Systemic Constellations Work (CSW)

SCW and Trauma

Systemic constellations work (SCW) is widely recognised as an effective method for identifying, understanding, researching and resolving:

• everyday problems;

• various individual, family, group or organisational challenges;

• deeper conflicts or transformations of the self and the collective.

SCW focuses on the profound interdependence and mutual entanglements between individuals and groups. We explore how such entanglements shape our identities in both our life today and our past. It is definitely one of the best and most effective ways of identifying steps for healing.

This experiential and solution-focused method has found numerous applications in the following fields: trauma work, education, organisational behaviour and innovation, leadership, political process, psychology, psychotherapy and body-therapy, supervision, family therapy, psychoanalysis, nursing, social work, coaching, and art. The wide range of applications is due to the method’s effectiveness, versatility and adaptability to different settings. 

Systemic constellations practice has evolved significantly in recent years and more and more spaces for its discussion (in terms of methods, philosophy, technique and theory) have opened up. One of my aims is to work towards expanding and deepening the links between the practice and theory of SCW. 

My Experience with SCW:

I have specialised in SCW since 2005. I have trained in-depth for many years with the best and internationally renowned experts in the field such as Dr Albrecht Mahr, Prof. Franz Ruppert, Vivian Broughton, Judith Hemming, Christine Blumenstein, Jan Jacob Stam and Ursula Franke.

Between 2011 and 2013 I worked as a teaching assistant for Vivian Broughton and Prof. Franz Ruppert, with whom I continued training for several years specifically on understanding and healing trauma. In 2012, I inherited Vivian Broughton’s original training in SCW and I have been running it since then. In addition to offering training and teaching about trauma and the SCW method.

In March 2019, I established an ongoing training course on Trauma and the Systemic Constellations Method in Bulgaria.

I am a member of the International Systemic Constellations Association (ISCA).

How I work

Currently, I work only online with groups, couples, families and individuals as well as with organisations. Please check EVENTS for the Online Working Days schedule above – for details on forthcoming events. Please email me if you are interested in the next training programme, which will start in the autumn of 2021.

TRAUMA

Trauma is a very broad notion and there have been extensive discussions both in psychotherapy and anthropology about its meaning, manifestations and healing. In my SCW and my psychotherapy work, I usually encounter it as the psychological imprint from an unbearable experience. This overwhelming experience might have taken place at some point in our life, yet it somehow continues to recur in current relationships with others or in certain situations (it gets triggered).

I work mostly in the context of developmental trauma originating in our childhood in relationship to parents, siblings or other caregivers. For example, I have frequently worked with children whose symptoms have puzzled practitioners and parents. My work reveals the specific underlying traumatic experiences as the engine for the symptoms. Using constellations techniques, we have resolved these successfully in collaboration with the parents. Such work brings a lot of (and sometimes – complete) relief to families.

I have also worked with clients who have experienced the trauma of war or other extreme and overwhelming crises such as refugees and asylum seekers and those who suffered following the tsunami in Thailand in 2004.

Everyone has experienced some degree of trauma at a certain time in their life. The effects of trauma on each individual differ tremendously yet there are certain patterns and a common challenge – how to live a full and joyful life while carrying the burden of hurt. SCW on its own or in combination with regular weekly therapy is an extremely effective method towards healing.

When we experience painfully overwhelming interactions (physical or emotional, or both), we freeze both psychologically and bodily. This is the moment of traumatisation. This freezing results in psychological fragmentation of our psyche and it is often accompanied by various bodily responses – this is why healing a psychological trauma often heals ongoing chronic bodily conditions.

The freezing is followed by the development of survival strategies, which temporarily or permanently transform our identity and our bodies. Although we survive thanks to our survival strategies, they always fail us in the end. Sometimes, people look for help when these strategies fail. Once initiated, the healing of trauma can achieve the gradual integration of our fragmented psychological, emotional and bodily parts. This will allow us to feel whole and to disentangle successfully from unbearable and traumatising relationships. Freeing from trauma means that we can thrive and live life fully and joyfully.