The Inner Process: Family & Systemic Constellations

In times of conflict or crises, in a family system, or an organisation, a business, or a working group, the way towards resolution or creative solution often seems blocked. We remain stuck in the old patterns of behaviour. Using the constellation process allows what is hidden, what is invisible in our everyday interactions, to become visible. What is revealed opens up new possibilities and ways of being.

Family Constellations is a beautiful and powerful modality based on the work developed by the German psychotherapist, Bert Hellinger. There are many streams of psychological and philosophical theory and practice that flow into and inform constellations work. What Bert Hellinger has done is develop out of these many therapies a new way of working towards resolution of a life issue.

The constellation process is experiential and is a 'felt' sense; it is accessed through the body, not the head. It is the immediacy of a ‘felt sense’.

Through the use of live representation in a workshop setting, a person can set out a living image of their personal issue, whether in a work situation or family. This spatial image that is set out allows us to see how we are connected to others in the present system as well as the wider transgenerational system.

Constellations in other settings
It was first named Family Constellations by Hellinger and was originally done in a workshop setting with a focus on family systems. However as the modality falls under the systemic perspective, it is becoming known also as Systemic Constellations. Hence the name of the international organisation: International Systemic Constellations Association (ISCA).

The general application of constellation work has widened and is now used in many different settings:
• organisational constellations - corporate and business
• constellations with a focus on illness and trauma;
• environmental constellations;
• constellations using ceremony and ritual;
• community constellations
• political constellations
• individual, one–on-one sessions