History
Family Constellations were founded in Germany by Bert Hellinger.
A former Roman Catholic priest and missionary to the Zulus,
Bert began studying various forms of psychotherapy and it was during
his work with family systems that he discovered hidden dynamics within
families which seemed to have tragic effects across many generations.
He subsequently found a way to work with these dynamics which, in many cases
led to beneficial outcomes, not only for the person themselves but for other
members of the family too.
The work was first introduced into the UK via the Gestalt therapy network. Hunter Beaumont, who worked alongside Bert for many years, was the first person to bring the work to England in 1994. Two years later he accompanied Bert to London at the invitation of the Gestalt Centre, London. Following this, Hunter came to London twice a year for several years to run workshops and supervision groups to enable people to take the work forward in this country.
Since that time, the work has continued to spread slowly and steadily here in the UK and there are now several trainings here and many workshops being offered in both the family and organisational setting. (See this website and links)
Keen only to work with what was in front of his eyes and not to produce a new ideology, Bert was in the past always reluctant to to set up any formal organisation or training. However, this is now changing and trainings are being offered all over the world and Bert himself has set up his own training. Nonetheless, there is as yet no formal international body and the constellation work still comes under a wide variety of names.
Since its inception, the work has spread across the world and gained a reputation for touching people’s hearts.