What is a Family Constellation? With Yildiz Sethi

Is it like psychodrama?

Is it like family therapy?

Is it a form of counselling?

Family Constellations is an alternative or complement to counselling, psychotherapy, kinesiology, wellness, natural therapies, or coaching programs.

A Family Constellation process looks at a problem you may be experiencing in your relationship, career or wellness through the lens of your original family system. To find any family or generational dynamics that may be operating in your life, that are inhibiting your life and choices through your problem.

This is an experiential process that highlights problematic generational dynamics that may be operating in your life subconsciously and assist you in resolving them; so you may be free-er to make the changes you want, particularly in the way you experience yourself, others and your choices in life.

What is Psychodrama?

“Psychodrama is an action method, often used as a psychotherapy, in which clients use spontaneous dramatization, role playing, and dramatic self-presentation to investigate and gain insight into their lives”.Psychodrama Details

Family Constellations is not psychodrama, as there is no encouragement of spontaneous dramatization or dramatic self-presentation.”

In a Family Constellation workshop, if you elect to look at an issue, the facilitator will invite you to briefly explain your problem or intention in the presence of the group and then invite you to pick people from the group to represent the key people involved in your presenting issue. You then place them spatially in relation to each other according to your felt senses and then sit and observe how it unfolds. The pattern that the people form in their placements the room is a called a family constellation.

The people chosen by the client are representatives. While standing in their places, they find feelings and senses developing that they can report when asked by the facilitator. They are encouraged not to invent or be imaginative in going into how they think they ‘should be”. For example, at times a representative may feel nothing. This is an equally valid representation of the person they represent, while other representative may feel a lot. From here the facilitator will guide any expression and movement of the representatives, until the constellation comes to a close. Providing release and new perspectives to arise for the client. New perspectives may allow new solutions to arise. Family Constellations is a brief, experiential, solution-focused approach.

What is Family Therapy? (also known as Systems Family Therapy)

“Family therapy enables family members to express and explore difficult thoughts and emotions safely, to understand each other's experiences and views, appreciate each other's needs, build on family strengths and make useful changes in their relationships and their lives”.

Details Systems Family Therapy

In a family Constellation process, the client comes individually, (not with parents or their whole family) to resolve perceptions, memories, feelings and patterns that they appear to be carrying with, or for their original family or ancestors, into their present interactions and experiences. The process is experiential, emotional, kinaesthetic and energetic. Simply setting up a constellation with the original intention, as discussed briefly with the facilitator in the presence of the group, is enough to set it up energetically, so that it can be seen and felt by the representatives and guided by the facilitator. The process is experienced by all those taking part and most of all the client, as it proceeds to a closure. This engages subconscious parts of the brain, so that neural pathways may release and rewire as new perspectives arise.

What is Counselling?

“Counselling is a form of 'talk therapy'. It is a process where an individual, couple or family meet with a trained professional counsellor to talk about issues and problems that they are facing in their lives. Professional counselling is confidential and non-judgmental.” Counselling

Family Constellations is not counselling or a ‘talk therapy’, it is a highly experiential process that assists you in looking at yourself and your problem through the lens of your original and present family system. The experience is highly informative. Family Constellations is a phenomenological, experiential, psychodynamicand energetic modality.

It is also a brief (as little as one session) and solution-focused psychotherapy.

Family Constellations has a philosophy, theory and practice of its own that was presented to the world in the 1990’s by a German psychotherapist and former catholic priest called Bert Hellinger. He experienced a range of psychotherapies and the work of Milton Erickson and Virginia Satire as he created Family Constellations. No doubt the knowledge from former giants of psychotherapy and family therapies have contributed to this approach, while Hellinger synthesised a collection of knowledge along with his own insights into human behaviour to assist with human dynamics, so as to enhance better relationships and wellbeing.

Family Constellations are available with Yildiz in workshops, private sessions, in-person or online and also for practitioner training/professional development. Details