Systemic constellations

 Historic of the constellation process:

• Virginia Satir , during the 60’s directed the Mental Research Institute of Palo Alto and initiated the systemic constellations approach
• Bert Hellinger, a German therapist, in the 80’s developed this technique of Constellations and practised mainly in Germany in family therapeutic applications
• The systemic constellations for organizations and businesses had been designed by Gunthard Weber and Insa Sparrer and had been largely used since the 90’s in big German companies such as Daimler Benz

The constellation process: what it is?

Constellations create a living dynamic map of an issue and are a practical, respectful and often profound way of illuminating the dynamics in coaching, organisational and other relational systems. The map which a constellation creates, allows coach and client to access the wider system, see the hidden forces at play and identify new paths to lasting resolution.

How does it work?

With guidance from the coach, symbolic representation of entities is placed in relation to each other, by the person bringing the issue and constitutes a “dynamic map”. A pattern emerges. A pattern which is an externalembodiment of the unconscious inner image of the issue – and a pattern that can be interpreted at other levels in the aim to clarify the situation, open new perspectives and explore solution scenarios for the issue to be resolved or improved.

In what case we can use this process:

• To help taking a decision: to get a global and systemic picture of the situation, the strengths and weaknesses of  both options,
• To understand a situation better in order to act the best way possible
• To improve relationships
• To understand what is really at stake in a conflict situation in order to solve it
• To uncover underlying factors in a problem situation
• To build up a new project and design an appropriate plan of action