Family Constellations & Sound Healing — with Katie Despres & Driftaway

Family Constellations & Sound Healing — with Katie Despres & Guest Practitioner Melissa (Driftway Wellness)

Join a full-day workshop combining Family Constellations with sound healing integration. A chance to explore how family patterns live in the body and nervous system, and how sound and systemic practice together can support release, regulation, and fresh perspective.

What is Family Constellations?

Family or Systemic Constellations is a therapeutic approach developed by Bert Hellinger. It works on the principle that unresolved experiences in our family history don’t disappear — they can be carried forward into future generations as unconscious loyalties, symptoms, or repeating patterns.

As Dr Bruce Hoffman writes, “The body is the final resting place of all your experiences. But not just your own. The body also carries the untold stories of those who came before.” This is at the heart of constellation work: to uncover what belongs to us, and gently release what does not.

A constellation creates a living map of these hidden dynamics, using group members as representatives. Through this embodied process, what is usually unseen becomes visible and felt.

Family Constellations can support you to:

• Unravel family and relationship challenges
• Identify repetitive patterns in work or creativity
• Manage stress, anxiety, and health concerns
• Address financial limitations or blocks
• Gain clarity on life direction and purpose
• Release inherited emotional burdens

Ways to Take Part

There are different ways to participate in a constellation:

• Issue Holder – bring a personal or professional issue to explore. The group will support you in mapping your system.
• Representative – step into roles within other people’s constellations. This isn’t roleplay, but a somatic process: many people experience powerful shifts and insights while representing.
• Witness – hold presence in the circle. Even from this position, you may find parallels and resonance with your own life.

Not every participant is guaranteed to have their own constellation. Typically we are able to explore four issues in a full-day workshop. At the start of the day, we will explain how issue holders will be selected. What’s important to know is that every role is valuable, and many people describe their most moving experiences happening while representing.

Why Sound Healing?

We will be joined by Melissa from Driftway Wellness, who will guide a sound healing session in the afternoon. Sound healing uses vibration and resonance to work directly with the body and nervous system — helping to settle, release, and integrate. Just as constellation work reveals what is carried in our family system and embodied in our lives, sound offers a complementary way to ground those shifts.

The tones and frequencies can soothe the stress response, support emotional regulation, and allow the constellation process to land more deeply. This combination of constellations and sound creates space for insight to move from awareness into the body, so that integration is not just mental, but felt.

Outline of the Day (approximate, timings flexible)

• 10:00 – 13:00: Arrival, introductions, settling, 2 constellations
• 13:00 – 14:00: Lunch (bring your own or explore nearby)
• 14:00 – 16:00: 2 constellations
• Around 16:00: Sound bath with Melissa
• Closing circle: Around 17:00- 17.30

(We’ll remain flexible with timing to allow the process to breathe; this will be explained in the opening circle.)

About Katie

Katie Despres is a Systemic Constellations Facilitator and Yoga Teacher based in Bristol. She is known for her down-to-earth yet intuitive approach, blending systemic thinking, embodiment, and grounded presence.

Katie trained extensively with the Centre for Systemic Constellations under Gaye Donaldson and Chris Williams, including advanced study in Couples and Intimate Systems. She has over a decade of experience in transformational work, alongside 1,500+ hours of yoga training with Yogasara Bristol under Yoga Elders Christopher Gladwell and Sarah Harlow.

Her work is shaped by a deep interest in human relationships — how unresolved experiences are carried through families, and how we can gently return what does not belong. She facilitates workshops, 1:1 sessions, and couples work in Bristol and online.

About Melissa

Melissa (Driftway Wellness) is a sound practitioner, Reiki Master, massage therapist, and mindfulness teacher. She has been supporting people’s wellbeing for over a decade, offering spaces for rest, release, and reconnection. A regular participant in constellation workshops, Melissa brings an attuned systemic understanding to her sound healing work.

Who Can Attend

Whether this is your first constellation or you’ve experienced the work before, you are very welcome. This is an experiential workshop — everyone present participates in some way, and each role contributes to the learning and healing field. The workshop is for Adults only

Practical Information

Venue
Subud Hall, 29 Wesley Place, Bristol BS8 (near Clifton Downs / Whiteladies Road).

Travel

• Train: Clifton Down Station is a 10-minute walk from the venue.
• Bus: Several buses stop at Blackboy Hill / Whiteladies Road (routes 1, 2, 3, 4).
• Parking: Free on-street parking in residents’ bays on Saturdays (check local signs).

Food & Drink

• Light refreshments (tea, coffee, biscuits, fruit) are included during breaks.
• Lunch 1–2 pm: please bring your own ( Microwave & fridge in kitchen), or choose from plenty of cafés and food options within a 5-minute walk.