In-person family constellations weekend
A family constellations workshop across two full days. Bring a difficulty, question or recurring pattern, work with it in front of the group, and give the process the time it needs. Led by Cecilia Altieri and Simon Maebe, a few times a year in Brussels.
Constellations in a nutshell
A way of looking at a difficulty in the wider system it belongs to. Instead of only talking about what is happening, you give the important people or elements a place in relation to one another, so the pattern becomes something you can see and work with.
Constellation work grew from systemic family therapy and several therapeutic traditions in the second half of the twentieth century. The team works systemically and phenomenologically: starting with what is actually there, reading the relationships between the parts, and staying curious about what the picture might mean.
You begin with a question, difficulty or something you want to change. The people or elements that belong to it are given a place. From there, you look at the relationships, test small movements and follow what changes in the system.
For a constellation, you will need 3 things: a question or issue you want to explore, a goal you want to work towards, and the relevant facts about your life and family history. You do not need to prepare the whole story; what matters is the information that connects to what you are working on.
You can understand a pattern very well and still find yourself living it. A constellation lets you work with it as an experience, not only an idea: seeing the relationships, feeling different positions and trying what happens when something changes.
The workshop at a glance
20
Limited Places
6
Constellations
2
Days
2
Facilitators
Across two days, the same group stays together. You represent in other people’s constellations, bring your own if you have booked one, and have time between constellations for each one to settle before the next begins.
1
Doors open at 09:10, we begin at 09:30. We open together with a short round, explain how the two days work, and make sure everyone knows what to do.
2
Across the weekend, you may be chosen to represent in different constellations. You take your place, notice what happens from where you are, and say what you experience as the constellation develops.
3
If you have booked a constellation of your own, we start with what you want to explore, your goal, and the relevant facts. From there, you choose representatives, set out the first picture, and we begin.
4
After the final constellation of the day, we come back together, close the session and leave some space for what you have experienced to settle.
The schedule
1
Arrival · 09:10
2
Opening round
3
First constellation
4
Break
5
Second constellation
6
Break · 75 minutes
7
Third constellation
8
Closing round
Inside a constellation
Every constellation is different, but the process has a recognisable shape from the first question to the closing.
Stage 1 of 4
You begin by talking through what you are bringing. The facilitator helps you find the question or issue you want to explore, the goal you want to work towards, and the relevant facts from your life and family history.
Stage 2 of 4
You then set out the people or elements that belong to your question, in the room, with members of the group taking their places as representatives. As the representatives take their places, you can begin to see the relationships and dynamics in the system in front of you
Stage 3 of 4
The facilitator asks representatives what they notice from where they are standing and follows what begins to emerge. Positions can change, movements can be tried, and different possibilities can be experienced as the picture develops. You stay involved throughout, watching and responding to what happens.
Stage 4 of 4
Towards the end, it comes back to you. You may step into the constellation yourself, experience the new picture directly, and take time to notice what has changed. We close carefully, leaving space for the experience to continue settling afterwards.
Who is in the room
There is the person bringing the question, the facilitator, and the representatives who take places in the constellation. Across the weekend, you experience the process from different positions as one constellation gives way to the next.
A constellation set out in the room: one person working on their own question, one holding the process, and the rest standing in for the people the question is about. Everyone in the group takes each of these places across a day.
The person whose question it is. You set the goal in your own words, you place the people who matter, and you decide how far the constellation goes. What is asked of you is to notice what you feel from where you stand.
Holds the direction and the pace, asks what you notice, and offers experiments you can try when you are ready. What the picture means stays yours to decide. Most people meet their facilitator for the first time on the day.
The other participants, standing in for the people in someone else’s question. They report what they feel from inside a position, as sensations, impulses and where their eyes go. You can step out of a role at any moment, and everyone is thanked and released by name at the end.
Led by
Cecilia has practised family constellations since 2008 and trained at ISPAB in Munich. She began working with clients online in 2010 and built a dedicated online constellation practice in 2012. She is the co-founder and director of EISEC, where she trains facilitators.
Simon first encountered constellation work in 2007, began training in 2012, and has worked in the field since 2014. He trained at ISPAB in Munich and is co-founder and Head Trainer at EISEC, where he teaches systemic theory and the practice of facilitating systemic constellations.
Next dates
Both days run 09:30 to 17:30, doors from 09:10.
The next weekend
19 to 20 September
19
Sep
€260
17
Oct
€260
21
Nov
€260
Where we meet
A short walk from Schuman station, on metro lines 1 and 5, with direct trains from Brussels Airport.
Boulevard Charlemagne 28
1000 Brussels, Belgium
Doors open at 09:10 · we begin at 09:30, Brussels time
Get directionsThis is also where we see people for private sessions in Brussels , outside the workshop weekends.
After the weekend
By sharing your clarity, creativity, and wisdom, you created space where magic happened.
What we experienced during the workshop took me straight back to my heart and soul.
Questions
If you are unsure which place to book, have a practical question, or want to check whether the weekend fits what you are looking for, write to us here.
Your question
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Further reading
Two short pieces on constellation workshops and what it can be like to join one.
You need less preparation than you think, and the useful kind is not what people expect. What to do the week, the night and the hour before.
Read more
The online layer only: joining, the two window setup that makes the day easier, and being one of many faces for a whole day without going flat.
Read more
Across one workshop day you may be yourself, someone’s grandmother, and a quiet witness. A psychotherapist explains what each role is like.
Read more
You can’t do it wrong, and feeling nothing counts too. A psychotherapist explains what representatives actually do in a family constellation.
Read moreTwo days, a small group and time for the constellations to unfold without rushing.
See the next weekendOther ways to work with constellations
If you are in crisis right now, or you are having thoughts of harming yourself, please turn first to your doctor, to a crisis line where you live, or to the emergency services.
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