A complementary approach
A way of looking at the family you came from, and at what of it still travels with you without your knowing. Individual sessions and group work.
Sessions are held in Portuguese
These sessions are held in Portuguese. If you would like to talk about working together in another language, write to me and we will see.
What it is
A constellation is a piece of work in which the family system of one person is laid out in the space of the room. Other people present stand in for the members of the family, and what you see from the outside is what tends to sit too close to be looked at.
The basic idea is a simple one: each of us belongs to a system that began before we did. There are places left unoccupied, people who stopped being spoken about, losses that were never said out loud. Those things do not disappear for not being named. They go on organising the system from the inside, and sometimes they reach us as a weight that feels like ours but is older than we are.
The work is mostly one of observation. Nothing is interpreted, nothing is advised, and nothing is resolved in a hurry. You look at what appears, you give a place to what had none, and sometimes that alone is enough for something to settle differently. It is not magic and it is not guaranteed, and nothing more than that is promised. But people who come through here tend to say it changed something.
The work always starts from the orders of love, which is to say: each person and each story stays in the place that belongs to them. Nobody is judged, and nobody is there to have opinions about the life of anyone else. What is sought is only some perspective on what each person brought with them.
It can be done in a group, with other people standing in for the system, or one to one, with other means taking that place. Both work; the choice usually has to do with where a person is at the time, and with how willing they are to put their situation in front of a group.
One thing you only understand once you go: in a group, the people watching are working too. You see the story of someone else and, along the way, something of your own comes along for the ride. Something from your own family, or a pattern you repeat, turns up there without your having gone looking for it. That is why it is common to leave a group constellation with work done, even without having constellated.
To work with
These are examples. You can bring whatever you like, as long as it is yours.
People who have been here
I felt completely held, and I felt the sensitivity and the care with which my constellation was done. For that I am very, very grateful.
Who this is for
When it is better to wait, or to look elsewhere
Family Constellations are a complementary practice and are not a therapeutic model validated by psychological science. They are not psychotherapy or psychological intervention, and they do not replace clinical care. No diagnoses are made and nothing is treated. Before you book, I always ask you a few things: it is to find out whether this is the moment, and I will say so plainly if it seems to me that it is not.
If you are in crisis or at risk, do not wait for me: in Portugal, call SNS 24, 808 24 24 24, or 112.
If you are unsure, write to me first. I would rather you waited than booked at the wrong moment. Write to marta@serpaciente.pt.
Formats
A meeting one to one, online or in person in Cascais. You work on one concrete theme, starting from the family and relational system, at your own pace.
Gatherings in Cascais, with other people standing in for the system. Whoever comes can work on their own theme or take part in the constellation of someone else, which is work all the same. Dates are announced through the year.
Nothing is paid on the site. Payment is made when you confirm your place, once a date has been announced.
If this is something you want.
The sessions are held in Portuguese, in person in Cascais or online. If you have read this far and something here is yours, write to me and tell me what brings you. We can look at it from there.
Framing
Family Constellations are a complementary practice. They are not a therapeutic model recognised by psychological science, they are not psychotherapy or psychological intervention, and they do not replace clinical care. The Portuguese Psychologists Association published an opinion to that effect in 2019, and this notice is here so that nobody arrives expecting something else.
If what you need right now is clinical care, the right path is a psychologist or a doctor. Write to me and I will help you find one.
Marta Fonseca, Family Constellations facilitator.