“Family Constellations”: An Innovative Systemic Phenomenological Group Process From Germany

Abstract

The “Family Constellation” process is a trans-generational, phenomenological, therapeutic intervention with roots in family systems therapy, existential-phenomenology, and the ancestor reverence of the South African Zulus. Although the Family Constellation process is sanctioned by family therapy associations in Europe and is being integrated by thousand of licensed practitioners worldwide, the work is virtually unknown in the United States. This article serves as a broad introduction to the Family Constellation method and includes a biographical sketch of its originator—Bert Hellinger (born 1925).