducing yourself – this is can be as small or as big as you like!
 2. Discuss the following question with one another….
 “Imagine being in the therapy room. What
are we doing here? What is my view on the
purpose of therapy.”

6. Welcome Back
UKATA National Conference – April 2021

7. “
”
The purpose of therapy for a
client, is having the experience
of ultimate acceptance of self
The late Robin Walford TSTA(P) – personal communication

8. “
”
Psychotherapy is about
offering the client new
information and a new
relational experience
Hanna Levenson – Time-Limited & Dynamic Psychotherapy.

9. “
”
…to put a new show on the
road?
After Eric Berne.

10. This could form the first part of “our
thinking” – what am I doing here?
 The space
 The intersubjective space
 Martha Stark’s work – in a sense that defines the nature of the space?

11. Is the therapeutic space there to offer
5* Service or Disturbance?
Syntonic Experience?
 Empathy
 Unconditional Positive Regard
 A reparative or restorative
relational experience
 Relational Disturbance is an
unfortunate rupture? – a failure
 A place of sanctuary and serenity?
Dystonic Experience?
 Congruity
 Awareness of unhelpful processes
 Therapy provides the required
relationship.
 Relational Disturbance is seen
through a re-enactment lens – an
essential experience.
 A place of curiosity, creativity and
disturbance.

12. So what do we mean by the word
“Philosophy” in this context?
 Perhaps we can let ourselves off the hook here a little bit….
 Keith Tudor – whom we will come to in a minute includes
 Principles, Method, Motivation, Attitudes
 I would add in ideas of transgenerational and cultural importance.
 Dave Ward – “An activity – of working out the right way to think about things”
 Hume – Philosophy can only show how we happen to think – not that there
might be reality in this in terms of the world.

13. “
”
Article by Keith Tudor from
2009
In the Manner of – Transactional Analysis Teaching of Transactional Analysts

14. Theory
Philosophy
Practice
The area of
Integration
Socio-Cultural Context

15. Practice
Tasks
Processes
Theory
Chosen
Theory
Philosophy
Values
Principles
Motivations

16. Practice, Philosophy
& Theory
“All practice is founded
on an underlying
philosophy in which the
practice is rooted and
from which the theory
follows”.

17. Consistency & Coherence
 Consistency between theory, concepts, methods &
practice.
 A clear coherence between theory and practice
 Philosophical congruence – between the
philosophy, theory and practice.
 Everything connects – potential for a congruent,
reflexive and dynamic interrelationship.

18. Finding My Philosophy
 In a moment I’m going to invite you into small groups, to find your philosophy.
 In my experience, this is often based on your cultural and transgenerational
history.
 Drop everything on the floor. Role. Job Titles. Family Positons.
 What is really important to you?
 Why? Why is that important to you? Dig or drill deeper to see if you can get
closer to the true meaning and importance of something for you.
 You may come up with a single word, or perhaps a phrase about what is really
at the heart of your therapeutic identity.

19. Let me give you an example….

20. My Mother’s Story
 Born in 1927 in Vienna, Austria
 Father a lawyer, Mother ran the house
 March 12, 1938 Nazi’s marched in Austria
 Mother was 11 years old.
 Nov 9, 1938 Kristallnacht – open violence to Jews became prevalent - The
Final Solution
 Mother fled to England in 1939
 2nd World War started on 1st Sept 1939

21. So now it’s our turn…..
 In a moment I’m going to invite you into small groups, to find your philosophy.
 In my experience, this is often based on your cultural and transgenerational
history.
 Drop everything on the floor. Role. Job Titles. Family Positons.
 What is really important to you?
 Why? Why is that important to you? Dig or drill deeper to see if you can get
closer to the true meaning and importance of something for you.
 You may come up with a single word, or perhaps a phrase about what is really
at the heart of your therapeutic identity.

22. Why is it important that we know our
philosophical position?
 We need to become “expert” in knowing if we have lost ourselves, and can
we find our way home.

23. Client
Therapist
Transference
Experience of self
and self in
relation to other.
Counter-
Transference
Experience of self
and self in relation
to other.
The Process of Objectification.
- The client objectifies the therapist
- The therapist objectifies the client
- We are not really in the here-and-now.
- Loss of potency, presence and connection by the
therapist.

24. Client
Therapist
The Process of moving from Objectification to Subjectivity.
- The therapist returns to the here-and-now
- The therapist steps out of the transference.
- The therapist regains their skill of spotting the process
- The therapist regains contact with self and other – and therefore is
able to offer a true mirror to other.
- The client moves to a place of contact with self and other.
- True autonomy is restored.

25. Let’s move on….
Pluralism

26. A quote to get us started….
an ethical commitment to
valuing diversity; and a
wariness towards monolithic,
all-consuming ‘truths’, because
of the way that they can
suppress individuality and
difference.

27. A definition to get us started…
 Pluralism can be defined as:
 The philosophical belief that…
 ‘any substantial question admits of a
variety of plausible but mutually conflicting
responses’
 (Rescher, 1993, p. 79).

28. What does this mean for therapy?
 This pluralistic standpoint implies that:
 there are a variety of views that can
be taken on a wide range of
therapeutic issues, and that there is
no inherent right or wrong way.

29. Pillar No. 1 of 3 – Across Orientations
 The first pillar is pluralism across orientations.
 This means that a pluralistic practitioner is open to considering a variety of
different ways in which clients get distressed and, correspondingly, a variety
of different ways of helping them.
 Taking this stance poses a direct challenge to the schoolism that has been
endemic in the field of counselling and psychotherapy.

30. Pillar No. 2 of 3 – Across Clients
 The second pillar is pluralism across clients.
 This is marked by the emphasis that is placed on recognising and celebrating
diversity across clients.
 What follows from this is that pluralistic practitioners are keen to offer each
client a bespoke approach to counselling and psychotherapy rather than one
that is ‘off the peg’.

31. Pillar No. 3 of 3 – Across Perspectives
 pluralism across perspectives. What is the problem and the solution here?
 A pluralistic therapeutic approach advocates that both participants in the
therapeutic relationship — clients as well as practitioners — have much to
offer when it comes to making decisions concerning therapeutic goals and the
selection of therapy tasks and methods.
 This means that a pluralistic approach emphasises shared decision-making and
feedback across clients and therapists.

32. Pluralistic Principles
 There is no one right way of conceptualising clients’ problems — different understandings are useful for
different clients at different points in time
 There is no one right way of practising therapy — different clients need different things at different points
in time
 Many disputes and disagreements in the therapeutic field can be resolved by taking a ‘both/and’
perspective, rather than an ‘either/or’ one
 It is important that counsellors and psychotherapists respect each others’ work and recognise the value that
it can have
 Counsellors and psychotherapists should acknowledge and celebrate clients’ diversity and uniqueness
 Clients should be involved fully at every stage of the therapeutic process
 Clients should be understood in terms of their strengths and resources, as well as areas of difficulty
 Counsellors and psychotherapists should have an openness to multiple sources of knowledge on how to
practice therapy: including research, personal experience, and theory
 It is important that counsellors and psychotherapists take a critical perspective on their own theory and
practice: being willing to look at their own investment in a particular position and having the ability to
stand back from it.

33. Pluralistic Field
The Client
And all their
experience
The Therapist
And all their
experience
The Cultural
Contexts then
and now

34. Yes there is difference and diversity…
But what about Privilege & Oppression.

35. Oppression
 The systematic devaluing,
undermining, marginalising, and
disadvantaging of certain SOCIAL
IDENTITY GROUPS
 In contrast to the privileged norm.

36. OPPRESSION AS A
BIRDCAGE
 Oppression – an interlocking network of
institutional barriers that prevent escape.
 Mutually reinforcing system of barriers.
 Present in all institutions – education,
employment, government, healthcare, family,
justice, sport………

37. OPPRESSION AS A
BIRDCAGE
 All Institutions…..so presumably…..
 Psychotherapy Training Courses
 Psychotherapy Practices
 Third Party organisations with whom we
engage and contract with.

38. New Racism and Oppression Blindness
Subtle
Institutional
Thrives on the back of “colour
blindness”
“I treat everyone the same”
“We’ve created a level playing field –
thus inequality must be down to
individuals’ failures”

39. The Matrix of Oppression & Privilege
 We all have multiple SOCIAL
GROUP IDENTITES
 They are constructs
 They define who we are and how
others view us.
 We may be oppressed in some
contexts, and privileged in others.
 Race, gender, sexuality, disability,
class etc are socially constructed
classification systems.
 Oppression impacts the non-
dominant groups through
 Limitations
 Disadvantages
 Disapproval

40. Social Identities
 These are internally constructed and then externally applied to other.
 Exists or is consistently used to bestow power, benefits and disadvantage.
 Is used to explain differences in outcomes, efforts, abilities (eg the process of
oppression-blindness).
 Is immutable, difficult, costly, dangerous to change.

41. Systems of Oppression
Individual
Level
Institutional
Level
Societal
Level

42. Systems of
Oppression
Historical and/or Organised patterns of
mistreatment
Woven into culture, society and law
Reinforce the oppression of marginalised groups
Elevate dominant social groups
Sexism, Heterosexism, Ableism, Classism, Ageism,
Anti-Semitism, Racism, Transphobia, Homophobia,

43. Oppression =
Prejudice +
Institutional
Power
Discriminates
against some
Benefits others

44. Outcomes from this workshop
 Above all, developing a sense of our philosophy
 Why? Because this is what informs how we THINK and model things – THEORY
 Why/ Because this informs what we DO with our clients – PRACTICE.
 Knowing our Philosophy is essential – because it helps us to hold on to our
SUBJECTIVITY and to navigate the seas of the transferential matrix.
 PLURALISM seems to have a lot of useful things to say about how we can pay
attention to Privilege and Oppression in our practice.
 PLURALISM seems to offer a template of helpful behaviours to attend to, in
our experiment of reducing oppression and increasing equality and
opportunity.

45. Call to Action…Become an Ally
 Learn about Oppression & Privilege
and teach others.
 Seek community and work on social
justice
 Assume that inequality &
oppression are everywhere, all the
time, even when not visible to you.
 I need to be aware of my own
privilege. Who is the centre of
attention? Who has access to
power? Whose voice is missing?
 Notice the ways in which
oppression and privilege are
denied, ignored, minimised or
justified.

46. Call to Action…Become an Ally
 Learn from history. From forms of
history and social movements.
 Speak Out! Take Risks! Act!
 Learning to see oppression and
privilege is a lifelong project.
 Mistakes are learning
opportunities, and always painful!
 Listen to and respect the leaders
of oppressed groups
 Be active, ready to be mobilised
and to be active around inequality.

48. References
 Keith Tudor (2009) “In the Manner of”: Transactional Analysis Teaching of
Transactional Analysts. TAJ, 39:4, 276-292
 Mick Cooper and Windy Dryden – Editors. (2016) The handbook of pluralistic
counselling & psychotherapy. Sage.
 Matthew Chrisman et al (2017) Philosophy for Everyone. Routledge
 Works by Karen Minikin in the TAJ are very useful in this area.

49. Please be in contact.
Andy Williams TSTA(P)
andywilliams@therapysecure.com
TA Training Organisation