Satir Family Therapy/Experiential Family Therapy was founded by Virginia Satir who was one of the primary pioneers of family therapy! Her work developed through different stages from the time she saw her first family in 1951 and throughout her entire career, and from the beginning, her style of family therapy was always considered unconventional practice (different than the norm). Her approach to family therapy holds the belief that family members have the right to receive support and nurturing and they will then grow in a healthy direction with this support and nurturing. The Satir approach is humanistic, and the role of the therapist is genuine, warm, shows unconditional positive regard and empathy, and models a lot in session for the family. Key terms are dysfunctional communication styles/roles and congruent communication as there is a big focus on communication. The therapist is promoting interventions that help to better understand how each other experiences the world. I as your therapist, might ask questions like “What do you feel?” ”What feelings do you have about those feelings?” Also, using ¨I ¨instead of “you” to promote direct and honest communication and taking responsibility. We also might go through a family lifetime/timeline of events to reflect what the family has been through and see the impact. Family sculpting is another tool where we might enact in-session a specific interaction, patterns, and discuss impact. This is a really fun approach to family therapy!
