FAMILY CONSTELLATIONS
Some of what you carry isn’t yours alone.
There are patterns that persist despite everything you’ve tried. Relationships that echo ones you never lived. A weight that seems to come from further back than your own memory reaches. Family Constellations is a method for making that invisible inheritance visible — and then, sometimes, for setting it down.
WHAT CONSTELLATION IS
Not talk therapy. Not quite anything else.
Family Constellations was developed by German psychotherapist Bert Hellinger and has evolved considerably since. At its core, it works from the premise that family systems — the emotional field of the family you come from — operate according to their own logic. Loyalties, exclusions, traumas, and early deaths all leave traces that can be carried unconsciously for generations.
A constellation session makes this visible. In individual work, we use objects or simple representations to map the family field. In group work, other participants represent family members — and often find themselves moved by feelings and impulses that don’t belong to their own experience. This is consistently surprising, and consistently illuminating.
You don’t need to understand how it works for it to be effective. What matters is a genuine question — something that has weight for you — and a willingness to stay present with what emerges.
WHAT IT CAN REACH
Constellation work is particularly useful when…
A pattern keeps returning
You’ve addressed something in therapy, understood it intellectually, and it still shows up. Constellations works at the level of the system rather than the individual, and sometimes that’s where the pattern actually lives.
A relationship feels charged beyond explanation
A sibling dynamic that carries more heat than the circumstances warrant. A difficulty with authority that seems disproportionate. A recurring experience with partners that began before you had words for it.
There has been a significant loss or rupture in the family
Early death, adoption, migration, estrangement, violence — these leave marks in family systems that can travel. Constellation work is one of the few approaches that addresses this directly.
TWO WAYS TO WORK
Individual Sessions and Group Workshops.
1. Individual constellation sessions
One to one, online. We use objects to represent members of your family system and work with what emerges from the map we build together. Individual sessions are slower and quieter than group work — they allow for a different kind of precision. Available at any time; please enquire.
2. Group constellation workshops
Held periodically throughout the year on location. In a group, other participants serve as representatives — and the quality of information that comes through in this format is difficult to replicate elsewhere. Even participants who are representing for someone else’s constellation often find the work unexpectedly relevant to their own questions. Dates announced via newsletter.
FAQ's
Do I need any prior experience?
No. Some people come to their first constellation session with years of therapeutic experience; others come none. What’s required is a genuine question and a willingness to be surprised by what emerges.
Can I do constellation work alongside ongoing therapy?
Yes, and it often deepens other therapeutic work considerably. If you have an existing therapist, I recommend letting them know — not because it’s necessary, but because the two can inform each other.
A NOTE ON WHAT TO EXPECT
‘Constellation work doesn’t always give you answers. It gives you a different relationship to the question — and sometimes that’s the more useful thing.’
Sessions can be quiet, even subtle. They can also be unexpectedly moving. They can evoke strong emotions. All are true. The intention is always clarity and resolution — not catharsis for its own sake. What tends to emerge is a shift in how something is held, rather than a definitive ending. That shift, in my experience, is usually what was actually needed.