Episode 6: SURVIVING YEAR 1: GROWTH, DOUBT AND BREEAKTHROUGH

In Part 1 of this two-part conversation, the hosts of TA Therapy Ain’t Just White reflect honestly on the highs and lows of their first year of Transactional Analysis training — the parts no one fully prepares you for.

From personal therapy and group process to placement experiences, identity shifts, vulnerability, and self-discovery, this episode explores what it means to keep showing up when the training starts working on you as much as the theory itself. The team share moments of doubt, growth, connection, and challenge, alongside the unexpected ways TA language begins to make sense of real-life experience and the work they were already doing before training.

They also speak openly about race, belonging, safety in training spaces, and what it can feel like to find — or sometimes question — your place within the therapeutic community while learning to become a therapist.

Whether you’re thinking about starting therapy training, already in your first year, or somewhere further along the journey and recognising parts of your own experience in this conversation, this episode offers reassurance that the discomfort, questions, and breakthroughs are all part of becoming.

If you're curious about Transactional Analysis and want to explore training or resources further, you can learn more through organisations such as the UK Association for Transactional Analysis, the European Association for Transactional Analysis, the International Transactional Analysis Association, and the UK Council for Psychotherapy.

A real conversation about growth, uncertainty, identity, and becoming.

Credits

Music sourced from: Freemusicarchive.org

• “The Road” by Ketsa Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)

• “Feelings” by 1000 Handz Beatz under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)

Intro and Outro Voice: - Robert, Birmingham

Post-production, editing and transcription: – Candice Nolan, Johannesburg