WHAT IS FAMILY CONSTELLATION?
Family constellation is a holistic healing method that helps people understand and change their family dynamics and behavior. It’s based on the idea that families are complex systems with their own unique shape, and that unconscious patterns and dynamics can drive people within those systems.
Family constellation can help with: Identifying toxic behavioral patterns, improving communication and relationships, processing past events, and creating space for positive behavioral change.
During the constellation process, movements take place. The facilitator observes and explores without judgment to make dynamics visible and create space for change.
German psychotherapist Bert Hellinger (1925-2019) developed family constellations into a 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
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.
