Family Reconstruction:
The Living Theater Model

Sharon Wegscheider-Cruse, Kathy Higby, Ted Klontz, Ann Rainey

209 pages, 7 x 9-1/2 in.
ISBN 978-0831400835
$19.95 paperback

Family Reconstruction is an active and dramatic therapy tool created by Virginia Satir to help people reclaim freedom of choice and self-worth. It reframes their current thinking about the past (and their place in their family), promotes a bigger pictureIn their well-known work with alcoholism and other addictions, Wegscheider-Cruse and her colleagues have adapted and expanded the technique into what they call the Living Theater Model. It helps people:

• Break the power of compulsive behaviors
• Revive their self-esteem and revive self-worth
• Develop safe and useful relationship skills

Chapters include detailed descriptions of various exercises and a comprehensive discussion of this powerful process. from the introduction ...

"Transformation comes when we don't know how to go forward and yet we don't want to go backward, so we choose to seize the moment, to do what is necessary to be right with ourselves, and to let the change(s) happen ... Reconstruction is a transformation process."

Family reconstruction is an action therapy technique developed by Virginia Satir, a pioneer in family systems work. Sharon Wegscheider-Cruse, a ground-breaking expert in the field of addictions, and her co-authors have adapted and expanded Satir's model at Onsite Training and Consulting where they have conducted countless family reconstructions over the past twenty years. This inspiring book describes their approach and makes available to the reader the first comprehensive guide to their methods. An eclectic combination of techniques drawn from gestalt therapy, group therapy, psychodrama, family systems and behavior therapies ... employing sculptures, guided imagery, role-playing, props, humor and music ... the Living Theater model of family reconstruction seeks to re-frame current thinking in order to promote a bigger picture of reality, to re-awaken and re-order the emotional and passionate parts of the self, to increase self-worth, to break the power of compulsive behavior in order to provide freedom of choice, and to develop safe and useful relationship skills.

Virginia Satir once confided to me that Sharon was a younger version of herself. She would be delighted with Family Reconstruction and how Sharon has advanced the reconstruction process. - Robert S. Spitzer M.D. Appropriate for educators, therapists, and lay readers alike, Family Reconstruction brings to life the rich, engaging, emotional, wondrous, healing world of reconstruction.
- Carol D. Sexton, M.D.