Jean Illsley Clarke, TSTA (E) (1925–2021), will receive the 2022 Fanita English Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously. Trudi Newton, in her nomination statement, wrote, “Jean earned this award for her lifetime of commitment to building healthy family and educational systems to support the healthy development of all children. She did this through her books, her teaching, and her personal example in her long life. She ensured a rightful recognition of the value and significance of the educational field in the ITAA.
We are proposing Jean for her lifetime of achievement in so many arenas: theory, writing, innovation, philanthropy, and teaching. I especially want to honor her in the area of enabling others to learn. She transformed the T in TSTA from ‘Teaching’ to a genuinely cocreative process of everyone present learning, including herself.” Janice Dowson added, “From our initial meeting in the late 1970s to our last conversation at the 2019 Raleigh conference, Jean modeled professional commitment and personal creativity. She was a consummate teacher whose curiosity and interest in learning from others counted among her most engaging teaching tools. Jean’s outstanding capacity for personal connection through casual conversations in liminal learning spaces has been a significant, perhaps unrecognized, lifelong contribution to the TA community.
Jean’s career as a writer and parent educator had two parts: one as an accomplished workshop leader and a nationally certified and internationally known parent educator, another as a pioneering transactional analyst who was committed from her first contact with TA to translating its theories, concepts, and philosophy into an educational and parenting context.
In her many books and articles, she always aimed to present ideas as positive guidance, and in this, she inspired others to do the same.” Giles Barrow wrote, “Jean was the founder of the field of educational TA and the great-grandmother from which all other TA educators have come. Some of us worked directly with her, many of us have learned from those who did. Certainly, hundreds, if not thousands, of parents, teachers, and children have been informed by the affirmations, resources, and programs generously given and inspired by Jean. She touched into the practice and philosophy of many of us through her supportive supervision, wise counsel, and wit. Communities of practice grow from the fertile lives of the ancestors, and Jean’s generative capacity was in full flow long before she left us. If we are a more robust network of educational practitioners it has something to do with Jean.”
Jean received the 1995 Eric Berne Memorial Award in the area of practice applications for her work in applied transactional analysis in parent education and the John Gladfelter Life Values Award from the USA Transactional Analysis Association. The nominators for this award included Trudi Newton, Diane Salters, Janice Dowson, Giles Barrow, Susannah Temple, Jan Grant, Rosemary Napper, and Tomoko Abe. Used by permission The Script April 2022.
Inger Acking was nominated for the Robert and Mary Goulding Social Justice Award because of her lifelong commitment to social justice and redecision therapy, her voluntary contributions to ITAA and the TA community, and her unconditional, loving support to Mary Goulding and Muriel James during their final years.
Gloria Noriega describes how after moving from Sweden to the US in the early 1970s, Inger trained in redecision therapy with the Gouldings and has worked as a psychotherapist in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her commitment to social justice has been central in her life through her personal and professional actions. These include volunteering time and support at ITAA conferences; offering personal support to ITAA staff member Ken Fogleman during his last illness; supporting civil rights activists in California fighting for same-sex marriages; providing financial assistance through a college education fund for two African-American girls who otherwise had minimal resources; regularly visiting and providing support to Muriel James, educating staff at Muriel’s long-term memory care residence so that they more fully appreciated who Muriel was, and facilitating communications with and for Muriel when she was unable to do so on her own; directly caring for and continuing an aspect of Mary Goulding’s legacy, the “Women’s Workshop” at Isla Mujeres (Women’s Island) in Mexico, a female space for women in life transitions, which Inger has continued to facilitate in person and more recently via Zoom; and welcoming Mary into her home when Mary’s circumstances were compromised in her later years and offering respectful, staunch friendship as Mary’s health declined.
Inger’s empathic, respectful support for Mary Goulding, Muriel James, and other elder women in our community exemplifies equalitarian values and awareness of cultural injustices and human rights. Janice Dowson commented on how Inger demonstrates the core principles of the Gouldings’ theory through promotion of social justice, personal responsibility, direct action, and affirming relationships: “Over the past 5 years, Inger has been a stalwart member of the NATAA Inclusion, Equity and Social Action Committee (IESAC), joined the NATAA Council, and now serves as IESAC Chair and NATAA Council representative for IESAC.
Inger is a solid team member who prioritizes realizing team goals through humbly contributing wherever help is needed, often in unrecognized ways. Additionally, Inger was a key member of IESAC when the committee ignited the idea for a free, quality, online TA 101 course, thus promoting principles of equity and inclusion by making foundational TA information accessible worldwide to anyone through Project TA101.
In her professional work, Inger provides affordable counseling to a diverse population in an underserved community. Others who wrote to endorse this award for Inger included Felipe Garcia, Bob Hempel, and additional members of the Isla Group, among them Reiko True, Brenda Bary, Roberta Fischer, Susana Ifland, Karyn Krawford, Melanie McGhee, Ksenija Popadic, and Karen Swander.
Watch ‘Live with Lucy’ from the NATAA Facebook page as Lucy Freedman shares her experience as a Transactional Analyst and her role on the NATAA Council and as a member of the ITAA Board of Trustees.
We don’t announce everyone’s birthdays in our NATAA community – but when it’s a 104 th birthday, of someone who is still leading an amazing life – we are delighted to be able to send our love and greetings to our dear Fanita English.
In July, the International Transactional Analysis Association held an awards ceremony, where they presented her with the Fanita English Lifetime Achievement Award, named in her honor. Fanita gave her acceptance speech over zoom, to the admiration and appreciation of the worldwide community, even as some were participating in the middle of the night in their far-flung time zones. The reason for all this attention is not “just” a long life.
Fanita’s achievements in the field of TA are as both a theoretician and a practitioner. She was Eric Berne’s first student at his institute in Carmel, California, founded her own Institute in Philadelphia, and conducted training and therapy in many countries as well as giving presentations at conferences and serving on the Board of the ITAA.
Among her contributions are the concepts of substitute feelings, childhood adaptations, episcripts, and motivators. Her articles have appeared in the Transactional Analysis Journal, including those for which she received the Eric Berne Memorial Award in 1978 and again in 1997. You can find many details of her life and work at this dedicated site created by her trainee and friend Joachim Karnath.
While we recognize her many awards and achievements, it’s Fanita as a person we are celebrating. From her creative and clever solutions to challenges she faced in her childhood and through World War II, her solving problems in mental health, especially with institutions serving children, to her commitment to theory and teaching in many discussions with colleagues, Fanita has always been energetic, interesting, interested, and willing to challenge the status quo. Her unique style creates an impression that people never forget. And if she wants you to get a point that she is making, she will do her best to ensure that you get it!
One of Fanita’s qualities is being a learner about life, taking in new ideas and practices, and passing them on. For example, in recent years, she has shared her practice of being able to meditate for short or long periods of time, letting go of the urgency of the immediate moment.
So let us celebrate Fanita and all the joys, sorrows, and wisdom of a life that is still being well-lived!
This article was originally published in The Script, Vol. 50, No. 4, April. It is republished with the permission of the ITAA.
Leonard Campos is being honored with the 2020 Robert and Mary Goulding Social Justice Award for his years of applying redecision therapy principles and methods in his activism related to social responsibility and justice. The nomination statements in support of his award recalled how Leonard has worked on social justice issues all of his professional life through promoting equality and fair treatment of people of differences.
He has been a regular presenter on social justice and peacemaking and has applied transactional analysis and redecision theory in his work. He has modeled cooperative and collaborative behaviors as he advocated for inclusion and diversity. They acknowledged Leonard’s role as the lead founder of Transactional Analysts for Social Responsibility and the ways he has combined TA and advocacy at the local community level as well as on a wider national and international level.
They cited his many publications and other awards and how his TAJ publications on cultural scripting, war, and peace are strong indicators of his global concern as well as his evolving and enduring commitment to using transactional analysis for social justice. (Leonard’s acceptance speech will be published in an upcoming issue of The Script.) Nominators: Lucy Freedman, Felipe Garcia, Janice Dowson, and Dianne Maki-Sethi.
I am so proud to share with you that a family from India have just been awarded their TAP certificates by NATAA. Dr. Rajan Bhonsle, M.D; Dr Minnu Bhonsle, Ph.D; and Aman Bhonsle, MBA of Mumbai, India are likely the first family unit in Asia to comprise members who are all certified TAPs. It is a significant achievement not only for the Bhonsle family, but a significant development for the TA community in Asia. They shared that they are excited to apply their newly-acquired TA competencies by providing counselling services and workshops at the Heart to Heart Counselling Centre in Mumbai.
To acquire TAP certification, the Bhonsle family flew to Singapore a total of 6 times to attend TAP training by Dr Jessica Leong, TAPI, TSTA.The Bhonsle family requested to share the following feedback on their learning journey in Singapore —“It was a sheer delight to update our TA knowledge and train in Singapore. Dr. Jessica Leong has a penchant for perfection, a passion for detail, unrelenting stamina and a robust sense of humour. We benefited from her rich knowledge, enthusiasm, and professional experience. We are grateful to have learned so much from her in our 6 visits to Singapore from India in the last 16 months. Being trainers in various counselling modalities and consulting counsellors ourselves for almost 3 decades in India, we are pleased to have met her and to have learned so much of value from her.” -Dr. Rajan Bhonsle, M.D
I am so proud to share with you that a family from India have just been awarded their TAP certificates by NATAA. Dr. Rajan Bhonsle, M.D; Dr Minnu Bhonsle, Ph.D; and Aman Bhonsle, MBA of Mumbai, India are likely the first family unit in Asia to comprise members who are all certified TAPs. It is a significant achievement not only for the Bhonsle family, but a significant development for the TA community in Asia. They shared that they are excited to apply their newly-acquired TA competencies by providing counselling services and workshops at the Heart to Heart Counselling Centre in Mumbai.