Learning from porcupines - Sue Eusden (TSTA-P)

In winter, porcupines congregate together, seeking warmth. As they approach, they injure each other with their feathers. Warmed but wounded, they instinctively move away from each other, only to shiver again and long for the other's warmth.

Games are as much an attempt to seek warmth and connection as they are to deal with hurt and pain. Berne's original idea of games and TA's further development of game theory help us to understand, map and find alternative possibilities for this paradox of intimacy.

We will explore how both porcupines and transactional analysts are discovering how the heat lies in finding the right space - close enough to share warmth, but not so close as to inflict pain.

We will begin the online workshop by bringing game theory to life through a series of briefs on different ways of understanding games in AT and related fun experiential exercises. The second part of the workshop will be an invitation to both personal and professional exploration and mapping of our own vulnerability and application to our working conditions.