Understanding Power Dynamics through Transactional Analysis
A practical training for clinicians who want deeper insight into relational dynamics, authority, and autonomy in the therapeutic space.
"Power plays are attempts to make someone else do something they don’t want to do… Power plays may be overt or covert. Overt power plays are carried out from a one-up position… Covert power plays are carried out from a one-down position…
- Claude Steiner & Hogie Wycoff, Cooperative Contract, revised by Vann Joines
Power shows up in every room — not just in crisis, conflict, or coercion. In this training, we’ll explore how to identify and work with power dynamics using the lens of Transactional Analysis, including ego states, scripts, and consent-conscious interventions.
Whether you’re working with individuals, couples, or groups, power isn’t just a clinical theme — it’s the undercurrent of every interaction. This workshop offers a framework to help you recognize patterns of dominance, submission, autonomy, and permission through the structural and relational models of TA.
No prior knowledge of Transactional Analysis is required — we’ll start with core concepts and move into applied clinical examples.
You Were Trained to Track Emotion. What About Power?
Because control, compliance, and submission don’t always show up in words.
You track tone, gesture, withdrawal, and silence.
But when power dynamics show up—between partners, between therapist and client, or within the client’s internal world—many clinicians find themselves without a clear map.
Not because they’re unprepared. But because power has often been framed as an ethical hazard, not a relational force to be understood.
You’ve seen it show up as compliance that looks like consent.
As hostility that hides collapse.
As caretaking that keeps the client out of their own needs.
Power isn’t just in the story—it’s in the structure of the session.
This training helps you recognize the roles, permissions, and unconscious contracts that keep power hidden in plain sight.
This isn’t about you taking all the power.
It’s about expanding your presence so your clients don’t have to collapse theirs.
This training is for you if:
You’ve ever hesitated to name what’s happening in a power dynamic.
You’re ready to expand your capacity—not your control over clients.
You want to stop subtly reinforcing roles that keep clients small.
You’re looking for tools, language, and clarity—not just theory.
This isn’t a training in taking a client's power or giving up yours.
It’s a training in how to recognize power and work with it.
Power is already in the room.
This helps you see it clearly—and stay connected.
What You'll Learn
This training gives you practical tools to work with power—without retreating, rescuing, or dominating.
You’ll walk away with tools to:
Recognize how power plays out across ego states, roles, and unconscious contracts
Navigate relational dynamics with clarity and clinical presence
Track your own responses without overriding them
Establish clear therapeutic contracts that support autonomy
Interrupt patterns of submission, compliance, or caretaking without pathologizing them
Work effectively with permissions, autonomy, and other relational expectations
Presented by Matthew Riven
Matthew is a coach and educator known for his candid, compassionate work around power, desire, and emotional integration. Drawing from 15+ years of experience with Transactional Analysis, Re-decision work, and relational coaching, he supports clients and clinicians alike in navigating stuck patterns, reclaiming agency, and engaging with desire as a source of growth—not pathology.
Matthew’s specialized training in somatics and power dynamics offers rare, embodied insight—without sensationalism. His approach blends psychological clarity with somatic awareness, helping clinicians deepen emotional intelligence and therapeutic presence. He provides you with the tools to stay balanced—even when the material gets charged.
Ready to Deepen Your Work with Power Dynamics?
We’re adding new training dates regularly—join the waitlist to be the first to know. Trainings are available virtually and in person.
If you're interested in hosting a live training, we’d love to collaborate. A minimum of 10–15 participants is typically required, depending on your location. Contact us for details.
If you are interested in In-Person Trainings, where are you loacted?
While the activity here may sound like ‘therapy’ it is not, and should not take the place of working with a licensed therapist.