transactional analysis provides a learning route leading to an internationally recognised qualification in four fields of practice:
TA counselling is a professional activity within a contractual relationship. The counselling process enables clients or client systems to develop awareness, options and skills for problem management and personal development in daily life through the enhancement of their strengths, resources and functioning. Its aim is to increase autonomy in relation to their social, professional and cultural environment. Professional activities include: social welfare, healthcare, pastoral work, prevention, mediation, process facilitation, multicultural work and humanitarian activities.
TA education is for people who work in the area of learning and study in pre-school, school and university contexts. It is also concerned with the support of child, adolescent and adult learning within the family, the institution or society. The work may be applied to the development of teaching teams and institutions. The aim is to further personal and professional growth both scholastic and social.
TA organisations is for practitioners who work in or for organisations, taking into account organisational frames of reference and contexts as well as organisational development. The work is aimed at the development, growth and increased effectiveness of people working within organisations … the client is the organisation itself, not an individual or team who happens to operate in an organisational context … the link with the development of the organisation as a whole must be visible … to increase the autonomy of organisations — their effectiveness, durability and capacity for development.
TA psychotherapy field is for trainees who aim to facilitate the client's capacity for self-actualisation, healing and change. The psychotherapeutic process enables the client to recognise and change archaic and self-limiting patterns — “to deal with the pain of the past in the present so that they are free to live their lives in the future”. The aim is for clients to understand themselves and their relationships and create options to live their lives in an aware, creative and spontaneous way.
The above descriptions are taken from The EATA Handbook. Note that the counselling field within TA is very different from the general use of the term counselling in Britain which usually means therapeutic counselling. Thus in the TA counselling field, advice and guidance and coaching typically fall into this domain. Note also that in the organisational field the change is with the organisation itself, not individuals — therefore much of the work that is provided for organisations such as management development might be focussed on individual professional growth and therefore TA Education.
(See article & powerpoint presentation by Rosemary Napper, 'The context and the setting of TA practitioners')
Within the UK a few TA psychotherapy training establishments are linked to local universities and offer an assessed certificate at the end of the foundation year and a diploma after two years with a Master’s degree on successful completion of CTA.
Provides accreditation for individuals trained as counsellors and therapists upon successful completion of 450 logged training and 400 hours of logged and supervised practice plus case studies and supervisor's report. This is linked with the UKRC — the UK register of counsellors.
In Britain counselling is a term used that generally refers to therapeutic counselling — unless the type of counselling is non-therapeutic and specified: e.g. debt counselling, career counselling, spiritual direction, etc. In TA the field of counselling does not refer to therapeutic counselling. The People Practitioner programme is designed to fulfil the BACP criteria, so those practicing as therapeutic counsellors can easily fulfil BACP requirements for individual accreditation as an end in itself or en route to the CTA Counselling qualification.