Bert Hellinger

Hellinger studied philosophy, Catholic theology and pedagogy. In 1952 he was ordinated to the priesthood, afterwards he worked in a Catholic missionschool in South Africa until 1968.

Hellinger attended among other things courses of Arthur Janov, Frank Farelly, and Jacob Levy Moreno. His further education to a nonmedical psychotherapist was finally accepted in 1982.

After leaving the priesthood, he studied psychoanalysis and eventually developed an interest in Gestalt therapy and Transactional Analysis. Hellinger later trained in family therapy. It was here that he first encountered family constellations It was his application of the phenomenological approach to family constellations which produced his characteristic way of working.

He has used his acute observational abilities, with this method to build on and transcend more conventional family therapies. He has also discovered that there are natural laws, or orders that support the healthy flow of love in relationships.

He developed a characteristic way of working called family constellations in the 1980's. It was based on the work of Virginia Satir.

Despite passing 80 years of age, Hellinger still travels extensively in Europe, Asia, North and South America, giving workshops.