MLL 2021

“In any given moment, we have two options: to step forward into growth or step back into safety.”
- Abraham Maslow

Glimpses from the SAATA Annual General Meeting

We must risk delight.
We can do without pleasure,
but not delight.
Not enjoyment.
We must have the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless furnace of this world.

 - Jack Gilbert

Becoming a Therapist

My experience of CTA exam process

Here I was, sitting in front of my computer and waiting to be let into the exam room for my CTA oral exam. Not how I had visualized it to be when I cleared my written exam a year ago and started preparing for orals. COVID 19 had forced us to look at ways in which exams could be held in online mode and the board, examiners and candidates all came together to make it happen. In the true spirit of TA, this was an example of exercising our Adult capacities to respond to the here and now reality of pandemic and make different choices.

Highlights from Professional Standards Team

We had wonderful celebrations of 30 SAATA Diploma holders and some powerful sharing of how effective they found their TA journey and Diploma writing experience. We are currently in the process of making small changes to the Diploma format and process while our Advanced Diploma is getting a full re-haul at this moment. In next few months, handbooks containing relevant details will be announced. These will be made available on the SAATA website and also circulated through trainers.

Professional Standards Team lead an exam marking intervention with cohorts of trainers doing sample marking and there are plans to culminate it into a workshop in May 2021. Also, planning for our SAATA Trainers Process Group workshop which will be held in June and led by John Heath TSTA(P) is in progress.

Thanks,
Sai

TA Diploma Reflections from Trainees

Phases of thought process during TA Diploma

Heading into the writing of my TA diploma, I was worried about my lack of understanding of the theory. When I realised that the diploma was going about me, I was even more worried. Just thinking about it made me wonder if I was ready to bare my soul among people I didn't know. Eventually, I came around to the understanding that among peers and teachers of the TA clan, we had contracted that it was a safe space, much like our TA classes. Here, I would not be judged. This allowed a free flow of thoughts, memories and feelings I never knew existed. As I wrote, I had several 'aha' moments leading to the theory coming alive in my own life experiences. The revelations have created an awareness that I carry with me as I go about my life.

SAATA Service Award 2021 Winner

Rema Giridhar has been a SAATA member for over a decade. She has been one of our most willing volunteers for any task that was needed to be done.

For the last 2 years, though Rema held a formal role as the joint secretary of SAATA; she handled operations, memberships, exam coordination, certificates and whatever was asked of her. Her contribution in that role is unmatched. Her creativity, resourcefulness and commitment is much admired. 

Some specific occasions where she excelled in her service to SAATA are-

• The Kochi conference – She was central to the making of brochures, creatives, website management, flyers, registrations, and more importantly in dealing with the crisis that hit us due to the floods in Kerala.
• When the Bangladesh conference got cancelled and was shifted to Coimbatore, she was the central resource person (along with a team) who managed all arrangements in a short span of time. The lovely video she put together during the conference is much remembered by all.
• The innumerable MLLs where again she took responsibility for all the arrangements and accounting for small details like creatively done name tags. She has recruited, held and groomed a whole bunch of volunteers for various activities displaying exemplary people skills.

On the whole Rema is an extremely committed, competent and compassionate worker and truly deserves the SAATA Service Award.

- Ragini Rao, President, SAATA

In Memoriam - Celebration of life, P.K. Saru.

SAATA held a tribute called as “A Celebration of Life” for our beloved PK Saru TSTA (PC) who was the Director of Asha Counseling & Training Services and the Managing Trustee of CHILD. Saru worked closely with many international trainers and teachers of transactional analysis from the time she started her TA journey.

Obituary - KA Sebastian

SAATA pays fond tributes to one of the early transactional analysts in India, and a founding trustee of SAATA - K.A. Sebastian - who passed away on March 22, 2021, just a few days before we lost P.K. Saru.

Born on March 9, 1953, K.A. Sebastian was the only child of Kalaparambath Antony and Mariyamkutty in Kerala.