Virginia Satir is internationally recognized for her creativity in the practice of family therapy. Based on a conviction that people are capable of continued growth, change, and new understanding, her goal was to improve relationships and communication within the family unit.

Referred to as the "Columbus of Family Therapy" and "everybody's family therapist," Satir stayed at the forefront of human growth and family therapy until her death in 1988.

Virginia Satir, the founder of the Satir Model, believed that counselling/therapy is an intense experience with the inner self. The counsellor/therapist helps and encourages the client/patient not only to accept and deal with the pain and problems, but also to accept and live an inner joy and peace of mind.

Virginia worked with many thousands of people in more than 40 countries, and touched the hearts, minds and souls of people in her endeavour to help them become "More Fully Human." Her understanding of family systems and her creative methods have become integrated into many healing and personal growth programs. The teachings have universal validity for human relationships. She believed that people have within them the capacity for growth, change, and new understanding. She also believed that it is of utmost importance that those of us who endeavor to assist and guide others need to do our own personal work before we can become effective change agents.

Virginia Satir believed that all people are manifestations of the Life Force, and, as people, we all have the internal resources we need in order to cope successfully and grow.

"If, as I hope, more people can see what it means to be truly and fully human, and can develop ways to make this happen, the future of the family looks bright. Growing numbers of people know what it feels like to feel whole and real, to love and be loved, to be productive and responsible, and to feel that the world is a better place because they are in it. When I think of what people in the future will be like when they are brought up in nurturing families living in a nurturing world, I am filled with awe and wonder."

— Virginia Satir,                            
"The New Peoplemaking" (1988)