What I Offer
Transactional Analysis (TA)
TA will be the leading theoretical and practical application to our therapeutic session. TA is the theory of Personality, Child Development and Communication.
Contracting
Contracting is the key to working productively in Transaction Analysis.
TA is a contractual method; it stresses the importance of openness, clear communication and mutual respect`. (T Tilney 1998)
`The TA practitioner assumes that he and his client will take joint responsibility for achieving whatever change the client wants to make`. (Developing TA Counselling Ian Stewart 1996)
Claude Steiner (1974) suggests four requirements for sound contract making:
1. Mutual Consent between client and Counselor.
2. Valid consideration , usually in the form of financial recompense
3. Competency from both parties to be under go the therapeutic contract.
4. Lawful Object : Must be legal and meet appropriate professional and ethical norms.
A Leigh and I Stewart in Contracts in Counselling (edited by Charlotte Sills SAGE publications) illustrate two types of contract as shown below:
Process Contracts - A Leigh
“Process contracts are those that are made moment by moment during the counseling session as part of the interpersonal process in the here and now. They are characterized by the Counsellor`s continuous close tracking with her client`s thinking, feeling and behaviour, and by her using each change in her client`s process to confirm success and move onto the next contract”. (p95)
Outcome Focused Contracts- I Stewart
Stewart puts forward an alternative to the traditional TA formulation (Stewart 1996:67)
1. An effective contract may be either for an outcome or for an action.
2. However, if a contract is for an outcome, it must be supported by at least one contract for an action. (p80)
“Outcomes refer to states of affairs. Actions, refer to behaviours…Action is in the present while outcomes are in the future”. (p80)
Seven conditions for effective contract making:
1. Is the contract feasible ?
“Has at least one other person in the world achieved this?”
“Is this a change that you want to make in yourself (rather than in somebody else)?
2. Is it safe ?
“Is this physically safe for you?”
“Is it legal?”
“In your culture, is it safe for you to do this?”
“Have you closed Escape Hatches?”
3. Is it stated in positive words ?
“What are you going to do instead of what you want to stop?”
“What are you going to have instead of what you want to lose?”
4. Is it sensory-based ?
“How will…You / I / Others…See /Hear /physically feel /smell /taste that you`re…
doing this /getting this / being the way you want to be?”
5. Is it finishable ?
“How will anybody know when you have finished doing this?”
“How many /how often /how long…before you`ll know you`ve got what you wanted?”
“How much more…will be enough?”
6. Is it placed in a clear context ?
“Where are you going to do this?”
“When are you going to do this?”
“With whom are you going to do this?”
“Where / when / with whom are you not going to do this?”
7. Is it Therapeutic ?
For this, use your knowledge of the client's script! (Developing TA Counselling Ian Stewart 1996)
When you can answer `yes` to all these questions, you have provided the conditions that define the effective outcome-focused treatment contract.
Determining Context for effective contract-making, it is necessary to take account of the context of the contract. (Cameron-Bandler 1985:87-8) You and your client agree answers to the following three questions:
1. Where will the contract be carried out?
2. When ?
3. Under what limiting conditions ?
Structural Analysis
Structural analysis enables us to clarify our life experiences, thoughts and feelings, examining how we learned our beliefs and values and how being in different ego states can influence our behaviour and relationships.
Analysis of Transactions
Analysis of transactions provides a way to understand our 'stroking' patterns: how we exchange the level of contact and recognition that all humans need in order to thrive.
Script Analysis
Script Analysis offers an approach to the question: "How do we get to be the people we are?" By analysing our scripts, we can reconsider the decisions we made when we were too little to realise what options existed.
Analysis of Games
Identifies predictable patterns of indirect communications which are played out of our awareness, and their consequences. (ITA An introduction to Transactional Analysis: revised Nov 2003.)
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