We are pleased to share the summary of the fourth and final webinar in the “Avoidance & Engagement in a Disturbed World” series, organized by the Social Engagement Committee (SEC) of the International Transactional Analysis Association (ITAA).

Held during the Diwali season, this session brought together over 75 participants from across the globe in a dialogical space to explore the role of the transactional analysis (TA) community in a time of upheaval and fragmentation. The webinar was hosted by Sashi Chandran, the new chair of the committee, with interpretation provided for Spanish-speaking attendees. As with previous SEC events, the format combined keynote input, guided dialogue and collective reflection in small breakout groups.

Keynote contributions: Diane Salters and Valerie Batts

We were honored to welcome two long-standing contributors to the ITAA community as speakers: Diane Salters, a Teaching and Supervising Transactional Analyst (TSTA-P) from South Africa and founder of the SEC, and Valerie Batts, a TSTA-P from the United States, social justice activist and early advocate for embedding political awareness into TA practice. Both speakers brought insightful personal and political perspectives.

Batts, reflecting on her decades of experience as a Black woman in the U.S., recounted her early hopes in 1986 that TA could evolve into an advocacy-based community. She expressed concern that TA had often remained focused on the personal and interpersonal while neglecting the institutional and systemic. Emphasizing the ongoing struggles for racial and economic justice, she argued that TA practitioners can become more explicitly engaged in public life to counter forces threatening democracy and social cohesion.

Salters offered a broader global view, naming the reemergence of racism, misogyny, nationalism and systemic violence worldwide — noting Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine and the U.K. — as a rupture demanding a response. For her, the question is twofold: What duty of care do we owe each other within our TA community, and what responsibility do we hold toward the wider societies we inhabit?

Drawing on Ilya Prigogine’s metaphor of “islands of coherence” (“When a system is far from equilibrium, small islands of coherence in a sea of chaos have the capacity to lift the entire system to a higher order”), Salters proposed that TA practitioners can become seeds of higher-order change in a world drifting toward chaos.

Themes from the breakout groups

In small groups, participants reflected on the ideas presented and explored the emerging narrative of disturbance and responsibility at the community level. Some of the key themes that emerged include:

• Silence as complicity: Many voiced concern over the TA community’s silence regarding unfolding crises. Silence, as several participants affirmed, is not neutral but a political act.
• Fear and speechlessness: Participants acknowledged the internal and external forces — shame, fear and institutional backlash — that contribute to silencing and disconnection within communities.
• Power and whiteness: Some members underlined the need to name whiteness, privilege and systemic racism as barriers to authentic dialogue in the TA field, calling for greater courage and accountability.
• Hope through dialogue: At the same time, many reaffirmed the importance of dialogue, visibility and small-scale coherence. From therapy rooms to political marches, and from community action to narrative reframing, participants called for collective strategies to uphold dignity, truth and engagement.

Concluding reflections

In closing, Salters and Batts reiterated the critical role of TA professionals in this moment. Batts encouraged the creation of “corrective experiences” to disrupt cultural scripts of fear and hierarchy, particularly in societies where segregation and misinformation remain embedded. Salters highlighted the importance of resisting despair by committing to sustained, values-driven action: “Hope is not about optimism,” she quoted, “it’s about knowing there’s work to be done, and being ready to do it.”

The session closed with Chandran thanking Günther Mohr for leading the SEC throughout the webinar series. She acknowledged the clarity, warmth and inclusive spirit he brought to the committee.

We thank all those who contributed to this session and invite you to revisit the full webinar recording on the ITAA’s YouTube channel.