Satir model, family sculpting and family reconstruction

1. Introduction

Version followed: Satir Transformational Systemic Therapy (STST, also called the Satir Growth Model) as set out by John Banmen and Kathlyne Maki-Banmen ("STST in Brief") and the Satir Institute of the Pacific Level 1 curriculum, which rest on Satir, Banmen, Gerber & Gomori (1991) The Satir Model: Family Therapy and Beyond; family reconstruction in the Satir/Gomori three-generation form (Gomori & Adaskin, Personal Alchemy); family sculpting in the experiential form Satir used, with the procedural detail as given in the German systemic teaching literature (Reich, Methodenpool). Earlier names for the same lineage: the "communications model" or "process/validation model" of Conjoint Family Therapy (1964) and Peoplemaking (1972). [source: Banmen & Maki-Banmen, STST in Brief; Satir Institute of the Pacific; Satir Global Network]

This is a humanistic, experiential, systemic therapy for individuals, couples, families and groups, developed by Virginia Satir (1916–1988; first family seen 1951, MRI teaching from 1959, Conjoint Family Therapy 1964). Family sculpting and family reconstruction are not separate therapies but signature experiential procedures inside it; reconstruction is mainly a group/workshop method. [source: STST in Brief; satirglobal.org reconstruction pages]

Core idea of change: "the problem is not the problem; coping is the problem". People survive pain with learned coping (survival stances, family rules, unmet expectations). Change happens when, in a safe and congruent relationship, the client re-experiences the impact of a past learning in the present while also connecting with their own positive "Life Energy" or Self; this energetic shift transforms the impact of events (the events themselves cannot change), and the client then practises new choices until they become a new status quo. The aim is a person who has higher self-worth, makes choices, takes responsibility for their inner experience, and is congruent. [source: STST in Brief, assumptions 5, 9 and the five process elements]

2. Framework

What the sources give. STST is not protocolised into numbered sessions. The authors describe (a) a session process, (b) a goal hierarchy, and (c) Satir's model of how change unfolds over time. Session counts are not specified in any source [uncertain]. Satir herself often worked in long single sessions and multi-day workshops; family reconstruction is a day-length group event. [source: STST in Brief; Level 1 STST outline; satirpacific.org and satirglobal.org event pages]

A. Session process (applies within each session and across a course of therapy). [source: STST in Brief, "phases"; Level 1 STST outline modules 4–5]

Contact and rapport. Goal: safety and connection with each person present, at the level of Self rather than problem. Move on when each person has been greeted and has spoken, and the room's anxiety has dropped enough for exploration.
Assessment and exploration. Goal: map the internal system (iceberg), coping (survival stances), and the family system (three-generation family map, rules, triads). Move on when you and the client can name the coping pattern and the yearning beneath the presenting problem.
Goal setting. Goal: turn the presenting problem into a positively directional goal (what the client wants, not what they want to stop). Levels: the four meta-goals; final (outcome) goals; sessional goals, both intrapsychic and interactive; incremental goals within the session. Move on when the client has said in their own words what they want to be different today.
Transformational change process. Goal: an experiential shift (in body, feeling and perception) using sculpting, process questions, parts work, work with expectations and yearnings, rule transformation, etc. Signs of a shift: breathing changes, softening, tears, new statements about self, spontaneous new perceptions.
Anchoring. Goal: consolidate the change in both intrapsychic and interactive systems (name it, locate it in the body, appreciate it, link it to a concrete image or action).
Session review and evaluation. Goal: client and therapist review what changed and how it was experienced.
Homework. Goal: practice and integrate (new behaviours, meditations, journaling, a new conversation).

B. Course of therapy (structure used in teaching texts derived from Satir). Structuring → observation/assessment → intervention → change maintenance (sessions spaced further apart) → termination when conflicts are resolved to the family's satisfaction, members feel hopeful and new behaviours are internalised; the therapist moves gradually out of the central position. [source: Buffalo State course page (secondary, unattributed); uncertain whether this staging is Satir's own]

C. Satir's change process model (map for timing, not a session plan). Late status quo → foreign element (a crisis, a new perception or the therapist's intervention) → chaos (disorientation, anxiety, temporary worsening) → integration/new possibilities → practice → new status quo. Gross (1994) gives a variant: status quo, new element, chaos, implementation, relapse, new status quo. Practical use: expect and normalise chaos; do not end a session in raw chaos; plan practice. [source: Satir et al. 1991; Gross 1994 as summarised in the Satir Institute of the Pacific annotated bibliography] [uncertain: exact stage labels vary between versions]

D. Format.

Individual, couple and family sessions: conventional length is possible; experiential pieces (sculpts, parts work) often need 75–120 minutes [synthesis].
Family reconstruction: group of roughly 10–20 participants who act as role players; the star prepares maps in advance (a separate preparation day is used in some workshops); one reconstruction takes most of a day (e.g. 10:30–21:00 in one published workshop); debriefing continues afterwards. [source: satirglobal.org Family Reconstruction Workshop; satirpacific.org reconstruction training] [uncertain: group size is not stated]

E. Training and certification. No licence is needed to use the techniques. The Virginia Satir Global Network awards "Certified Satir (STST) Therapist". Requirements: a master's or doctoral mental-health degree and independent licensure (exceptions reviewed case by case); nine core courses (C1 philosophy; C2 iceberg; C3 survival stances and congruence; C4 systems thinking and sculpting; C5 stages of change and family reconstruction; C6 use of self; C7 trauma; C8 dissociation and parts; C9 somatic and spiritual work); 18 elective hours; 15 hours individual or 20 hours group mentoring; approval of four video segments; case presentations; completion within three years. Institutes (e.g. Satir Institute of the Pacific) run Level 1 (60 CE hours in person) and Level 2 programmes. Guiding a family reconstruction is taught in advanced masterclasses "not designed for beginners". [source: satirglobal.org certification page and masterclass page; Level 1 STST outline]

3. Guiding principles

[source: STST in Brief, assumptions 1–14, meta-goals and process elements, unless marked]

Universal Life Force. Every person shares a life energy that allows connection: look for and speak to the person's healthy core, not only the symptom.
Universal, changeable processes. Doing, thinking, feeling, expecting, yearning and spiritual connection exist across cultures: assess all of these levels, whatever the client's background.
People are basically good. Self-worth comes from reconnecting with the inner core: frame interventions so the client meets their worth, not their defect.
Clients have the resources they need. Including undiscovered ones: ask about and enact resources before pain.
The problem is not the problem; coping is. Focus on how the client copes with the event and what it means, not only on the event.
A symptom is a solution. It is a subconscious attempt to survive pain: appreciate what the symptom or defence has protected before inviting change.
Health and possibilities, not pathology. Choose questions that open options; avoid diagnostic framing in session.
Change is always possible. If the outside cannot change, the inside can: when the situation is fixed, work on the impact and the meaning.
Past events cannot be changed; their impact can. Work with present-day impact, not with "what really happened".
People do the best they can. Blame is unhelpful: reframe the parents' and partners' behaviour as the coping that was available to them.
Feelings belong to the person. The client can own them and choose responses: help clients say "I feel…" rather than "you make me…".
Wholeness and growth are natural. Use them as the direction for the work.
Use of self is the main tool. Therapist congruence matters more than technique: do your own family-of-origin work; check your own stance before you intervene.
Hope is essential. Hold and voice belief in change before the client can.
The therapist leads the process; the client sets the goals. You decide how to explore; the client decides what they want.
Positive directionality. Turn complaints into wants, hear the positive yearning under anger, reframe toward possibility.
Experiential, not only talk. Have the client experience the impact in body and feeling now, alongside their resources; both are needed for a shift.
Systemic. Intrapsychic and interactive systems affect each other: an inner shift should be followed by a check on how relationships will change, and vice versa.
Change-focused process questions. Ask questions that move toward change, e.g. "What would have to change for you to forgive yourself?" (STST in Brief).
Four meta-goals in every session. Higher self-esteem, choice-making, responsibility, congruence: check at the end of each session which of these moved.
Make the covert overt. Bring rules, expectations and patterns into awareness so they can be chosen or transformed. [source: Level 1 STST outline, module 7]
Congruence = attending to self, other and context. Model and coach it. [source: Satir et al. 1991] [uncertain]
Five freedoms. Freedom to see and hear what is here, to say what one feels and thinks, to feel what one feels, to ask for what one wants, and to take risks on one's own behalf: use as a check on what a family rule blocks. [source: Satir & Brody 1978 as listed in the annotated bibliography; the bibliography's wording differs slightly from the version in Making Contact (1976)] [uncertain]
Safety and choice in experiential work. Strong emotions can arise in sculpting; the leader is non-directive, avoids moralising or over-interpreting, checks in often and does not push too fast. [source: Reich, Methodenpool, citing von Schlippe & Schweitzer 1997]

4. Intervention inventory

Order: (A) contact and assessment; (B) intrapsychic work; (C) interactive and family work, including sculpting; (D) group methods (parts party, family reconstruction); (E) maintenance and general techniques. All example language is illustrative unless quoted with a citation. Where a technique's step detail comes from Satir's books, it is tagged [uncertain].

A1. Making contact with each person

Purpose / when: First minutes of every session, especially family sessions; builds the safety that experiential work needs. [source: STST in Brief; Level 1 outline, "build safety and rapport quickly"]
Steps: (1) Greet each person individually, including children, at eye level; (2) ask each, by name, what they hope for from coming; (3) state your role (you guide the process, they decide the goals); (4) notice and name, without judgement, how each person seems right now; (5) ask permission before any physical or experiential step. [synthesis on step detail]
Example language (illustrative): "I'd like to hear from each of you. Sam, what would you hope might be different by the time you leave today?"
Watch for: One person speaking for others (placating or blaming patterns already visible); children not addressed. Working: everyone has spoken in their own voice; posture eases.

A2. Three-generation family map

Purpose / when: Assessment of coping and communication patterns, family rules, strengths and resources, and unfinished business; required preparation for family reconstruction. [source: Level 1 outline, module 3; Buffalo State page]
Steps: (1) Draw three maps: the client's family of origin (or current family), the mother's family of origin, and the father's family of origin; (2) for each person record name, birth (and death) dates, age now, religion, occupation, ethnicity, education; (3) beside each person write three or more adjectives the client would use to describe them (perceptions, not facts); (4) mark each person's main survival stance; (5) draw relationship lines (close, distant, conflictual, alliance); (6) list family rules and themes per family; (7) read the map with the client: what repeats across generations, what resources exist, what is unfinished. [source: Level 1 outline lists purposes; item contents per Satir et al. 1991] [uncertain on exact fields]
Example language (illustrative): "Give me three words that describe your father as you saw him when you were ten." "Looking across these three families, what rule seems to travel down the line?"
Watch for: Blank areas (secrets, cut-offs), adjectives that are all negative or all idealised. Working: the client notices a pattern spontaneously and their curiosity rises.

A3. Family life fact chronology

Purpose / when: Places the family in history; used to prepare a reconstruction or deepen a family-of-origin piece. [source: Buffalo State page]
Steps: (1) Starting with the birth of the oldest known grandparent, list dated events to the present: births, deaths, moves, marriages, separations, illnesses, wars, migrations, economic losses; (2) add the client's age at each event; (3) add world or community events of the time; (4) mark events the client believes shaped family rules. [synthesis on steps 3–4, consistent with the satirglobal.org reconstruction page on historical context]
Example language (illustrative): "How old was your mother when her own father left?"
Watch for: Clusters of loss around the client's birth; the client discovering parents' ages at key events. Working: parents start to be seen as people living in history.

A4. Wheel of influence

Purpose / when: Shows who, besides parents, shaped the client; source of resources for sculpts and reconstructions. [source: Satir et al. 1991 and Nerin 1986] [uncertain]
Steps: (1) Client in a central circle; (2) spokes to every significant person in childhood (relatives, teachers, neighbours, friends, pets); (3) thicker lines for stronger influence; (4) adjectives for each; (5) ask what each taught the client and which of those learnings are resources today.
Example language (illustrative): "Who else was important when you were growing up, someone who saw you differently from your family?"
Watch for: Lack of any supportive figure (risk marker for intense family-of-origin work). Working: the client identifies resources to bring into later work.

A5. Iceberg exploration

Purpose / when: Core assessment and change map of the internal system; used in almost every session. Therapists act as "deep sea divers" (STST in Brief). [source: STST in Brief; Level 1 outline]
Levels (top to bottom): behaviour; coping (stances); feelings; feelings about feelings; perceptions (beliefs, attitudes, assumptions); expectations (of self, of others, from others); yearnings (universal: to be loved, accepted, validated, to belong, to have purpose, freedom); Self / Life Energy ("I am"). [source: STST in Brief names the components; ordered list per Satir et al. 1991] [uncertain on exact order of the lower levels]
Steps: (1) Take a recent concrete event; (2) start with behaviour (what happened, what you did); (3) ask about the feeling, then the feeling about the feeling; (4) the perception or meaning made; (5) the expectation that was not met; (6) the yearning under it; (7) connect to the Self: how is the client when the yearning is acknowledged; (8) work back up: from that Self, what feeling, perception and behaviour would the client choose now; (9) anchor.
Example language (illustrative): "When he didn't call, what did you feel?" "And how do you feel about feeling that hurt?" "What did his not calling mean to you?" "What were you hoping for underneath?" "When you let yourself know you long to matter, what happens inside?"
Watch for: Intellectualising at the perception level (stay with the body); shame at "feelings about feelings" (this is often where the work is). Working: the client's voice softens at the yearning level; new choices are self-generated.

A6. Survival stance assessment and stance sculpting

Purpose / when: Make stress coping visible and choosable; part of the treatment plan. [source: Level 1 outline, module 2 "assessment through survival stances", "externalizing the internal coping process"]
The four stances: placating (discounts self, attends to other and context), blaming (discounts other), super-reasonable or "computer" (discounts self and other, attends only to context), irrelevant or distracting (discounts self, other and context); congruence attends to all three. Each stance also contains a resource to keep: caring and sensitivity; assertiveness; intelligence and attention to detail; humour, creativity and spontaneity. [source: Satir et al. 1991 and Peoplemaking 1972; stance labels confirmed by the Buffalo State page] [uncertain on resource pairings]
Steps: (1) Explain the four stances briefly; (2) model each posture: placating as kneeling with one hand reaching up; blaming as standing over with a pointing finger; super-reasonable as stiff and upright, arms still; irrelevant as moving, off-balance, looking away [uncertain: postures per Peoplemaking]; (3) ask the client (or each family member) to take the posture they use most under stress, and hold it for 30–60 seconds; (4) ask what they notice in body, breath, feelings, and what they see of the others; (5) in families, have members take their stances at the same time and look at the whole picture (the "stress ballet") [uncertain: term]; (6) ask what each stance protects them from and which resource in it to keep; (7) invite them to stand up straight, face each other, breathe and say one congruent sentence.
Example language (illustrative): "When things get tense at home, which of these feels most familiar in your body?" "Stay there a moment. What happens in your knees, your neck, your breathing?" "What does this posture help you survive?"
Watch for: Physical limits (offer chairs, smaller gestures); shame about one's stance (validate it as survival). Working: laughter of recognition, spontaneous wish to stand up, family members seeing each other's stance with compassion.

A7. Congruent communication coaching ("leveling")

Purpose / when: Replace stance-based talk with straight messages; whenever stances appear in session. [source: STST in Brief, meta-goal 4; Buffalo State page "leveler"]
Steps: (1) Stop an exchange gently; (2) ask the speaker what they are feeling and wanting right now; (3) help them say it in first person, face to face, with eye contact, matching words, tone and body; (4) ask the listener to say what they heard; (5) speaker confirms or corrects (communication check); (6) ask both how it was to speak and to hear that way.
Example language (illustrative): "Can you turn to your daughter and tell her what you just told me, starting with 'I'?"
Watch for: A congruent sentence used as a disguised attack. Working: both people's bodies relax; the listener can repeat the message accurately.

B1. Process questions

Purpose / when: The main verbal tool; questions aimed at experience and change rather than content. [source: STST in Brief, "change-focused"; Level 1 outline]
Steps: (1) Ask about present experience ("what happens inside as you say that"); (2) ask about meaning and expectation; (3) ask about yearning and resources; (4) ask change questions (what would have to change for X; what would you like to do with that feeling now); (5) after a shift, ask what is different in the body.
Example language: "What would have to change for you to forgive yourself?" (STST in Brief). Illustrative: "As you look at your father in the sculpt now, what's happening in you?"
Watch for: "Why" questions that invite justification. Working: answers shift from story to present-tense experience.

B2. Changing the impact of an event

Purpose / when: When a past event still shapes the present. [source: Level 1 outline, module 6; STST in Brief, assumption 9]
Steps: (1) Identify the event and its present impact (feeling, perception, rule); (2) let the client experience the impact now, briefly and safely; (3) bring in resources: the adult self, a supportive figure, Life Energy; (4) invite a new perception (e.g. of the parent as a person coping); (5) ask what the client wants to do with the old impact (keep, let go, transform); (6) anchor the new experience.
Example language (illustrative): "You can't change that you were left. You can change what that leaving still does to you. What would you like it to do now?"
Watch for: Flooding (pause, ground, slow); premature forgiveness. Working: the event is described with less charge and new meaning.

B3. Working with unmet expectations

Purpose / when: When resentment, disappointment or grief persists. [source: Level 1 outline, module 6]
Steps: (1) Name the expectation precisely (of self, of others, from others); (2) acknowledge the yearning it carries; (3) ask whether the expectation can still be met, by whom; (4) offer the options: meet it in another way, let it go with grief, or meet it oneself; (5) if letting go, give it a ritual (say it aloud, write and close the paper) [synthesis]; (6) check the body after.
Example language (illustrative): "You expected your mother to protect you. That longing is real. Is she able to give that now? If not, who else, including you, could?"
Watch for: Insisting the expectation must be met by the original person. Working: grief replaces resentment; energy returns.

B4. Owning and transforming feelings (anger, hurt, fear; feelings about feelings)

Purpose / when: Meta-goal of responsibility; anger work and forgiveness. [source: Level 1 outline, modules 6 and 9; STST in Brief, assumption 11]
Steps: (1) Help the client name the feeling and where it is in the body; (2) explore feelings about the feeling (shame about anger, fear of hurt); (3) validate the feeling as information; (4) look for hurt and fear underneath anger [source for this layering: Level 1 outline lists "anger, hurt and fear"; layering detail synthesis]; (5) find the yearning; (6) ask how the client wants to use the feeling's energy; (7) where relevant, explore forgiveness as a choice, not a duty.
Example language (illustrative): "That anger is yours, and it has energy. Underneath it, is there any hurt?"
Watch for: Pushing forgiveness; anger escalating toward someone present (structure turn-taking). Working: client says "I feel" instead of "you make me".

B5. Yearnings and Life Energy

Purpose / when: Deepest change level; whenever work reaches a yearning. [source: Level 1 outline, module 6; STST in Brief]
Steps: (1) Hear the positive yearning beneath the complaint; (2) reflect it; (3) invite the client to experience it as their own, not dependent on others; (4) connect to their sense of Self ("I am"); (5) ask how they would act from there.
Example language (illustrative): "Underneath all this is a longing to be accepted. Can you accept that longing yourself, right now?"
Watch for: Spiritual language not fitting the client (use their words). Working: calm, upright posture, quiet.

B6. Metaphor

Purpose / when: Shift beliefs indirectly; Satir called metaphor "the most helpful intervention I know" (quoted in De Little, Sand Tray slides). [source: STST in Brief; De Little 2020]
Steps: (1) Pick up the client's own image or offer one; (2) develop it with them; (3) let the metaphor carry the change (the wall gets a door); (4) return to the person's life.
Example language (illustrative): "If your anxiety were a guard at a gate, what would it be guarding?"
Watch for: Imposing your metaphor. Working: the client extends the metaphor themselves.

B7. Anchoring

Purpose / when: End of each change piece. [source: STST in Brief; Level 1 outline; Buffalo State page]
Steps: (1) At the peak of a positive shift (breath change, tears), invite the client to notice the feeling and where it is; (2) ask for a word, image or gesture for it; (3) optionally, with prior consent, a light touch on the shoulder linked to the feeling (Buffalo State example); (4) ask the client to recall it once more; (5) link it to a concrete next action.
Example language (illustrative): "Notice where you feel this calm. Give it a word you can take home."
Watch for: Touch without explicit consent, or with trauma histories (prefer self-touch or an image). Working: the client can re-evoke the state.

B8. Meditations and the self-esteem maintenance kit

Purpose / when: Openings and closings, resource-building, homework. Satir used guided meditations at trainings (published collections, see Sources). [source: annotated bibliography entries on Satir 1995; Banmen 2020; Nesbit 2009, 2010]
Self-esteem maintenance kit: symbolic tools such as a detective's hat (curiosity instead of judgement), a wisdom box (inner wisdom), a courage stick, a yes/no medallion (saying yes and no honestly), a wishing wand and a golden key (opening possibilities). [source: Nesbit 2010 as listed in the bibliography; item list from Satir teaching] [uncertain on exact items]
Steps: (1) Ask permission; invite eyes closed or soft gaze; (2) breathing and body awareness; (3) contact with inner resources or one kit tool; (4) a suggestion for appreciating oneself; (5) slow return. Write your own scripts; do not read published texts verbatim in sessions you record or publish.
Example language (illustrative): "Take a moment to notice your breath… and appreciate yourself for coming here today."
Watch for: Dissociation in eyes-closed work (offer eyes open). Working: relaxed face, client uses tools between sessions.

C1. Family rules transformation ("making the covert overt")

Purpose / when: Rules that lower self-esteem (e.g. "never show anger", "always put others first"). [source: Level 1 outline, module 7]
Steps: (1) Elicit the rule in the family's own words; (2) ask how it helped the family survive (honour it); (3) note its absolute words (must, never, always); (4) help the client rephrase it from "must" to "can" and from "always/never" to "sometimes"; (5) add at least three situations when the new version applies; (6) have the client say the new guideline aloud and notice the body. [steps 4–5 per Satir et al. 1991] [uncertain]
Example language (illustrative): "'I must never be angry' could become 'I can sometimes show anger when...'. When might that fit?"
Watch for: Rules that protect safety (keep those). Working: relief, laughter, new behaviour reported.

C2. Ingredients of an interaction

Purpose / when: Slow a reactive exchange to see what happens inside each person; conflict and couples work. [source: Level 1 outline, module 7; Gross 2007 as listed in the bibliography]
Steps (one moment of interaction, step by step): (1) What did I see and hear? (2) What meaning did I make? (3) What did I feel about that meaning? (4) What did I feel about that feeling? (5) What defences did I use? (6) What rules do I have about commenting? (7) What did I actually say or do? Then ask what other meaning, feeling or response was possible at each step. [step list per Satir's "Ingredients of an Interaction" as taught] [uncertain on exact wording]
Example language (illustrative): "Let's freeze the moment he sighed. What did you see? What did you tell yourself it meant?"
Watch for: Partners arguing over "the facts" (stay with each person's process). Working: partners recognise their own meaning-making.

C3. Primary triad work

Purpose / when: The child-mother-father triad is where identity and self-worth form; used in family-of-origin and reconstruction work. [source: Satir et al. 1991 covers primary triads, per the annotated bibliography] [uncertain]
Steps: (1) Map the triad at a significant age; (2) sculpt it (or use chairs or objects); (3) ask the client, from the child position, what they learned about themselves; (4) explore each parent as a person; (5) invite the adult client to stand beside the child and offer what was missing; (6) anchor.
Example language (illustrative): "Standing between them at seven, what did you learn about your place?"
Watch for: Siding with one parent; blame. Working: the client can see both parents as people.

C4. Family sculpting (core procedure)

Purpose / when: Make relationships, closeness, hierarchy and coping visible and felt; assessment and change. Satir had present family members arrange their system in space. [source: Reich, Methodenpool; Buffalo State page; STST in Brief lists sculpting; Satir Global Network C4]
Preparation and consent: explain the method; anyone can stop or step out; nobody is moved roughly; physical limits respected [synthesis, consistent with Reich's cautions].
Steps: (1) Choose a sculptor (usually a family member; in individual work, the client with stand-ins, chairs or objects); (2) instruct: place people in the room as you experience the family, at a chosen moment or in general; (3) distance = emotional distance; turning backs can show hostility or mistrust; (4) height = hierarchy (on a chair, kneeling, looking up or down); (5) the sculptor adjusts posture, gaze, touch, gestures (open or clenched hands, pointing) and facial expression until "that's it"; (6) the sculptor places themselves last; (7) everyone holds the position silently for a minute and notices their experience; (8) ask each person: how they feel in this place, whether they want to change something, whether this feeling matches the sculptor's view, and whether this perspective is new or familiar; (9) circular questions (ask one member how they think another feels where they stand); (10) optional further sculpts (see C5); (11) release positions, shake off, and debrief. [source: steps 2–9 Reich, Methodenpool (German); steps 1, 6 and 11 synthesis]
Example language (illustrative): "Without words, place everyone where they are for you when Dad comes home from work." "How is it for you, standing there?" Neutral check-in as in the German source: "Wie fühlen Sie sich dabei?" (How do you feel with that?) (Reich).
Watch for: Over-interpreting an unclear sculpt; moralising; packing too much into one sculpt (von Schlippe & Schweitzer warn against putting too much in too fast, cited by Reich); strong emotional reactions, especially in teaching groups. Working: members spontaneously comment, move, or show emotion; the family discusses what they saw.

C5. Alternative, desired or changed sculpts

Purpose / when: After an assessment sculpt; to move from the problem picture toward what people want. [source: Reich lists alternative sculptures; Satir use of change sculpts per Satir et al. 1991]
Steps: (1) From the current sculpt, ask each person what small move they would like; (2) let them try it and report the effect on everyone; (3) or ask the sculptor to build the picture they wish for; (4) compare bodily experience in both; (5) ask what would have to happen in daily life for one step toward the wish; (6) agree one concrete step as homework.
Example language (illustrative): "If you could move one step, where would you go? Try it. What changes for the others?"
Watch for: An idealised sculpt nobody believes in (ask for the next small step). Working: members name one concrete change.

C6. Ropes

Purpose / when: Make binds, pulls and connections concrete, often in sculpts or reconstructions. [source: Buffalo State page] [uncertain]
Steps: (1) Give each person ropes linking them to each family member (e.g. tied at the waist or held); (2) let each person move toward what they want and feel the pulls; (3) explore who holds whom and how tightly; (4) experiment with loosening or re-tying by choice.
Example language (illustrative): "When you try to step toward your friends, whose rope do you feel?"
Watch for: Physical safety (hold, do not tie tightly; no ropes near necks); trauma reminders of restraint (offer scarves or hands instead). Working: insight into competing loyalties.

C7. Sculpting with objects, blocks or sand tray

Purpose / when: When live people are absent, the client is alone, or children are involved; also less intense. Kvebaek (1968) used wooden figures; blocks are listed as a Satir-family tool; a current Satir trainer uses sand tray. [source: Reich; Buffalo State page; De Little 2020]
Steps: (1) Client chooses objects for each person; (2) arranges them; (3) therapist asks the same process questions as in C4; (4) client changes the arrangement; (5) in sand tray (De Little): show the problem, notice the body, show the feeling, show it without the feeling, show what is in the way and appreciate how the blocker has helped, add a resource or light, ask what has changed in the body.
Example language: "Show me what you want to work on." "What happens in your body when you see this picture?" (De Little 2020).
Watch for: Content that becomes too vivid; slow down. Working: the client changes the arrangement and reports a body change.

C8. Enactment and drama

Purpose / when: Re-play a specific problem situation or past event to gain perspective. [source: Buffalo State page]
Steps: (1) Choose a short, specific scene; (2) set it in the room; (3) play it as it happens; (4) freeze and ask each person about their inner experience (C2); (5) replay with one change; (6) debrief.
Example language (illustrative): "Show me how bedtime goes, just the first two minutes."
Watch for: Escalation into a real fight (freeze early). Working: a different ending is possible in the room.

C9. Reframing

Purpose / when: Lower blame and raise curiosity by stressing good intentions and puzzlement. [source: Buffalo State page; STST in Brief, "reframe perceptions"]
Steps: (1) Listen for the negative label; (2) find the positive intention or coping in it; (3) offer the new frame tentatively; (4) check whether it fits.
Example language (illustrative): "It sounds like your nagging is the way you keep trying to stay close."
Watch for: Reframing abuse as care (never). Working: the other person's posture softens.

C10. Verbalising presuppositions and denominalisation

Purpose / when: Language techniques described in Satir's collaboration with Bandler and Grinder (Changing with Families, 1976). [source: Buffalo State page; attribution of origin is my inference] [uncertain]
Steps (verbalising presuppositions): state an unspoken hopeful assumption in the family's behaviour ("you came because you hope things can change"). Steps (denominalisation): when a person uses an abstract word ("respect", "love"), ask what specific things the other would do so they would feel respected; listen for their sensory channel (seeing, hearing, feeling) and use it.
Example language (illustrative): "What would your son do, that you could see or hear, so you'd know he respects you?"
Watch for: Interrogation tone. Working: abstract fights become concrete requests.

C11. Communication checks and tracking

Purpose / when: Repair misunderstanding in the moment. [source: Buffalo State page lists communication checks and tracking]
Steps: (1) After a message, ask the listener what they heard; (2) ask the sender if that is what they meant; (3) check perceptions both ways; (4) track sequences: who did what after whom.
Example language (illustrative): "Before you answer, tell her what you heard her say."
Watch for: Mind-reading. Working: fewer corrections needed over time.

C12. Temperature reading

Purpose / when: A structured family or couple meeting Satir taught to keep communication open; homework and maintenance. [source: based on Satir teaching as commonly described] [uncertain]
Steps: Take turns through five parts: (1) appreciations; (2) new information; (3) puzzles (things one does not understand); (4) complaints, each with a recommendation; (5) wishes, hopes and dreams. Practise it once in session, then weekly at home.
Example language (illustrative): "Start with one thing you appreciated about each other this week."
Watch for: Complaints without recommendations; the meeting turning into a fight (shorten it). Working: the family runs it without you.

D1. Parts party

Purpose / when: Help a person (the "host") recognise, accept and integrate the many parts of themselves, including disliked ones, as resources; Satir used it in groups; later variants include a solo version for individual therapy (Carlock 2015) and a modified couples version (Oz 1988). [source: annotated bibliography entries; procedure detail per Satir et al. 1991 and Satir's Your Many Faces] [uncertain on stage names]
Preparation: The host lists about six to ten well-known people or characters (public figures, fictional characters) to whom they react strongly, positively or negatively; for each, one adjective describing the quality that stands out; each adjective is marked as liked or disliked. Group members are chosen to play the parts; a guide leads.
Steps: (1) Meeting the parts: each role player enters in character and is introduced with their adjective; the host watches; (2) Party: the parts interact freely at a "party"; the guide watches for alliances, exclusions and conflicts; (3) Conflict: the guide freezes the scene and lets conflicting parts confront each other; (4) Transformation: the guide helps each part, especially rejected ones, find the useful energy in its quality (stubbornness as persistence) and cooperate with others; (5) Integration: the host greets each part, takes in its resource and accepts it as their own, often in a closing ritual; (6) role players de-role; sharing from group and role players.
Solo adaptation (individual therapy): use chairs, cards or objects for the parts and have the client speak as each part (Carlock 2015 describes such an adaptation; my steps are [synthesis]).
Example language (illustrative): "Ruthless One, what do you want for our host?" "Which of these parts would you like more of in your life? Which needs to be transformed rather than thrown out?"
Watch for: Host shame at disliked parts; role players acting out personal agendas. Working: host laughs, softens, names one disowned part as a resource.

D2. Family reconstruction

Purpose / when: Satir's three-generation group method; goals as described by Satir's colleagues: to see where old learnings came from, "to meet with and to understand our parents as people" (Gomori & Golden, as quoted on satirglobal.org), and to discover one's own personhood. Also examines family rules, secrets, unprocessed feelings and family strengths, sometimes in the context of historical events (war, migration). Use for adult clients with stable functioning who want deep family-of-origin work, in a group with an experienced guide. [source: satirglobal.org reconstruction pages; satirpacific.org; three-goal framing per Nerin 1986 and Satir et al. 1991]
Roles: Star (person whose family is reconstructed: a group participant or volunteer client); Guide (trained therapist who leads; may have an assistant for charts); Role players chosen by the star for family members across generations, often including a stand-in for the star; Resources (supporting roles representing strengths); audience (all present are affected). The star may reverse roles to play a relative. [source: satirpacific.org; satirglobal.org Family Reconstruction Workshop]
Preparation (weeks before): star prepares the three-generation family maps (A2), family life fact chronology (A3) and wheel of influence (A4); meets the guide to review them and choose the focus (often a question about self); guide assesses readiness (C5 of the certification curriculum covers this; criteria not published) [uncertain]. Some workshops hold a separate preparation day. [source: satirglobal.org Workshop page; satirpacific.org]
Sequence (Satir Institute of the Pacific outline): (1) establish the family-of-origin map; (2) identify family themes and patterns; (3) role-play and re-enactment; (4) integrate insights and create new narratives. [source: satirpacific.org]
Typical enactment steps within that outline: [per Satir et al. 1991 and Nerin 1986] [uncertain]
1. Guide and star present the maps to the group; star chooses role players and briefs each with their adjectives;
2. Sculpt the star's family of origin at one or more key times (the star places role players; star watches via a stand-in or stands in);
3. Mother's family of origin: sculpt and enact key scenes of the mother's childhood with grandparents; the guide interviews the role-player "mother" in role about her experience;
4. Father's family of origin: the same;
5. Parents' meeting, courtship and early marriage: enact how they met, their hopes, expectations and coping;
6. Birth of the star and the early family: the star sees the context into which they arrived;
7. Star's encounter: the star (now as adult) speaks with the "parents" as people, expresses feelings and expectations, receives what is possible, and makes new choices about inherited rules;
8. Resource and integration sculpt: the star places the family in a new, chosen arrangement and anchors it;
9. De-roling: each role player states "I am not X, I am [own name]" or similar, steps out and shakes off the role [synthesis on wording];
10. Sharing: role players share what they experienced in role and from their own life (no advice or analysis); audience shares; debrief continues over following sessions. [synthesis on sharing rules]
Example language (illustrative): "You are Elena's mother, aged twelve, the year your father was taken. What is it like in this house?" "Elena, look at her now. What do you see that you couldn't see as her daughter?"
Watch for: Star flooding or dissociating (pause the scene, bring the star beside the guide, use resources); role players overwhelmed by their own family material (de-role and check later); the guide doing therapy on role players in public; a reconstruction ending in chaos without integration. Working: the star speaks of parents with compassion, changes posture, reports new choices; the star's behaviour changes over following weeks (Gomori & Golden book shows this, per satirglobal.org).
Adaptations in individual therapy: chairs, objects or sand tray for the generations; done over several sessions. [synthesis]

E1. Self mandala

Purpose / when: Satir's map of eight resources of the self (physical, intellectual, emotional, sensory, interactional, nutritional, contextual, spiritual) to assess balance and resources. [source: based on Satir teaching] [uncertain]
Steps: (1) Draw a circle with eight segments; (2) client rates or describes each area; (3) identify neglected areas and one resource to strengthen; (4) set homework.
Example language (illustrative): "Which part of you has had the least attention this year?"
Watch for: Turning it into a checklist of failures. Working: client picks one area spontaneously.

E2. Humour and self-disclosure

Purpose / when: Named by the model's authors as creative interventions arising from therapist congruence. [source: STST in Brief]
Steps: use brief, warm humour that laughs with, never at, the client; disclose only what serves the client, briefly, then return focus.
Example language (illustrative): "I know that kneeling position well from my own family."
Watch for: Humour used to avoid pain (yours or theirs). Working: tension drops, contact rises.

E3. Homework and practice

Purpose / when: End of each session; the "practice" stage of change. [source: STST in Brief; Level 1 outline]
Steps: (1) Agree one small, concrete practice (a congruent sentence, temperature reading, a meditation, noticing a stance); (2) predict obstacles; (3) review next session, appreciating attempts.
Example language (illustrative): "This week, once a day, notice when you go to your knees, and stand up inside."
Watch for: Overload. Working: client reports experiments.

E4. Co-therapy and "therapeutic gossiping"

Purpose / when: Co-therapists discuss observations aloud in front of the family so members can listen without having to respond. [source: Buffalo State page] [uncertain whether Satir's own term]
Steps: turn to the co-therapist; speak tentatively and positively about patterns; then ask the family what they heard.
Example language (illustrative): "I'm noticing how hard Dad works to keep everyone calm. I wonder what that costs him."
Watch for: Talking about people dismissively. Working: family members correct or add to the observations.

E5. Assessment card

Purpose / when: A written summary of assessment and goals presented to the family, which they accept or modify. [source: Buffalo State page only; not found in primary sources] [uncertain]
Steps: summarise strengths, patterns and proposed goals in plain words; read it together; invite changes; use it for goal review.

E6. Couples procedures

Purpose / when: Satir couples work: intrapsychic and interactive systems, resolving differences, intimacy, impacts from the past. [source: Level 1 outline, module 8]
Steps: combine A5 (each partner's iceberg in front of the other), A6 (stances side by side), C2 (ingredients of the interaction), B3 (unmet expectations) and A7 (congruent requests); close with a sculpt of the closeness each wants. [synthesis on the combination]
Example language (illustrative): "Tell him what you long for, not what he does wrong."

5. Handling problems

The sources say little about problem management beyond the model's stance (symptom as solution, appreciating defences, holding hope) and the cautions for sculpting work. Most concrete responses below are [synthesis] built on those principles.

Stuck client (circling in story). Move from content to process: "What's happening inside as you tell me this?" (B1). Use a quick sculpt or object placement to get out of words (C4, C7). When very stuck, De Little "lends light" in the sand tray (adds a resource to the scene) [source: De Little 2020]; the equivalent in talk is introducing a resource figure from the wheel of influence (A4). [synthesis]
Resistance / defences. Treat the defence as the client's best survival solution (STST in Brief, assumption 6): ask what it protects and what gift it has before inviting change; defences are transformed, not removed (De Little 2020). Never fight a stance; name and appreciate it, then ask permission to look underneath. [source + synthesis]
Overwhelm, flooding or dissociation during experiential work. Stop the action; ask everyone to sit; bring the client's attention to breath, feet, the room and your voice; shift from re-experiencing to observing (the client watches a stand-in, or the sculpt becomes objects); bring a resource into the scene; resume only with consent, more slowly; end with anchoring of the adult self. Do not run eyes-closed meditations with clients who dissociate; keep eyes open. [synthesis; consistent with Reich's caution that strong emotions occur and the leader must be ready]
Contraindications and readiness for sculpting and especially family reconstruction [synthesis; sources do not publish criteria] [uncertain]: avoid or defer with acute psychosis, active suicidality, current crisis, severe untreated dissociative disorder, recent bereavement in the family to be enacted, active litigation or ongoing abuse in the family, or no stable support outside the group. For complex trauma, use individual, object-based or sand-tray versions first. Obtain written informed consent for group reconstruction that covers intensity, role-play, confidentiality and the right to stop. Suicide risk: follow your standard risk assessment before and after intensive sessions; plan follow-up contact within days.
Family members present with ongoing violence or coercion. Do not ask a victim to speak congruently to, or be sculpted close to, an abuser in session; do not reframe abuse as care; prioritise safety planning and separate sessions. [synthesis]
Touch and physical positioning. Ask before any touch (anchoring, sculpt adjustments); let people position themselves when possible; offer chairs for kneeling stances; no ropes near necks; respect cultural and gender norms about touch. [synthesis]
Non-adherence (homework not done; family members not attending). Explore the iceberg of the non-doing (expectation, feeling, rule "I mustn't fail"); shrink the task; appreciate any attempt; work with whoever comes, using chairs or objects for the absent. [synthesis]
Ruptures (client feels judged, pushed or exposed). Stop and attend to the relationship: name what you notice, own your part congruently (no placating), ask what the client needed, and reset pace or consent. Congruence of the therapist is the model's main tool (STST in Brief), so a congruent repair is itself an intervention. [source + synthesis]
Therapist pulled into a survival stance (placating a hostile parent, blaming a "difficult" family member, lecturing in super-reasonable mode). Notice your own body and stance; use supervision and your own family-of-origin work; the model expects therapists to have reached a fair degree of congruence themselves (STST in Brief). [source + synthesis]
Premature or forced forgiveness. Keep forgiveness a choice; forgiving oneself or the impact can come before, or instead of, forgiving the person. [synthesis, consistent with Level 1 module 9 on forgiveness]
Over-interpretation of a sculpt. Ask rather than tell; avoid moral or dogmatic judgements; accept frustration when the sculpt does not resolve; do not cram too much into one sculpt. [source: Reich, citing von Schlippe & Schweitzer 1997]
Role players affected by their own material (groups). De-role every role player; allow sharing from their own life; check in privately afterwards; offer follow-up referral. Hellinger-style rapid constellations were criticised for providing too little follow-up, so build aftercare in. [source: Reich on Hellinger criticism; procedures synthesis]
Confusion with Hellinger "family constellations". Hellinger drew on Satir, but constellations rely on representatives' supposed "knowing field" and directive "solution" statements; Satir sculpting is client-led, non-directive and based on the client's own perceptions. Keep the two distinct when describing your work to clients. [source: Reich notes Hellinger drew on Satir; contrast is synthesis]
Chaos after a change (getting worse). Normalise it as the chaos stage of change; stay steady; reduce the pace; keep sessions closer together; plan practice. [source: Satir change model as summarised via Gross 1994; synthesis on responses]
Cultural fit. STST claims universal processes, but family hierarchy, eye contact, touch, open expression of anger and talking about parents differ by culture: adapt sculpting (objects instead of people), use the client's own words for yearnings and spirituality, and ask before challenging family rules that carry cultural meaning. [synthesis]
Using family reconstruction without training. Reconstruction guiding is taught in advanced masterclasses for experienced Satir practitioners; do not run full reconstructions without training and supervision. [source: satirglobal.org masterclass page]

Sources

Sources

Further reading (not drawn on; content attributed to them is tagged [uncertain])

Satir, V. (1964). Conjoint Family Therapy. Science and Behavior Books.
Satir, V. (1972). Peoplemaking; (1988) The New Peoplemaking. Science and Behavior Books.
Satir, V. (1978). Your Many Faces. Celestial Arts.
Bandler, R., Grinder, J., & Satir, V. (1976). Changing with Families. Science and Behavior Books.
Satir, V., & Baldwin, M. (1983). Satir Step by Step: A Guide to Creating Change in Families. Science and Behavior Books.
Nerin, W. F. (1986). Family Reconstruction: Long Day's Journey into Light. Norton.
Satir, V., Bitter, J. R., & Krestensen, K. K. (1988). Family reconstruction: the family within. Journal for Specialists in Group Work.
Satir, V., Banmen, J., Gerber, J., & Gomori, M. (1991). The Satir Model: Family Therapy and Beyond. Science and Behavior Books.
Gross, S. J. (1994). The process of change: variations on a theme by Virginia Satir. Journal of Humanistic Psychology.
Satir, V. (1995). Meditations and Inspirations (J. Banmen & J. Gerber, Eds.). Celestial Arts.
von Schlippe, A., & Schweitzer, J. (1997). Lehrbuch der systemischen Therapie und Beratung. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
Gomori, M., with Adaskin, E. (2008). Personal Alchemy: The Art of Satir Family Reconstruction. Satir Institute of the Pacific / Peanut Butter Publishing [uncertain on publisher].
Carlock, C. J. (2015). The solo parts party. Satir International Journal; Oz, S. (1988). A modified "parts party" for couples work. Contemporary Family Therapy.
Loeschen, S. (1998). Systematic Training in the Skills of Virginia Satir. Brooks/Cole.

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