Influential Past Teachers

Virgina Satir Therapist

Place of Birth
Neillsville, Wisconsin, United States

Foundation of Teaching
Psychology, family therapy and psychotherapy.

Example of Teaching
“Feelings of worth can flourish only in an atmosphere where individual differences are appreciated, mistakes are tolerated, communication is open, and rules are flexible – the kind of atmosphere that is found in a nurturing family.”

Total Views: 13,395

Virginia Satir

Virginia Satir (1916-1988) was one of the major pioneers in family therapy and a teacher. She taught concepts that pulled people out of the dysfunction of their families into a higher consciousness of thinking and acting. She changed how the mental health field looked at people with problems as “pathology,” into seeing people as a product of their family conditioning which could be changed.

Rather than seeing a client’s issue as a problem, she believed that the problem was the result of how a client coped with a particular issue from the past or present. Her book, Conjoint Family Therapy, was based on the courses she delivered at the Mental Research Institute. After the book was published, Satir gained recognition for her theories from the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy and the Academy of Certified Social Workers. She was in demand throughout the world.

Satir also developed the Satir Change Process Model, which was a method of change that she developed from her own clinical trials. Satir developed this model that is now widely used to understand the effects of change within the corporate world. Satir devoted much of her career to helping people find the necessary mental health resources for their needs. She created organizations to bring people with similar issues together, including Beautiful People and the Avanta Network.

Virginia traveled the world over with her teachings of how to become a fully functioning human being centered in love. She attracted a following of therapists, business people, leaders and regular folks who then applied her ideas through their own work and life.

View all Articles



View All Videos

Quotes

  1. “All meaning is self-created.”
  2. “We must not allow other people’s limited perceptions to define us.”
  3. “As a therapist, I am a companion. I try to help people tune into their own wisdom.”
  4. “We can learn something new anytime we believe we can.”
  5. “The Problem is never the problem! It is only a symptom of something much deeper.”
  6. “I want to love you without clutching, appreciate you without judging, join you without invading, invite you without demanding, leave you without guilt, criticize you without blaming, and help you without insulting. If I can have the same from you, then we can truly meet and enrich each other.”
  7. “Put together all the existing families and you have society. It is as simple as that. Whatever kind of training took place in the individual family will be reflected in the kind of society that these families create.”
Read More Quotes >>>