2005. Portland, OR. Jane Peterson organized and produced the first U.S. Systemic Constellations Conference almost single-handedly. The conference featured a roster of senior European trainers. This well-attended and well-organized conference was focused on building community. U.S. facilitators were also featured. The keynote speakers were Joy DeGruy speaking on Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome and Lee Brown discussing the history of Indian schools in Canada and the emergence of medical clinics based on Native healing principles.
2007. Asheville, NC. Sheila Saunders took over the organizer role from Jane Peterson. The theme for the second conference was “Wisdom Unfolding: Dialogues From Beyond the Self.” The goal for 2007 was to increase the depth of knowledge in the American field. It featured a strong presence of European trainers in a relaxed atmosphere in a pastoral mountain setting. There were a large number of panel sessions as well as post-conference workshops. Sheila was assisted by Dee Yoh and Ed Lynch in the planning of this conference.
2011. San Francisco, CA. Dan Booth Cohen stepped into the vacuum created by the dissolution of the 2010 conference to organize a 2011 conference. He recruited a team of co-organizers, Carolyn Zahner, Barbara Eggenberger and Gary Stuart. Prior to the conference, Carolyn became a co-director. The theme for the third conference was “Claiming Our Roots - Embracing New Growth.” The conference featured Friday all-day training courses, and it de-emphasized senior European trainers, instead focusing on presentations by U.S. facilitators. Hunter Beaumont and Francesca Mason Boring were headline presenters. Keynote speakers were Malidoma Somé, Gordon Wheeler, Marita Fridjhon and Faith Fuller.
2013. Seattle, WA. Dan Booth Cohen created a new entity for the next U.S. Systemic Constellations Conference called ConstellateUS. A new steering committee of eight organizers was assembled including Dan Booth Cohen, Mark Johnson and Leah Green as co-directors, Alison Fornes, Barry Krost, Kathleen Rauch, Heidi Morford and Kirsten Love Lauzon. The committee chose to highlight indigenous wisdom and invited two sets of indigenous presenters, from Guatemala and New Zealand. The theme was “Courage at the Edge - Love at the Center.” Ursula Franke and Belvie Rooks gave keynote addresses. The committee created three tiers of presentations: Short TED-style talks, mid-length and full-length breakout workshops that also featured U.S. facilitators.
2015. San Diego, CA. A transition team formed in early 2014 with Dan Booth Cohen, Leslie Nipps, Alison Fornes and Barry Krost to select co-directors and develop a new steering team for a 2015 conference. Leslie Nipps and James Woeber were chosen as conference co-directors. The co-directors came to a unique agreement with ConstellateUS that allowed use of its website, financial system and the conference mailing list as the team moved in the direction of developing a new community-based conference organization of volunteers. Jane Peterson,
The theme for the 2015 conference was “Embracing Our Roots, Standing in Our Strength.” Early in the process it was decided to move toward expanding the conference to all of North America. The conference was renamed as the “North American Systemic Constellations Conference.” Keynote addresses were given by Sneh Victoria Schnabel, Edward Tick., Ingala Robl and Francesca Mason Boring.
2017. Virginia Beach, VA. Immediately after the 2015 conference a new transition team was created to initiate a search for co-directors, ensure continuity to the next conference, develop marketing, begin to search for a venue and create a non-profit organization that would be transparent and representative of the community. In May 2016, North American Systemic Constellations (NASC) was incorporated as a non-profit corporation in Illinois with James Woeber, Deborah Frangquist, Leslie Nipps and Barry Krost as the first four of an eventual nine-person board of directors. In July 2016, the transition team selected Melody Allen and Betsy Hostetler as co-directors for the 2017 conference. The theme for the 2017 conference was
“Bridging the Divide; healing the personal and collective soul”.
2021, Colorado Springs, CO. The NASC Board underwent significant transition after the 2017 conference. Susan Macknin and Michaelene Ruhl were selected as co-directors for the next conference, originally scheduled for November 2020 in Colorado Springs, CO. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 epidemic postponed the conference until 2021, and continuing effects of the pandemic reduced the size of the attendees. However, a lovely, intimate conference was held in November 2021.
[Thanks to Dan Cohen for his help in creating this history]
