NLP-Podcast 44: Virginia Satir and NLP

Virginia Satir is the founder of systemic family therapy and was born in 1916 as the eldest of many siblings on a small farm in Wisconsin. Her father was a simple and poorly educated worker. Her mother came from affluent bourgeois circles and placed great importance on education. Due to their different backgrounds, there was much conflict between the parents, which they never expressed in front of the children. Nevertheless, the difficult relationship between the parents was always subtly felt. Because of the challenging home environment, Virginia Satir wanted to become a "family detective" by the age of five. After graduating from college, Virginia worked as a teacher and simultaneously trained as a social worker. During this time, she also completed psychoanalytic training. Following these trainings, she opened a private practice where she initially treated only indigent patients, as she, being a non-medical professional, had no access to other paying patients. In the 1970s, she was closely connected not only with various therapists but also with different Native American tribes. Here, she found a source of spirituality for herself.

Avanta Network

In 1977, Virginia Satir founded the "Avanta Network." In this nonprofit organization, she aimed to bring together the people she had trained and who shared her values. She had a vision of comprehensive peace among all people. She wanted to use her network to combine the skills and abilities of those she had trained to support organizations, schools, governments, etc., in enabling that peaceful coexistence among people. After one of her lifelong wishes, to demonstrate her work in the Soviet Union, was fulfilled in May 1988, she passed away on September 10, 1988, in her home in Palo Alto from cancer. In the complete podcast episode, you will learn more about the life of Virginia Satir and especially more about her connection to NLP. Enjoy listening!