S8 E13: The TA Podcast Turns 5: Celebrating Growth, Global Impact, and What’s Next

For five years, the Transactional Analysis Podcast has shared stories, insights, and inspiration - bringing the heart and soul of TA to life. 

What began as a bold idea has become a global platform for learning, connection, and creativity within the TA community. 

In this special episode, hosts Matt, John, and James reflect on five years of the Transactional Analysis Podcast - sharing the milestones, challenges, and moments of transformation that have shaped its success.

We celebrate the partnerships that made it possible, the guests who made TA theory come alive, and the listeners who keep the spirit of TA growing worldwide. 

Plus, we look to the future: making TAP even more accessible, embracing new technology, and inviting you to help sustain this shared resource through our Patreon campaign.

Tune in to Discover:

• How the TA Podcast began as a “side project” and became a professional podcast loved around the world.
• The recent milestone to improve accessibility to the global TA community.
• The real highs and lows of creating the TA Podcast over the past 5 years
• Stories from our guests that have brought TA theory alive
• Learn how you can help the TA Podcast continue to thrive and support the future of the show

Press play and join us as we reflect, celebrate, and look forward!

Support the Future of The Transactional Analysis Podcast

This podcast has always been about passion, not profit. If you believe in the work we’re doing, help us continue by supporting TAP on Patreon. It’s quick, affordable, and will make a real difference to our future.

Become a Supporter Here.

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 www.tapodcast.com

Transcript

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

(with speaker labels)

[John] So we are at the end of five years. I can't quite believe that it's been five years, Matt 

[Matt] It does seem like that has gone really fast for me. feels a bit of a blur, February 2021, actually, though it is five years since we published, we were doing this in 2019 when we were running those first five episodes as interviews. So it's for us, it's slightly longer than that, but yeah, since we published February, 2020.

[James] And as a listener, I remember so clearly during the pandemic walking my dog and listening to all the outputs of the content having little idea that Five years later, I would be working with you guys as the chair of the podcast. So yeah, that was a real kind of signature moment for the pandemic for me.

[Matt] it's really interesting that we managed to get it all pulled together in those five months or rather those five episodes in the months running up to the pandemic, it kind of, it worked out really well. And then everybody went on zoom and then everybody got much more used to talking and chatting and it made it much easier for us in terms of our international guests. 

[John] Yeah, actually in a way the pandemic almost made It easier for the podcast to come into existence and be successful because. People wanted online content, but also, we wanted to record the content online rather than meeting people in person. And I remember before COVID, when we were recording the initial episodes we were getting feedback from people like, Oh no, I'd like to meet you.

You know, Matt and I were having panic attacks about all these flights. we were going to have to get to sit down for an hour with somebody and record an episode. And now that's not a thing anymore. 

[Matt] Well, do you remember the first time we actually did that? It was with Richard Erskine. I flew over to Ireland and then we drove up to meet him. And I used a recording device, which only had 29 minutes and 59 seconds recording capacity for an hour's interview. And so we completely lost the back end of that interview. And I had to then plead with Richard that I could meet him in London and and finish it off. it all worked out in the end, but I remember feeling so bad when I realized that, uh, amateurs.

[James] I'm gonna ask both of you since uh, you've been both been around since the beginning, you know, kind of what would you each both most like, to celebrate about your five year involvement with this project?

[Matt] Number one, partnership with John and that's been fantastic. Yeah.I think Jon's strengths allied to my strengths, I think has really worked well. One of the reasons why things have gone well. And our friendship. 

[John] Yeah. We compliment each other in different ways. 

[James] And isn't that so often the way with founders, right. So somehow a bit of a bit of serendipity And you find each other and your skill sets are complementary and somehow you're able to create this and get It going. And that's that's testament to the fact that it's been five years in the running. 

[Matt] It's true. He’s not got sick of me yet. He hasn't said anyway. 

[John] And there's moments where there were real moments of like, Oh my God, is this going to continue? Because, This is a voluntary side project for both of us, which can be very time consuming or was in the early days, particularly for you, Matt, with the editing And you know, life happens. Like in the last five years, we've both had, 

difficult personal periods for different reasons, family members with ill health, Matt's done his CTA, we've had a lot going on in our lives and we've still managed to keep it going, which in itself actually feels like an achievement to celebrate, because it'd be one thing if this was our paid job, but it's not and I think that's important for me anyway, to recognize, Because I have given a lot of time, energy to this. And so have you.

[Matt] It's interesting you say that because I think again, in terms of our partnership, we have been able to both individually take up the slack when the other has had a lot on or a lot of difficulties going on in the background. So Yeah. That for me, I think that's one of my biggest celebrations. it's been fantastic. 

[James] Yeah, justifiably so. And it makes me think of something

that Berne wrote himself about organ groups and organizations and they have an innate desire to survive. The topic is T. A And within that you two, despite all the odds have kept this going for five years. 

So I love the fact that one of the T A ethos from the organizational field is what kind of woven into the success of this project and how appreciated and valued it has become, particularly by the T A community.

[John] That's another thing I'd like to celebrate actually, is that what we have done is actually remarkable. Like I take it so for granted because we're down in the details, the weeds of this, all the time, but actually what we have produced and offered to the TA community is a thing of remarkability. Like this didn't exist. Nothing like this existed beforehand. And now there's all of this content, which people can listen to.

And we get messages all the time on Instagram and LinkedIn from people around the world saying, Oh, I've been listening to your podcast and it's been so helpful. I'm doing my foundation year or I'm in advanced training. And that in itself is an incredible achievement, which I'd like to celebrate because when I first started training in TA, there were no audio resources. There wasn't even an audio book. They just didn't exist. So I think besides the fact of actually doing it and putting the content out, we have also catered to a whole cohort of people with a particular learning style that has made learning TA more accessible. And that's a real passion. for me, and I'd really like to, to celebrate that, that feels really significant. 

[James]I think podcasts really did take off during the pandemic. And I think what I was really impressed with when I got involved was the professionalism and the credibility and the resources. It's like any other professionally produced podcast that you can search Spotify, Apple, whatever your sources, you go in there and there is a body of work on, TA that you can access.

And I think it's important as well to remember one of your original goals, both of you was to promote TA outside TA. And that's certainly as I think as we enter into sixth year and beyond is we want to really continue that mission of promoting accessibility of TA to those who are maybe not in the community.

We're not going to abandon that community. We want to continue to support and sustain that. But that idea of continuing to get comments from people who are on the fringes, or maybe don't know so much, ,but having a way to come in and say, this is professional, it's joined up, it's serious, there's a huge body of knowledge, it applies into all these different fields and walks of life, that's impressive.

[Matt] One of the things that I've really enjoyed about interviewing the guests is the insights that emerge through conversation that you don't get when somebody writes a paper and also the character, the personality and the liveliness of the interview. The spirit of TA, which is in our strapline now, you know, conversations,  on the spirit of TA as well as the theory. And I have really enjoyed hearing the theory come alive, especially when people share examples.

The ego states model, for example, and just those little beautiful moments where TA's made a massive difference to an individual's lives. That you don't always get the spirit of it when you're, when you're reading books or reading papers. And I think it's been really nice to hear the voice of the authors and the theorists.

[James] And two more, two more things as well that I would say from having listened is, what doesn't get conveyed in books is some of the, the positive irreverence. That can be around transactional analysts. You know, it's like, let's keep provoking, let's keep shaking the frame of reference. Let's help each other think differently.

And then the other bit would be the social justice aspect of TA, which was in the original formulation of TA and sometimes comes and goes, but many of our guests have brought that aspect as well. Something I would want to celebrate that you've created.

[John] The other thing on the accessibility front, to mention as a celebration, which is a much more recent thing that has occurred to celebrate only last week, we are now on YouTube, which has always been a goal of ours is to get the podcast onto YouTube. And we've done it. So I want to celebrate that because for people listening, you might be thinking, Oh, that must be really straightforward.

It isn't, it is not straightforward at all. And we're on YouTube. And what that now means is that people can ‘watch’ the podcast and I say ‘watch’ because I'm talking about having closed captions up on the video And you can now watch the podcast in any language that youtube offers which is an enormous feat. So it means that we are recognizing that globally there are many many many people in the TA community who do not speak english and we've always wanted to make the podcast as accessible as we possibly can And that's now been made possible by being on Youtube and having this closed captions feature and the three of us are always talking about accessibility of, you know, what's the next thing.

Matt and I had a conversation six months ago about potentially using this new AI tool, which would auto generate translation into any language if you were listening to it, which, you know, the fact that that even exists is mildly scary, but also seems incredibly great and these are the things that we're always thinking about. So I think we are also at the forefront of embracing technology and AI within the TA community and leading the way on, on that sort of technology enablement, which feels really good. Yeah. 

[Matt] The fact that somebody who where English is a difficulty and they're not going to have access to this great resource that they'll be able to go on YouTube and be able to read the captions And then hopefully like say in the future, be able to hear it in their own language as well.

[James] Yeah and then TA. has always been global, but there are countries around the world where there's less TA. And so this is a really important way - This YouTube accessibility to make sure that people can access the ideas of T A. If you are in a country where there is less of an established presence, or formerly kind of accredited TA teachers and supervisors.

[Matt] It’s been a good five years. It's been a good five years and now we're taking a winter break. 

So we're not putting anything out or we're not going to do anything until February 2025, which will be the start of our sixth year., The last two years especially has been very consistent, very busy. And part of the reason why it's been so busy is we were receiving sponsorship. We got sponsorship from the ITAA and The European association and the international association for transactional analysis, and they sponsored us to put out an episode once a month, every month. And so we've been pretty consistent with that and now that sponsorship agreement is coming to an end. And so that's why we're able to take a bit of a break, which is a bit, which should be nice.

[James] And I think at this point we really want to thank sincerely ITAA and EATA and particularly the people who are really closely involved from those two bodies who have been such passionate advocates for the podcast and its output and supporting us in all sorts of ways. We are we are incredibly grateful for their support through that period.

[Matt] It’s made a huge difference. The sponsorship and the support we've received over the past two years has made a huge difference to the podcast, to John and I, in terms of, what we've been able to do, the resources that have been available to us, getting a professional podcast manager to edit and run the social media.

It's been, it's been brilliant. What I wanted to do is thank the people involved in the quality assurance team, because they have month on month, listen to every podcast before it's got published, and send back feedback to us. If anything, they thought may need to be considered or, or addressed, then we've done that.

And so we're, we're very grateful. So to Steph, Anna Maria. And more recently, Alvin and Denise, we're really grateful for the time and the effort and the support that you've given us. It's been wonderful. And I, want to just highlight Steph, who has championed this for even before she was in quality assurance, since she was a guest on the podcast, she's been pushing for us to be, receiving some kind of support from the, from the community.

[James] I think it's worth restating, Matt, that for the transaction analysis community, the transaction analysis journal has been an absolute underpinning bedrock of T. A. It's where articles and thinking get published. And we've always been very clear that the podcast is not an academically referenced journal, but it plays a complementary role to the T . A. J. in establishing an oral canon that will always be available to the TA Community. And you know, and that's also why both of you were really clear that you always wanted the podcast to be for the good of all TA. And not particularly aligned to one association or another. So I think it's worth restating that. And I think with that, a reminder again, this is an entirely voluntary run organization. I want to ask John to introduce our latest funding campaign and also for those that don't know what a patreon is. So John, take it away.

[John] So up until now, so five years we haven't asked you for monetary support. And that, that's changing now. Now we are asking you for monetary support. We know that what we're offering is of value. It is a voluntary Organization like James said it's a not for profit so all of the money that comes into the organization is used for the production of the podcast and the podcast costs money to run that's that's a reality and as our sponsorship agreement we've had in the last two years comes to an end we've decided that we're going to diversify our funding streams And, one of those is by asking you to support us.

So what James mentioned there, Patreon is the platform in which we're going to be asking you to support us. Patreon is something that got set up maybe about 10 years ago, I think, probably and it enables organizations like us or small enterprises to ask for a monthly donation, Subscription support. So for example, ours is 3 dollars plus VAT. You can sign up anytime and you can cancel it anytime. So there, there's no long term commitment, whatever works for you. And we will just greatly appreciate any support that you are willing to give us. And that's kind of the starting point, I guess, of our diversification.

We're also looking for other funding streams, so we won't be just relying on patreon And also there's scope on patreon for us to do additional things like offering additional content and we're exploring that at the moment and next year, if that's viable, we might offer additional tiers on patreon and then provide additional benefits to people who who are listening and again - I want to be really clear, This is not a paywall. This is not us putting the podcast behind the paywall and saying, you're going to have to pay for it. That's not the long term agenda here either. This isn't the beginning of paywall. So let me be really clear that the three of us are very clear that we want the podcast to remain open source.

We know that there's so much benefit in this just being available to the public, totally free of charge.

So the support really is just support it's it's about donating and offering your support if it's something if it's a project you believe in and you see the benefit in and you'd like to support us then the link is on our website It's also available on our social media 

And yeah, we'd be thrilled if you supported us and if you support us you get a lovely badge that you can put on your website or on your email signature that says I support the transactional analysis podcast.

[Matt] It really will make an enormous difference for everybody who signs up. It means that we can continue to put out material of the quality that we have been doing and better, the social media material that we've been putting out there to promote TA that has been excellent since we've taken on Katie, our podcast manager and it all has a cost involved.

Even the fact that we're now a community interest company, which is limited by guarantee. That means we guarantee all the funds go towards the project, even that just having that and running the accounts every year has costs involved that weren't there at the beginning when we set this up on a shoestring, all the free software we were using was very time consuming, so yeah, it makes such a difference for everybody who, who signs up.

[James] Yeah, and I think Matt as well,  these Patreon contributions will help us to continue providing the content on YouTube so that it's accessible around the world. And we've deliberately kept the price low. But to absolutely emphasize a UK community interest company, everything gets reinvested for the podcast, there are no salaries paid to the volunteers who do this work, but this is about running a professional podcast operation. So we would be really grateful if you would consider signing up to the patron.

[Matt] And then as John said in, in the future, we are looking for sponsorship and publicity opportunities for other organizations who want to get involved and want to support the podcast, looking forward to what will emerge in 2025.

[John] Yeah, let's push that even further Matt, if you were in the leadership of a national association, Regional association - if you are listening to this episode or you run a TA training institute and you'd like to sponsor us for publicity then we would be really interested.

[James] And John, who should they reach out to? Is it the TA podcast?

[John] Yeah. info@tapodcast.com

[James] Wonderful. 

[John] Awesome. Thank you to everyone who has listened to the podcast over the last five years and we wish you all a really enjoyable holiday period. 

[Matt] Yeah. Thank you so much for your support. Thanks to all the listeners. Thanks for those who send us feedback and encouragement and support as well. 

[John] Oh, and I want to celebrate one more thing. Matt and I would like to celebrate you, James. Because you enabled us to advance this in the last 12 months in a way that has been really useful for us. You've come in as like a backbone support for both of us and that has been really helpful very reassuring And yeah, I want to celebrate you 

[James] Well, thank you both. I've so enjoyed getting involved with the podcast because the professionalism of what you're already doing Is wonderful. And this is about kind of for me and, my role, how can we ensure the longevity of this project and its sustainability beyond its founders. Sorry guys, But I know you I know you would both agree with this that we want this to exist in the TA canon for enduring 

times, basically .

[Matt] Yeah. When we've stepped back, we want it to be the other hosts and co hosts take over. And there'll be new hosts joining the team in the coming months that, yeah, that this continues regardless of which individuals are involved. I think you have made such a difference with that James, and especially when it comes to giving us the psychological support when going through transition, that has been really wonderful and really appreciate it.

[James] It's been a pleasure. 

[Matt] So we look forward to reconnecting with you all in 2025. Bye.

[John] Bye for now.

[James] See you.