NORTHSIDE
TRAINING
Cup of TEA Seminars
A monthly seminar series for therapy students and practitioners.
Real talk about theory, ethics, and the messy art of application.
TEA Information
Overview
As therapy students, at conferences or in CPD courses, we’re often handed powerful ideas but not always the space to explore how they land in the room. Theory without reflection can get lost in the gap between learning and application.
Cup of TEA was created to change that. Each monthly online seminar takes one idea – from theory, integrative practice, or clinical experience – and explores:
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What does this mean for my client work?
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How do I integrate this learning in my professional life?
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What ethical questions does it raise?
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How do others grapple with this issue and would this relate to my work?
The goal? Warm, thoughtful sessions where you don’t have to “know” and can ask any questions about the topic. Just bring your curiosity.
The seminars are facilitated by Andy Williams and other colleagues on 10 Wednesdays during the academic year.
An interactive evening series for you, as therapists, who want to:
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Refresh your theoretical understanding
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Ask questions about anything
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Navigate ethics in a real-world way
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Connect with others and explore applying theory to work with clients
Dates for 2025/26 are as follows:
17 September 2025
22 October 2025
19 November 2025
17 December 2025
21 January 2026
18 February 2026
18 March 2026
20 May 2026
17 June 2026
Dates
All welcome
Seminars have an emphasis on transactional analysis but will also cover other modalities including psychodynamic and CBT. All practitioners are welcome -
Each seminar will begin with a theory slot - then leading into discussions and exploration of ethics and application. We welcome questions and sharing experiences.
Ethics and Confidentiality
We ask that all members adhere to the ethical code of UKATA (Transactional Analysis) or your professional organisation and uphold principles of Commitment, Respect, Responsibility, Empowerment, and Protection.
We commit to maintaining confidentiality to create a safe space
Other Information
Seminars cost £12 each. Book your place using the ticket links below or subscribe to our mailing list for regular updates. Seminars take place online (via Zoom) on Wednesday evenings 6 - 8pm UK time:
Physis – The Force for Growth in a World Obsessed with Pathology 19 November 2025
Physis -the force for growth in a world obsessed with pathology This evening seminar explores Petruska Clarkson’s re-introduction of Berne’s concept of Physis—the innate life-force that moves toward healing, creativity, and evolution. While traditional clinical language often fixes clients within diagnostic or script-bound narratives, Physis invites us to recognise the irrepressible energy that strives toward change. In contrast to static models of pathology or immutable life scripts, Physis insists that growth and transformation are inherent possibilities within every psyche. The first hour will offer a theoretical overview drawing on Clarkson and Mavis Klein’s contrasting perspectives on health and pathology. The second hour opens the space for live dialogue, case discussion, and supervision—where we’ll consider how a physis-centred stance might re-animate our clinical work and ethical positioning. Come for a cup of TEA—Theory, Ethics, and Application—and leave renewed in your confidence in the human capacity for evolution and becoming.
The Many Faces of Life Script –
Rethinking TA’s Central Concept 17 December 2025
This evening’s seminar revisits one of the most enduring—and contested—ideas in Transactional Analysis: Life Script. From Berne’s original notion of an unconscious life plan formed in childhood to later developments across cognitive, relational, and cultural approaches, the concept continues to evolve. Drawing on contemporary research and internal critiques, we will explore how scripts manifest in multiple forms—narrative, embodied, relational, and sociocultural—and how each version shapes both identity and therapeutic process. The session will ask: do we pathologise clients when we speak of “script,” or can the concept still illuminate patterns of becoming and belonging? The first hour provides theoretical grounding; the second invites open discussion and supervision around live material. Join us for a cup of TEA—Theory, Ethics, and Application—as we examine how to keep script theory alive, relevant, and responsive to the complexity of human experience.
Finding Your Feet - developing your therapeutic philosophy 21 January 2026
This seminar invites psychotherapists to pause and consider the deeper ground from which their practice grows. Drawing on Keith Tudor’s framework linking Philosophy, Theory, and Practice, we will explore how our implicit beliefs about what it means to be human—our ontology—shape the values we hold, the theories we are drawn to, and the methods we employ. Rather than adopting theoretical models wholesale, this evening is about finding one’s footing: discovering how personal philosophy and lived experience inform the kind of therapist we become. The first hour offers conceptual input, considering Tudor’s view of the practitioner as the centre of a dynamic, reflexive system. The second hour provides space for dialogue, reflection, and live supervision as participants locate their own philosophy-in-action. Come for a cup of TEA—Theory, Ethics, and Application—and leave with firmer footing in who you are, what you believe, and how you practise.
Ecological and Systemic TA Thinking
18 February 2026
In this seminar we turn our gaze outward: from the individual in the consulting room to the more-than-human contexts in which we and our clients live. Inspired by Giles Barrow’s vision of Eco-TA—the hypothesis that human experience is forged in eco-systemic relation with the wider environment—and by Hayley Marshall’s articulation of the ecological third in outdoor therapeutic practice, we will explore how ecological and systemic thinking invites us to reconsider boundaries, agency, and relationality. The first hour will introduce the core concepts, including ecological selfhood, eco-scripts, the interdependence of human and nonhuman agencies, and what “systemic” really means beyond interpersonal networks. (gilesbarrow.com) The second hour invites case supervision, dialogue, and reflective exploration: what is the ecological dimension in your work, and how might it shift your practice, ethics, and therapeutic presence? Join us for a cup of TEA—Theory, Ethics & Application—and expand how you see, understand, and work with life.
Ego State Theory and Critique – From Structures to Self-States
18 March 2026
Ego state theory lies at the heart of Transactional Analysis, yet its meaning and use have evolved dramatically since Berne’s original Parent–Adult–Child model. This seminar explores how contemporary TA schools—Classical, Co-creative, Relational, and Integrative/Relational—diverge in their understanding of what ego states are, how they are known, and how they change. Moving from fixed structural entities to relationally emergent self-states, we’ll examine tensions around ontology, epistemology, and the enduring question of the “Adult.” The first hour introduces the theoretical terrain, drawing on critiques by Tudor, Summers, Erskine, and Hargaden & Sills; the second hour opens the floor for supervision and dialogue on how these models shape our clinical presence and technique. Join us for a cup of TEA—Theory, Ethics, and Application—and re-think ego state theory for a contemporary, relational, and attachment-attuned psychotherapy.
Approaches to Clinical Supervision – What Are We Really Doing Here?
20 May 2026
Inviting us to step back from techniques and models to ask a deeper question: What is supervision, ontologically speaking? Drawing on contemporary debates and grounded theory perspectives, we will explore how different ontological positions—positivist, constructivist, relational, and ecological—shape the very nature of what supervision is and does. From developmental and process models to more emergent, co-constructed approaches, we’ll examine how being and knowing are enacted within the supervisor–supervisee–client triad. How do our assumptions about knowledge, power, and reciprocity influence what we call “good supervision”? The first hour offers a theoretical framework for reflecting on these questions; the second opens the floor for supervision and dialogue. Join us for a cup of TEA—Theory, Ethics, and Application—and engage in an inquiry into supervision not just as a method, but as a way of being-with others in the work.
Tbc 17 June 2026
About the trainer
Andy Williams, TSTA(P), is passionate as a trainer and supervisor of Transactional Analysis. He has years of experience in developing others’ training and supervision practices. Andy facilitates professional excellence workshops, has staffed TEW workshops, and is a highly experienced TA examiner at all levels, as well as an exam process facilitator. He looks forward to supporting your next developmental step.
