Our Story
Our name and symbol, Red Kite, once an endangered species in Britain, now flies free. The Red Kite inspires us to open up and expand into new horizons of learning and growth.
Red Kite was first established by Celia and Brian Simpson in 2012 to provide psychotherapy, supervision and training in Transactional Analysis in Merseyside. In 2014 Carol Wain joined to develop a part-time postgraduate training in Contemporary TA Psychotherapy and Counselling and Hayley Marshall joined the team in 2019. Red Kite became a UKATA Registered Training Establishment (member of the Integrative & Humanistic College of UKCP) in 2014. Carol Wain became the Red Kite Training Director with Hayley Marshall as her Training partner in 2020 when Celia and Brian retired.
Over the last 3 years Red Kite has been flying in a new direction as we have been listening and responding to the urgent times we are living in!
The ecological crisis which is threatening all of life on Earth and the rising complexity of the existential, social, political, economic, religious and cultural realities in our wider world has awakened our souls to ask searching questions about the role of psychotherapy in meeting these challenges.
The alchemists, mystics, shamans and writers from all religious/spiritual traditions have long understood that the human individual is a microcosm of the whole. Ecopsychology and environmentalism have also long invited us to re-examine the human psyche as an integral part of the web of nature and contended that it is not possible to heal our own human souls, sense of well-bring without restoring our connection with the Earth as we have engaged in this deep process of reflection and inquiry, we have shifted our psychotherapeutic thinking and practices away from a solely humanistic philosophy based on Transactional Analysis to an eco-systemic philosophy which takes into account the ‘voices of the more-than human’ as well as ‘the voices of all human cultures’. At Red Kite all learning of psychotherapeutic theory and practice to work with a wide range of mental health difficulties is viewed within an eco-systemic frame of reference through a lens of intersectionality.
Why not read more about Ecological Transactional Analysis here.
We are envisioning psychotherapy playing a vital role in offering and holding sacred space for radical soul work which is now necessary to heal the alienation between our human psyche and the natural world. Each student is invited to develop deep ecological and spiritual practices to support their own personal well-being and support the work they do psychotherapists.
Although the Ecological is at the core of our training philosophy we integrate key psychotherapeutic theories and practices from contemporary Transactional Analysis and the wider fields of Relational Psychoanalysis, Constructivism, Humanistic, Existential, Somatic/Body and the Transpersonal/Spiritual.
See our Learning Philosophy and Course Modules
Meet The Leadership Team
Carol Wain
BSc (Hon), PG Dip, MSc (TA Psych), Certified Transactional Analyst (CTA), PTSTA (Provisional Supervising and Teaching Transactional Analyst), UKCP registered Psychotherapist
My interest in Transactional Analysis was sparked when I was 16 years old in conversation with my father about whether or not I should study medicine. My father’s interest came from observing Transactional Analysts coming into the organisation in which he worked and shedding light on personality and communication. It was years later after studying Psychology that I rediscovered TA and decided to become a TA psychotherapist. Since I have a rich cultural heritage and an international background I was also very attracted to the international TA community.
I have had over 20 years of experience working in the community, NHS, voluntary sector, the faith community and in private practice. My TA Psychotherapeutic (CTA/UKCP) and Supervision practice (PTSTA) is based in South Liverpool where I am the Co-Director of Liverpool Centre for Psychotherapy + Counselling www.liverpoolpcc.org
I am the Training Director of Red Kite Training which is the main TA training programme in the Liverpool region. I am particularly interested in the interplay between neuroscience and human development; the development of self; the connection between psychotherapy and wider world we live in; the natural world; the transpersonal.
I am married with 2 daughters aged 22 and 21 and have a diverse life enjoying triathlons, mountains, wild camping, music and culture. I am also actively involved at Liverpool Anglican Cathedral where I have served as a trustee/Lay Canon and have led the all-age café style worship service.
Hayley Marshall
BA (hons), PG Dip, MSc (TA Psych), CTA, PTSTA(P), UKCP Reg psychotherapist and approved supervisor,
Diploma in Creative Approaches to Supervision
Hayley decided to begin training as a TA psychotherapist in 1994. Before that she trained as a classical musician working freelance as a performer and teacher in London and the North West.
Over the course of her career as a therapist Hayley has worked in a variety of settings including the NHS as a practice counsellor; in occupational health in manufacturing industry and local government; and in full time private practice. In the past 16 years she has developed an outdoor psychotherapy, supervision and training practice, and has been instrumental in some pioneering developments in that field. She is now a clinical specialist in working therapeutically outdoors, profoundly curious about the experience of natural environments as ecological therapeutic spaces.
In connection with this, she co-authored a ground-breaking article on the outdoor therapeutic frame in the European Journal of Psychotherapy in 2010 and has written several book chapters and articles on clinical outdoor practice. In 2019, with TA educator Giles Barrow, Hayley pioneered the development of Eco-TA, a new ecological movement within Transactional Analysis. She has given several conference presentations on this topic, including the 2021 National UKATA conference keynote.
As a result of her work outdoors Hayley also has a passionate interest in embodied and creative approaches to psychotherapy, supervision, and particularly in the training of therapists. Consequently, she has undertaken lots of additional training in trauma body work and ecological movement practices, viewing these as essential ecological tools.
Currently, Hayley sees people for outdoor psychotherapy and supervision in her private practice near her home in Buxton in the Peak District. She is ecological consultant and TA trainer at Red Kite and facilitates specialist Eco-TA training groups with Giles Barrow in Derbyshire and Suffolk. She also offers general ecological training courses and professional development groups for therapists wishing to develop outdoor psychotherapy practices at the Centre for Natural Reflection at Shining Cliff woodlands in Derbyshire.