What is a family constellation?
Family constellations are a method within systemic work to quickly gain insight into the deeper causes of an issue. The founder of systemic work was the German psychotherapist Bert Hellinger (1925-2019), who developed family constellations into a fully-fledged method in the late 1980s.
Systemic work assumes that we are all part of groups and that within those groups and within ourselves we are driven by unconscious patterns and dynamics. A family, but also a class, a sports club, a region, a country, society: they are all systems in themselves.
A constellation provides a spatial and visual image of a system. It is certainly not only about people in the system. It is mainly about how our families have dealt with history and how they have survived painful situations. That way of survival of our (ancestors) parents is often the source of patterns. And patterns are often (unconsciously) passed on.
In a family constellation you investigate personal questions and patterns within a system with the help of a systemic facilitator. By observing and exploring without judgement, the facilitator tries to make dynamics visible and to create space for a new movement or change.
When do you do a family constellation?
When you can’t get any further with the same problem or question over and over, it’s important to discover where this problem comes from. Because we are an inseparable member of our family system, the origin of many of our questions lies in the family system.
A family constellation can make connections from the past and present visible. This can be an eye-opener for questions about:
- Relationships
- Upbringing
- Illness
- Unexplained feelings or thoughts
- Addiction
- Conflicts
- Depression
- Persistent unrest
- Work-related problems
What exactly is the use of a family constellation?
A family constellation gives a new perspective. Not only on the system dynamics that got you stuck, but also on those in which you excel. You discover how your past and environment have contributed to who you are now. A supervisor helps you gain new insights and investigates where there is room for change in the system. With that new approach you can deal with your question in a very different way than before.
In what forms can you do a family constellation?
In a family constellation you set up persons or elements that touch on the personal question of the questioner. The facilitator and the questioner together determine which persons or elements these are. By what or by whom they should be represented, the questioner decides. You can perform the constellation with representatives or with materials.
A family constellation with representatives
A family constellation with representatives is a constellation with people who represent people or elements that touch the question. The representatives can talk, move, touch each other. The questioner gives the chosen representatives a place in the room. Under the guidance of an author, they move, express themselves and show hidden information from the family system.
It is striking that everyone seems to be able to represent. Once a representative has been set up, that person can feel and articulate how she or he relates to the other set up elements. A representative does not need to know anything about the system or the element that she or he represents.
You could say that as a representative you borrow your body and your senses to pick up the information about the system the constellation is about. This often makes a family constellation an intense and impressive experience, also for the representatives.
For the constellations i am always looking for representatives. If you would like to be a representative, please send me an e-mail to register on the list. And i will inform you about coming up constellations.
I see you.
Love, Dominique
