Family Constellations
What is Family Constellations?
Family Constellations is a therapeutic modality that aims to gain insight into unresolved issues within a person's family system.
The Core premise of Family Constellations is that individuals are deeply influenced by the dynamic and hidden loyalties within their families. Often across multiple generations.
Family Constellations suggest that unresolved traumas, unresolved conflict or unacknolowledged family secrets can have a profound impact on an individual's emotional well-being and behavior.
Life can be tough for everyone, and it’s easy to feel stuck, overwhelmed, or lost. Family Constellations offers a way to address unresolved life issues, such as relationship problems, family estrangement, illness, career dissatisfaction, work challenges, and various forms of trauma. By becoming aware of what keeps us on auto-pilot, we gain valuable insights that pave the way for healing and moving forward.
How does Family Constellations Work?
Group Family Constellations Circle
In Group Family Constellation circle, a trained facilitator creates a setting where participants can explore their family dynamics. Representatives are chosen from the group to stand in as a symbolic anchor/presentation of family members or elements.
The goal is to bring awareness and resolution to these hidden dynamics, allowing individuals to gain insight and restore balance within themselves and their family systems. By acknowledging and honoring the inherent order and natural flow within the family, it seeks to restore love, harmony, and understanding among family members.
Family Constellations practice can be applied to various areas of life, including relationships, personal growth, career, and health. It is often used as a complementary approach alongside traditional therapy or counseling, providing a holistic perspective on personal and systemic issues.
Becoming aware of hidden dynamics and loyalties within a family system often can have an immediate impact on the person, or it could take any amount of time. If useful, it could assist the seeker in gaining clarity that could see a shift of perspective, which could then have an impact on their life
Current Offerings
Follow the link below to see the list of current Group Family Constellation Events
What To Expect During a Group Family Constellation
What To Expect
The participants of the Group Family Constellation gather in a circle, typically starting with an intention-setting meditation to open the session. Following this, there is a group check-in where each person briefly introduces themselves.
The Seeker, the individual whose issue is being addressed, sits next to the facilitator. The facilitator asks clarifying questions to understand the issue the Seeker wants to work on. Together, they agree on the initial setup of the constellation.
The Seeker then selects representatives from the group to embody family members or elements, as guided by the facilitator. As the Seeker chooses each representative, they would ask if the person is willing to participate, hold their hand, and guide them to their position within the circle. The representatives begin to perceive the energy of the person or element they are representing.
Once all representatives are in place, the facilitator conducts the family constellation. This process involves sensing and observing the interactions among the representatives. The session concludes with the facilitator leading healing movements and reciting healing sentences.
Individual/Private Constellations
Group vs Individual/Private Family Constellation
In a group setting, other people who have come along to support your session will participate as representatives of your family members. You as the client will not actively participate in the constellation as yourself initially. You will observe the dynamics, energy, communications and exchanges as they unfold in the field in front of you. This is a very powerful as you may gain other perspectives and awareness that is new to you. Often representatives will express what hasn’t been able to be expressed before.
In a individual/private session the facilitator is the one representing/sensing into the energy of the represent family members for the client, the client can be guided to imagine family members in their minds eye or there can be “place holders”. Both types of constellations are very powerful in their own right.
How to choose between Group or Individual Session?
It is really a personal choice. Group sessions can be a rich, communal experience, but they might not be the best fit for those who are more introverted or feel uncomfortable opening up in a group setting.
Individual sessions can take longer, but the client can work with the therapist over time to solve their family issues
What else is good for me to know about Family Constellations?
Alfred Adler was the first to use the term "family constellation" to refer to the bonds and sense of belonging that may exist within a family tree. However, family constellation theory was developed by a German therapist named Bert Hellinger. Hellinger developed this new therapy by combining his earlier work in related therapies as a psychotherapy, his experience living with the Zulu Tribe in Africa for 15 years and his own life experiences and feelings.