family reconstruction

FAMILY RECONSTRUCTION A FUND-RAISER WITH STEVEN YOUNG

Steven Young will do a family reconstruction immediately following the Satir Global Conference next summer. The preparation interviews between Steven and the subject will be Thursday and Friday, August 7 and 8, 2008 and the reconstruction itself will take place Saturday and Sunday, August 9 and 10 ending at 4 pm on Sunday. The entire event will be held in Boulder, Colorado. Transportation will be available from the airport to Boulder hotels or homes where participants can stay. The cost will be $125 for the preparation days and $125 for the reconstruction itself. You may attend all four days or only two. (Some may choose to explore Boulder and environs or rest the first two days).

This is an excellent opportunity for people who want to learn from the expert how to do in- depth family reconstruction, those who want to learn more about role play in a reconstruction, and those who want to support the subject in this important event. The reconstruction is a benefit for the Institute for International Connections. All proceeds will go to IIC. Steven Young has generously offered to give his time, energy, and skill to help raise funds for our international work and we are very appreciative.

Family Reconstruction Workshop, August 7-10, 2008, Boulder, Colorado. Register with IIC Treasurer, Debbie Laner at dlaner@speakeasy.net or at 303-444-2921 or call Laura Dodson for more information at laurasdodson@yahoo.com or 720-480- 8146.

A Description of Family Reconstruction
by Laura Dodson, MSW, PhD

    Family Reconstruction is a process in which one person, the "Star", meets his/her parents, siblings, and ancestors at any age and time through role players. It is a day or more long process focused on that one person (the Star) and his/her extended family of the present and past, led by a well-trained Satir guide. The reconstruction is conducted in a group of people, who are not usually the Star’s actual family members, but rather trusted friends and role players the Star has invited or approved of attending his/her reconstruction. The group may be any size. I have seen Virginia Satir, the originator of the method do this work in an auditorium of 600 people and in small groups of 30. It is the imprint in the psyche of the Star of the system in which he grew up, its cast of characters for several generations, and its social and cultural context that we are researching together, particularly to gain awareness of how the systems of our past have unconscious imprint on our ways of being and of viewing the world and how that affects us in the now. Gaining this awareness through role play offers learning on a body/mind/soul level and gives the Star more power to be in charge of his/her own life.

    Preparation for the reconstruction includes:
1. the Star gathers history on parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and cultural origins of family members.
2. All this information is put in a context of world events, memories, with the Star's descriptive words for each person in his/her history.
3. This information is made into the form of a family chart by the Star with the help of the guide.
4. Pictures of ancestors are gathered.
5. All this is discussed in sessions with the Star and the guide, usually over several hours sometime before the reconstruction begins.

By the time the reconstruction is done, the Star has a growing familiarity with family patterns, an attitude of curiosity about his/her life, and has developed her/his own goals and hopes that he/she want to gain from the reconstruction process itself. Often the Star is looking to understand specific patterns in his/her own behavior that seem to be more driven from within than chosen, and strengths he/she has gained from ancestors that could be more actualized.

    In the process of the reconstruction the parents of the Star, their histories, and their relationship with each other, the birth of the Star, early developmental years and events are explored as well as ancestors and their life context, way of being, and their lives. Family Rules or patterns of behavior, belief systems, ways of relating, etc are discovered in the reconstruction. The process is full of surprises and new learning for the Star, the guide, the group and the role players. The role players’ unconscious plays a part in the process as they imagine into the person described to them that they are chosen to play. They attempt to reflect in words and actions what the Star has described to reflect that back to the Star as they attempt to "be" the family member they are playing. All this is done in a group atmosphere of kinship and common humanity; there is fun, laughter, tears and celebration in the process. Everyone learns about themselves and supports each other.

    This process was begun by Virginia Satir, the world renowned systems therapist, who had an uncanny way of guiding a Star and the group around him or her into a field of consciousness not yet discovered, thus empowering the Star to have new learnings that can greatly affect their present view of themselves, the world, and their relationships. As Virginia so often said, we are simply doing what we learned, and with new learning, human beings can grow and change. This method is one that she evolved during her life time and it became the key tool for her work As an outcome of this deep work which is often equivalent to many months or years of psychotherapy, people gain more freedom from family system trance states, more empowerment, and a greater sense of our common humanity.