Shortly before my TSTA exam in 2023, a friend of mine, who isn’t involved in TA said:
“Oh, so you will be among the very powerful people in your community afterwards!?”
My very spontaneous reaction: “No, I don’t see it this way.”
And she replied: “People on top of hierarchical systems own power whether they like it or not.”

Do you also catch yourself or others denying the fact that power is at play in our TA hierarchy? As TA folks we focus on supporting thriving, inviting the potency in our clients (Gouldings) and trainees, and fostering our own potency (Crossmann/Steiner). At the same time, our training and certification system naturally contains power differences, that are lived out in supportive and also in unhealthy ways.

I fear that the more I am / we are unaware of my/our power, the higher the risk of underestimating its unhelpful dynamics. I hope that the more aware we are, the higher the chance of having a positively powerful impact. Also, in times where I and others often feel powerless in the face of the events in our world, I suggest raising our awareness and daring open communication about power. I believe this will lead to even more potency, not only in us and our trainees/clients but also in what we can contribute to the contexts we belong to outside of our TA community.

Among others, I have discussed this with Marian Timmerman from The Netherlands. In our conversations a model emerged that helps us reflect on the use or misuse of power. We called it the power coral. In this webinar I am excited to introduce the model and its utilization, using it to look at power dynamics through the lenses of different examples.

I am very much looking forward to our conversation!

Nicole Lenner TSTA – C

Since 2003, Nicole is working as a freelance counsellor and coach based in Hamburg/Germany. She is working with individuals and groups, facilitating development processes towards constructive, authentic, positive ways of relating with self and others. Her clients are people in their private and organizational roles.

As TSTA-C, Nicole provides TA training in her own institute and collaborates with other institutes in Germany and internationally. Her passion is to spread TA and to create the conditions where personal-professional development and deep learning of individuals and groups become a reality. Her approach is informed by relational and co-creative TA, body psychology, neuroscience, and her spiritual practice.