Initial entry to the Advanced Transactional Analysis Programme:

• Successful completion of our Foundation course in TA or equivalent training of a minimum 120 hours' TA training.
• Personal and professional readiness to continue training.

Subsequent years of the Advanced Transactional Analysis Programme:

• Successful completion of the requirements of previous training year(s).
• Personal and professional readiness to continue training.

How to apply:

You can apply by submitting the following documents and items:

• Advanced Courses Application Form (available to download from 'Download' section of this web page).

Final application date
 

The deadline for applications is 6 weeks before the start of the course. A decision will be made on whether the course will run, based on confirmed and accepted places, 4 weeks before the start date of the course. Any applications received after the 6 week deadline will only be processed at the discretion of the Programmes Lead.

The three year programme includes:

• Classical school of TA
• Redecision school of TA
• Cathexis school of TA
• TA as a relational therapy
• Use of supervision
• DSM V and psychopharmacology
• Working with diversity
• Ethics and professional practice
• Working with an integrating TA theory
• Contracting, treatment direction and change
• Models of the therapeutic relationship
• Working with the unconscious and intersubjectivity
• Endings in therapy
• Sexuality
• Theories and disorders of the self
• Working with trauma and abuse
• Working with shame.
• Integration of TA theory into practice
• Attachment theory
• Neuroscience and psychotherapy
• Research and psychotherapy
• Transference and countertransference in the therapeutic relationship
• Working with narrative
• Impasse and uncertainty in the relationship
• Working with couples
• Working with groups
• What sort of practitioner am I?

Students undertake personal therapy, clinical practice, supervision, continuing professional development and a mental health familiarisation placement.

To qualify as a Certified Transactional Analyst, leading to UKCP Registration, students meet requirements set out by both the UKCP (through the UK Association for TA), and the European Association of TA. The details of all these requirements are complex, so are set out in full in the course Handbook.

Course fees and payment options:

Core tutors are specialists in relational Transactional Analysis, Neuroscience, Mentalising (fonagy), social and political contexts in psychotherapy. 

Our lecturers are senior practioners and supervisors and trainers who are specialists in their field and are published authors. 

All the tutors on the TA course are qualified as TA psychotherapists (Certified Transactional Analyst, psychotherapy speciality) with at least an MSc-level qualification, and are qualified to teach TA (Provisional Teaching and Supervising Transactional Analyst, psychotherapy speciality).

Our learning programmes are designed to be participative, experiential and to draw whenever possible on prior lived experience. The academic value of programmes is enhanced by a learning environment that is warm, transparent, and genuine. Learners and staff interact in a mutual effort to engage in and promote the concept of lifelong learning.

Please click here to visit the tutor's profiles. 

Further qualification to teach and supervise within the TA field via the progression routes set out by the International TA associations.

Course structure

How long is the course?

4 years of formal teaching. 1 year of the Foundation course and 3 years of the Advanced TA psychotherapy course.

How does each year work?

The Foundation course is 9 weekends, November to July. The Advanced course is 10 weekends, September to July, no weekend in April. Once the course has started, the group is closed so no one else can join the group.

Is it always weekends, in Exeter?

Yes, all the course is based around weekends, and at the moment, they are all in Exeter.

What are two parts of the course about?

During the Foundation course, we cover a huge amount of TA theory, at depth. At this stage, the theory is applied to people’s work situations and personal lives, as most people are not in practice at this time. TA theory can be applied in four fields: Psychotherapy, Counselling, Education and Organisations, and the Foundation course is designed to look at all these fields. There is also a strand running through the Foundation course of developing counselling skills, so students are ready to start in practice once they start the Advanced course.

The Foundation course gives students a good grounding in TA theory for the rest of the Advanced course. In that part of the course, we look at psychotherapy specifically, how TA theory has been applied in this field, and at theories from other modalities that are relevant to this.

Why is it 4 years?

The course leads to registration with the UKCP, UK Council for Psychotherapy, and to qualification as a Certified Transactional Analyst through the European Association for Transactional Analysis (EATA). The requirements for numbers of training hours, and duration of training are set out by those organisations. Within the section of the UKCP that TA belongs to (The Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapy College), psychotherapy courses must be 4 years long and at MSc level.

Can I take time out?

There is a natural break between the Foundation and Advanced course. Indeed, some students may be asked to take a break between those courses in order to do some additional development. Students can also take time out during the Advanced course. Each year group is closed once it has started, so students only start at the beginning of each year. However, stopping training for a year then re-starting training is manageable, and not unusual.

What happens at the end of 4 years?

Students who complete the requirements of the 4 year course are awarded an Iron Mill diploma in TA psychological studies. In order to get an Iron Mill diploma in TA psychotherapy, and gain UKCP registration, students must complete their qualification as a Certified Transactional Analyst through the European Association for Transactional Analysis (EATA).

How do you complete the CTA?

Candidates write a dissertation (known as the ‘written exam’ in the TA world), and once that is passed they undertake an ‘oral exam’ in which they present and discuss their work. These exams are run outside the Iron Mill by EATA. It is theoretically possible to complete these immediately after finishing the 4-year course, but most people take some more time than that. This is partly because people need to complete their clinical hours (hours of seeing clients), but also because candidates want to feel robust in their practice and their integration of TA theory into their practice, and this takes time.

Eligibility and application for the course

What qualifications do I need to apply?

The course is an MSc level course, so students need to be prepared and able to work at that level. That does not mean you need to have a first degree, as many people have not been in formal education. However, we look at other professional qualifications, other relevant training (such as counselling-skills courses) and people’s motivation. We discuss this before application and at interview. The Foundation course is also a good ‘tester’ as it is between degree and MSc level.

Do I need to have done a TA101 to apply?

This is strongly recommended, as the TA101 is a useful ‘taster’ for TA and for the way we think about it and teach it at the Iron Mill, so if you can attend one that will help you in your decision-making.

Do I need to have done counselling courses to apply?

No. You do not need to have done any previous courses. That is, you can go straight into the Foundation course without having done any counselling skills courses or the Iron Mill Certificate in counselling. A portion of the Foundation course is dedicated to developing counselling skills. This ensures that all students have good enough counselling skills to continue on the course, and this is part of our ongoing assessment throughout the Foundation course.

What if I haven’t already learnt counselling skills?

There is teaching and development of these skills, and formal feedback on them, throughout the Foundation course. At the end of that course students need to meet the personal and professional criteria to progress on to the Advanced course. This includes a good enough level of skills and personal readiness to start seeing working with clients during the first year of the Advanced course. If students are not ready, they would be given recommendations for what they needed to do in order to meet those criteria and to continue on to the Advanced course.

What if I’ve done some TA already, can I skip the Foundation year?

This is worth discussing with the course leader. However, the requirement for the Advanced course is that students have completed at least 120 hours of training in TA, and this is generally only fulfilled by TA Foundation courses.

What if I’ve already done a counselling course?

Each year we have some people on the TA psychotherapy course who have completed a counselling course. Sometimes they want to learn about TA on the Foundation course, sometimes they want to develop their practice and become qualified as a psychotherapist. This is therefore a common path for TA trainees, and we welcome trainees who already have had these experiences.

I’ve missed the start of the Foundation course this year, what can I do?

It can be frustrating to find that you’ve just missed the start date of a course. There are other things you can do in the meantime. If you haven’t already attended a TA101, we strongly recommend you do that, so you have a good idea of what the TA Foundation course will be like. You could also do some reading, and start to work in therapy if you’re not already doing so. We’d also recommend that you speak to the TA lead tutor, as she can discuss other options and directions for you. Finally, as the TA course is a big undertaking, with a lot of commitments from the students, then we really encourage prospective students to take their time in applying. In that context, having time to research the course, look into TA, and to think about your motivation is time well spent in the long-term.

Course requirements

What are the course requirements of the Foundation course?

•           Attendance of at least 80% of the course. (The expectation is that students will attend all of the course, so they also need to make up any theory that they do miss.)

•           There are two written assignments of 2000 words each

•           A presentation at the end of the year.

•           We also recommend that people keep a learning journal.

•           We strongly recommend that all trainees start or continue in weekly personal therapy during the Foundation course. This is mandatory for anyone who is going to continue into the Advanced course. There is no requirement for clinical practice during the Foundation course.

What are the course requirements of the Advanced course?

•           Attendance of at least 80% of the course. (The expectation is that students will attend all of the course, so they also need to make up any time they do miss.)

•           Two written assignments of 3000 words each, one of 1500 words

•           A presentation at the end of the year.

•           We recommend that people keep a learning journal, as the 1500 word assignment is based on the learning journal.

•           Students need to be in weekly therapy.

•           During the first year of the Advanced course students need to find a placement and start clinical practice.

•           They also need supervision every other week, and at least monthly supervision with a TA supervisor. (So many students have monthly supervision with their TA supervisor and monthly supervision in their placement.)

What are the course requirements for the CTA?

In addition to the training hours, therapy hours, supervision hours etc. students need to undertake a mental-health familiarisation placement in their local area so they have an understanding of how patients with mental health problems can be assessed and treated. At the end of their training period, trainees then complete a dissertation and a viva, which is part of the TA qualification system, run by our European professional body (European Association of Transactional Analysis).

Who can be my psychotherapist during training?

Therapists need to be UKCP-registered psychotherapists, preferably in the Humanistic and Integrative College. They do not need to be TA psychotherapists.

Who can be my supervisor during training?

TA supervisors need to be a Provisional Teaching and Supervising Transactional Analyst, or Teaching and Supervising Transactional Analyst with a psychotherapy speciality.

Why TA?

What are the differences between TA and an integrative course?

TA is itself an integrative model, that has been developed over the last 60 years, and incorporates elements of both psychoanalytic and humanistic models. As the theory was all developed under the ‘umbrella’ of TA, the models integrate very well, different parts of the theory fit well together and can communicate well with each other. This makes the theory very robust. The challenge of an integrative course is to make your own integration from different pieces of theory that did not develop together so may not fit together so easily.

Is TA too limiting as a model compared with an integrative course?

I don’t believe so. TA is used across the spectrum of practices, from cognitive–behavioural work to a relational psychoanalytic approach, and is highly adaptable to different practitioners and contexts. TA theory is deceptively simple at a first look, but has great depth, so it allows us to work with people with complex mental health problems, problems related to their development, and to do depth psychotherapeutic work.

Clients are not generally interested in the model of counselling or psychotherapy a practitioner uses, but simply in whether they believe they can work with that person. This is appropriate as it’s the therapeutic relationship that is a key factor in the success of the work.

Why psychotherapy?

What is the difference between psychotherapy and counselling?

This is a complex and political question, and you would get a different answer from anyone you asked. However the description below is consistent with way this difference is described by the international TA accrediting bodies. Counselling works with the person in their situation to deal with current problems and increase their strengths, resources and functioning in their professional, social and cultural context. In TA terms, this is work with the Adult, here and now, Ego state. Psychotherapy aims to address and heal fundamental, developmental and relational issues for a person that are limiting them – ‘to deal with the past in the present, so they are free to live their lives in the future’. In TA terms, this is work not only with the Adult, but also the Child and Parent Ego state. At its best, the aim is to change people’s personality structure. This would often be in the context of long-term work.

What clients could I work with?

The psychotherapy training (it’s length, level of study and requirement for personal therapy and a mental-health familiarisation placement), equips graduates to work with clients with a wide spectrum of problems, including mental-health disorders (though some are still best worked with in hospitals). This may mean that psychotherapists are able to work within the healthcare system, and that they have competence to work with a variety of clients (under supervision) in private practice.