In Jungian theory, archetypes are primitive, mental, ancestral images inherent in the collective unconscious. Archetypes are present in literature, films, books and theatre. They are the characters whose stories play out in a certain way. You might have watched a film in which you could see the way a character's role was playing out and wanted them to take a different path. ​In Transactional Analysis we work with the roles people play in life to help them find a path that serves them well. TA helps people find a healthy path through concepts such as  life script analysis. Eric Berne called it, "Putting a new show on the road."

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The always, never or until sense of life's journey can be where we find the repeating patterns we want to change. ​Archetypes bring another dimension to TA, making use of the symbolic nature of our sense of self, others and the world. In this workshop you can explore your own archetypes and work with others to see how they show up in your everyday life. For example, your artist archetype might show up in the way you dress, the way you decorate your home, the way you talk to people. You might not be an artist although your energy exhibits the archetype.

 

As practitioners, working with archetypes can help you identify what kind of therapist you are and how you work with clients. ​Working with archetypes using TA in your practice can help clients to understand their patterns of behaviour, thinking and feeling in a creative way that is unconditionally accepting. Particularly, this is relevant now because of new thinking in TA about neurodivergence and how we need to change our traditional models and interventions.