Virginia Satir (June 26, 1916 – September 10, 1988) was an American author, clinical social worker and psychotherapist, recognized for her approach to family therapy. Her pioneering work in the field of family reconstruction therapy honored her with the title "Mother of Family Therapy". Her best known books are Conjoint Family Therapy, 1964, Peoplemaking, 1972, and The New Peoplemaking, 1988.

She is also known for creating the Virginia Satir Change Process Model, a psychological model developed through clinical studies. Change management and organizational "gurus" of the 1990s and 2000s embrace this model to define how change impacts organizations. She died in 1988 in Menlo Park, California, of pancreatic cancer, aged 72.

When Satir was three years old, she taught herself to read and by age nine, she had read all of the books in the library of her small one-room school.

From early years, Satir demonstrated an interest in family dynamics. When she was five, she decided that she would grow up to be "a children's detective on parents, inclinations that would later become true through her therapeutic practices."

During her time as a schoolteacher, she recognized that involved and supportive parents not only help students in the classroom but could also heal family dynamics. Satir began meeting and cooperating with the parents of her students and saw the family system as a reflection of the world at large, stating "if we can heal the family, we can heal the world." Satir also offered insights into the particular problems that low self-esteem could cause in relationships.

Two years later, Satir was appointed to the Steering Committee of the International Family Therapy Association and became a member of the advisory board for the National Council for Self-Esteem. Bandler and Grinder also collaborated with Satir to author Changing With Families for Science and Behavior Books, which bore the subtitle 'A Book About Further Education for Being Human'. The Virginia Satir Global Network, originally named AVANTA by Satir, is an international organization that carries on her work and promotes her approach to family therapy.

I Am Me

Bibliography

  • Englander-Golden; P; Satir, V. Say It Straight: From Compulsions to Choices, Science and Behavior Books, Palo Alto, CA 1991.

See also

  • Family systems therapy
  • Humanistic psychology
  • Systems psychology
  • Carl Whitaker
  • Sally Pierone

References

Further reading

  • About Virginia Satir
  • Obituary in the Los Angeles Times, Sept. 12, 1988
  • Virginia Satir Biography - Life of American PsychologistBrief biography at Webster.edu
  • The Virginia Satir Global Network
  • Satir Institute of the Pacific
  • Say It Straight Foundation