Student Testimonial

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Coming from a background in clinical psychology it became clear that most issues clients bring are NOT rooted in individualistic constructs or paradigms. Family constellations was the missing link I was looking for, it is a systemic approach to resolving a client’s issues by focusing on situating their dis-ease, or, disconnections in the family or social system, and embedding healing in one’s nervous system.

Edwina is a skilled compassionate facilitator and trainer who understands and works systemically with whatever issue(s) a client brings. Working with her has been deeply revelatory and healing in my own core family wounding in ways inaccessible through traditional therapeutic modalities.

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I was very impressed with the process and the way in which Edwina facilitated the constellations in the groups and saw parallels with depth psychological processes. The course was well structured, with excellent, clear grounding in the principles of Systemic constellations and the process of facilitation. The course contained plenty of structured practice sessions that gradually, and suitably increased in difficulty as the training progressed. 

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One of the key skills for facilitating Constellations, as with therapists and groupwork, is the attitude and state of awareness called 'the empty vessel' in SFC. It is an equivalent notion in psychotherapy which is referred to as 'holding the space'. It is a state in which the practitioner is trained to become conscious of, and set aside their pre-conceptions, biases, judgements, projections and other reactions to deal with what is happening in the present for the client from a client centred perspective in an objective manner. In psychodynamic therapy this is learning how to navigate transference and countertransference. Learning to be fully present, without projecting their own subjective experience, mindset and opinions onto the client or the presenting situation. Edwina not only taught the 'empty vessel' skill. She also modelled it and demonstrated it for my group during the entire course. Her facilitation skills were of a high standard. 

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The constellations process uses an object-relations model which enables people in the group to externalise their inner projection so that the subjective reality became objective, in other words, externalised in the constellation. This process enables them to look at their issue from a different (more objective) perspective. What impressed me was that is not merely role-playing. The SFC enables clients to tune into an intuitive field of awareness and consciousness by which people can objectively experience the previously unseen elements of their subjective reality. It helps what is suppressed, repressed and unconscious. 

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In the therapy process achieving object relations is difficult to do, and often takes months, if not years to achieve. While SFC is not therapy I found it to be an incredibly efficient process with helps a client a simple way to locate, and bring to awareness, the elements of a system that are affecting them. 

Caroline (BBSc(Hons), MPsych, MA)