Family and Systemic Constellations (from the German Aufstellung) is an experiential therapeutic approach developed by psychologist Bert Hellinger and now recognised globally as a systemic modality.
It explores a situation as a relational map, making visible patterns of belonging, loyalty, placement, and unresolved experience that can move through generations. The modality is rooted in systemic psychotherapy and informed by cross-cultural understandings of family and community as interconnected.
Be it in group or 1:1, the client brings a question or theme, and the system is explored experientially using people or objects to represent aspects of the issue or system. Through guided placement and observation, underlying dynamics become visible. This may include patterns that are held unconsciously within family systems or relational fields.
What often emerges is not a “story” in the usual sense, but a felt sense of what is out of balance and what may need to be seen or acknowledged. What has been unconsciously carried or “coded” within the system can begin to shift through awareness and the reinstatement of flow.
Constellations can be used to explore a wide range of life themes, including:
- Grief and loss
- Relationship and family issues, including divorce, children, sibling, or parent dynamics
- Parenting challenges and intergenerational patterns
- Separation and attachment patterns
- Financial or business challenges
- Workplace dynamics and leadership questions
- Feeling unable to thrive in life or experiencing a sense of being stuck
- Repetitive patterns in work, money, or creative life
- Addictive patterns or compulsive behaviours
- Mental health challenges and emotional distress
- Health-related symptoms or embodied stress patterns
- Fertility challenges or postnatal experiences
- Feelings that are difficult to explain or move past
- Life transitions where clarity, grounding, or direction is needed
- Exploring your relationship with yourself and your sense of identity
Honouring the Lineage
Systemic Family Constellations is most closely associated with the work of Bert Hellinger, who developed the modality by weaving together diverse cultural traditions and therapeutic approaches. During sixteen years living among the Zulu people in South Africa, Hellinger was deeply influenced by their cosmology and understanding of ancestry, belonging, community and the interconnectedness of life. He later integrated these perspectives with the pioneering family systems work of Virginia Satir. Satir’s Family Sculpting invited clients to physically arrange family members in space, making hidden relational dynamics visible. Hellinger combined this experiential approach with systemic principles, phenomenology, Gestalt therapy and his own philosophical inquiry to create what became known as Family Constellations.
As a practitioner, I believe it is important to acknowledge this lineage. Family Constellations did not emerge from a single source or culture, but through a dialogue between Indigenous understandings of ancestry and belonging, systemic psychotherapy, and decades of cross-cultural learning.
This acknowledgement also invites us to consider whose voices and ways of knowing have been overlooked. As Virginia Satir’s work reminds us, every person within a system matters—including those who have been marginalised, silenced or excluded from the family story. Healing asks us not only to restore belonging within families, but also to honour the cultures, histories and knowledge systems that have too often been left outside the frame.
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In 2026, a growing body of neuroscience and clinical research is deepening our understanding of how trauma, stress and relational experiences can echo across generations. Studies and clinical approaches in the field of intergenerational trauma explore how experiences within our families can shape patterns of emotion, behaviour, relationships and belonging — offering a growing framework for understanding the systemic patterns explored through Family Constellations. Research with descendants of Holocaust survivors, families affected by the September 11 attacks, and many other communities impacted by collective trauma has further illuminated how the effects of overwhelming experiences can ripple through family narratives, attachment patterns and relational dynamics across generations.