Family Constellation Group Sessions Chicago
Each month, Barry Krost facilitates an in-person Family Constellations session in the Chicago area (Bannockburn, IL). These powerful group sessions offer a supportive space to explore the hidden patterns within your family system, release emotional entanglements, and restore balance in your relationships and inner world.
Whether you're seeking healing, insight, or simply curious about Family Constellations, these sessions provide a profound opportunity to witness and participate in deep, transformational work.
What Are Family Constellations?
Family Constellations is a therapeutic approach developed by Bert Hellinger that reveals the unconscious dynamics carried through generations. These unresolved traumas and hidden loyalties can affect your emotions, relationships, health, and sense of belonging.
At the core of this work are the Orders of Love, principles that help restore harmony and balance within the family system. When these natural orders are disrupted, we may experience:
Repeating life patterns
Relationship challenges
Chronic emotional or physical struggles
A sense of being stuck or disconnected
Family Constellations helps bring these influences to light so healing and resolution can begin.
What happens in a Family Constellations session?
Each in-person Family Constellation group session includes:
A brief introduction to Bert Hellinger's work and the Orders of Love
Four to six live Family Constellations
An equal opportunity for participants to be selected for a constellation over time
Volunteers serving as representatives for family members, relationships, or other elements within the family system
Healing sentences and systemic interventions that support acknowledgment, connection, and new perspectives
A respectful and supportive group process in which clients, representatives, and observers often gain new insights through participating in the constellations
Whether you receive a constellation, serve as a representative, or observe the process, many people describe the experience as insightful, emotionally moving, and deeply meaningful.
Although the session concludes at the end of the day, the constellation process often continues afterward. Many participants notice new insights, emotional shifts, or changes in relationships unfolding over the days or weeks that follow. Allowing time for this integration is often an important part of the overall experience.
Learn more: Integration After a Family Constellation.
Who Should Attend?
These in-person Family Constellation group sessions may be a good fit if you would like to:
Explore repeating family or generational patterns
Gain a broader perspective on relationship challenges
Learn more about generational trauma and unconscious family dynamics
Experience Family Constellations in a supportive group setting
Participate in an experiential process alongside others exploring similar questions
No prior experience is required. Simply bring an open mind, curiosity, and a willingness to explore your family system.
How Are Constellations Chosen?
Each group session typically includes three to five Family Constellations. Because the number of requests often exceeds the time available, not everyone who wishes to receive a constellation can be selected at every session.
Participants are welcome to request a constellation in advance, and every effort is made to provide opportunities fairly over time. However, a constellation cannot be guaranteed on a specific date.
These ongoing groups are intended as a shared learning experience rather than a one-time opportunity to receive a personal constellation. Whether you receive a constellation, serve as a representative, or observe the process, every participant contributes to the group's exploration and learning.
Constellations are selected with consideration for:
The readiness of the individual and the group on that day
Providing opportunities as fairly as possible over time
What appears most relevant to the group's overall learning and systemic exploration
Are you new to Family Constellations?
Learn more about Family Constellations, explore our resources, or book a free online consultation.
Connecting with community
Although each person comes with their own question or intention, Family Constellation group sessions are also a shared experience.
Many participants find that they learn not only from their own constellation, but also from witnessing the experiences of others. Common family themes such as belonging, loss, relationships, responsibility, and generational patterns often resonate across many different life stories.
Participants frequently describe:
Feeling welcomed and supported within the group
Gaining new perspectives through others' constellations
Recognizing common human experiences across different families
Feeling less alone with their own challenges
Appreciating the opportunity to witness the experiences of others with respect and openness
Whether you receive a constellation, serve as a representative, or observe the process, participating in a group often brings a greater appreciation of the shared patterns that connect many family systems.
Recommended Reading
If you’re new to Family Constellations, we recommend: Family Constellations: A Practical Guide to Uncovering the Origins of Family Conflict by Joy Manne (2009)
Please read the Policies & Agreement and the Representative Guidelines for Live Workshops.
Related Resources
What Are Family Constellations
Learn the foundations of Family Constellations and how hidden family dynamics may influence emotional life and relationships.Family Constellation Therapy
Explore how systemic patterns, trauma, attachment, and unconscious loyalties may continue affecting later generations.Guilt & Innocence
Explore how unconscious guilt, belonging, and family loyalty may shape emotional patterns and behavior.
Schedule, Registration and Location
Chicago Group Sessions are held once a month on a Thursday from 6:30 PM - 9:30 PM (CST/CDT)
Cost: $45 per session or purchase a Three Chicago Group Session Package for $120 and pay only $40 per session.
The group is held in at the La Quinta Inn & Suites 2000 Lakeside Drive Bannockburn, IL 60015 (Illinois Room)
Cancellation Policy
100% refund if you cancel 72 hours or more before the group or workshop. 50% if you cancel less than 72 hours.
In person Family Constellations with Representatives
We can organize a private in person Family Constellation session with recruited volunteers as representatives. The cost is $425.00 for a 90-120 minutes. Purchase.
Related Resources
What Are Family Constellations
This comprehensive guide introduces the principles, practices, and perspectives of Family Constellations. Learn how family relationships, belonging, the Orders of Love, the Knowing Field, and recurring family patterns may continue to influence life across generations through a clear, balanced, and experience-based approach.Family Constellation Therapy
Explore how systemic patterns, trauma, attachment, and unconscious loyalties may continue affecting later generations.What Is Inherited Family Trauma?
Inherited family trauma involves emotional, relational, and nervous system patterns that may continue after unresolved loss, violence, addiction, abandonment, or exclusion in earlier generations.
Frequently Asked Questions
-
In each session, participants explore personal or inherited issues using the Family Constellation method. Through guided facilitation, hidden dynamics within the family system are revealed using representatives or objects. Participants can either bring an issue to explore or take part as representatives for others.
-
No experience is necessary. Whether you're new to Family Constellations or have participated before, you'll be supported in a welcoming, grounded space. Barry Krost explains the process and principles so everyone feels comfortable and included.
-
You can bring a wide range of concerns, including:
Family conflict or estrangement
Repeating relationship patterns
Chronic emotional or physical pain
Grief or loss
Blocks around career, finances, or purpose
Generational trauma
-
Yes. Respect and privacy are foundational to the work. Participants are encouraged to share only what they feel comfortable disclosing.
-
Participation during pregnancy is a personal decision. Family Constellations may involve the exploration of emotionally significant topics, including family history, grief, trauma, and relationship dynamics.
Individuals who are pregnant are encouraged to consider their own circumstances and consult with their healthcare provider regarding any questions or concerns. Participation should only occur to the extent that feels appropriate for the individual.
Family Constellations is not a medical, psychological, prenatal, or healthcare service and is not intended to diagnose, treat, monitor, or prevent any medical or mental health condition.
If you have questions about participation during pregnancy, please contact Barry before registering.