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About family constellations

The founder of family constellations is Bert Hellinger from Germany. His work is rooted in systemic thinking, particularly in the contextual family therapy of Ivan Nagy. While Nagy primarily applied his ideas through conversations and exercises to do at home, Hellinger introduced a new technique: the use of representatives. He encountered this method during his time as a missionary in South Africa.

Representatives are people from a group (such as a workshop or therapy setting) who are chosen to represent individuals from the client’s life. The client selects and places these representatives in the space. The positioning alone can already reveal certain dynamics—like whether a couple is facing each other or turning away. The facilitator then asks the representatives how they feel and what their attitude is toward one another.

This technique allows us to explore unconscious patterns and motivations—ones that are often difficult to access through conversation alone. By setting up a family system, invisible tensions between family members can become visible, showing how they might be influencing the client. The therapist’s role is to restore balance and harmony within the system, and sometimes offer the client a new perspective or possible stance.

Any topic can be explored through constellations. When the theme is family-related, we speak of family constellations. When it’s work-related, we call them organizational constellations. Even medical issues (for example, unexplained physical symptoms) or material questions (like the sale of a house) can be explored this way. Within the systemic framework, it’s believed that we are deeply shaped by the context we come from.

Even though we aren’t constantly aware of our ancestors, they do influence us. During pregnancy and birth, we receive a “package” from our lineage—filled with both inherited strengths and unresolved trauma. Every family system has recurring themes, passed down through generations, often in a slightly softened form. If your ancestors struggled with bankruptcy, suicide, depression, sexuality... there’s a chance these topics will also present challenges in your life. But positive traits can be passed down as well: pride, intuition for business, sensitivity, family values, humor... Constellations can bring these hidden dynamics to the surface.

Sometimes, we carry our parents' burdens without even knowing it. As children, we instinctively take on emotional weight that is too much for our parents to handle. Out of love and survival instinct, we try—often unconsciously—to make life more bearable for them. As adults, these survival strategies may no longer serve us, and may even hold us back. Becoming aware of these patterns is the first step toward healing.

Family constellations can be done in both group and individual sessions. The advantage of a group is the strength and holding power of the collective. Even if your personal constellation isn’t explored in that moment, watching others can offer powerful insights and mirror your own experience. In individual sessions, we often use objects—like figurines or cushions—instead of live representatives to symbolize the different elements.