By Ericka Castillo

I am about to turn 45 and thanks to Michael Blumenstein, my main interest at the moment is to accompany those who wish to live their good life.
At 20 I chose to study the Degree in Psychology. Fortunately, the curriculum of the career allowed me to graduate as a general psychologist, under the cognitive behavioral current, in the constructivist framework.
When I left I was not interested in the clinical care. I thought, what need do I have of solving others’ lives? That was when my career began in organizations.
10 years go on before I questioned what I was doing, I suppose the need give you the experience. I did psychometric assessments, apply ‘assessment center’, was an expert in deep interviews and in the executives’ selection.
Until that moment, I felt sure about what I was doing.
The coach says …
At 30 I got curious about coaching. It just started as an alternative within organizations to “empower talent”.
In less than 10 years this function prostituted itself in a very easy way, now I have a theory about these, the models I know, are designed so that the coachee thinks that it was through his coach that he achieved something, thus the coach becomes the key element.
In my experience there are people who have heard say “my coach says I should do …”; or “my coach says I should not do this or that.” That calls my attention: how is it that someone who does not live within the organization and who probably does not know about the existing dynamics, could say what should or should not be done? And of course the other question that emerges is what makes the coachee think, that following instructions is better?
I got certified in an international firm. From my point of view, although the program is good and ambitious, it has great problems to be implemented and even more to generate different possibilities within the organizations; simply because it remains in the Ontological of the Being explanation and the organization is not the sum of the individualities, it lacks a systemic and social perspective.
Many projects and large businesses were created under this premise, many companies that invested in such processes did not have the expected results. The contracts basically consisted of “choosing” internal people to carry out a coaching process with the purpose of counting internally with agents of change who facilitate or introduce different cultures, under the idea of ”make things happen”.
From my perspective this happens just like the clinical part. It would seem that when the “patient” comes to the therapist, then he will be able to “change and make things happen” as if he and his will inhabit this world alone.
At age 33, because of a personal situation, I came to know the technique of family constellations. At first I thought I had fallen in love with the technique and then, when I decided to train myself, I discovered the richness of the systemic approach. I did the masters in Social Systemic Solutions, now I realize it had a little of systemic and nothing abount social!
Discovering Michael
To get to Michael, it was necessary to meet Katia del Rivero before, I was 37 years old, with her I learned to include everything, to integrate the new and to accommodate all that takes its time. She is a master of forms, generates simple systemic exercises that greatly facilitate the clarity of concepts. I respect her and admire her a lot.
At age 40, thanks to my relationship with Katia I meet Michael and the social world. It was to this point that I begin to understand what social systems are and how they work. Giving me permission to look at behavior and its processes within the social framework make it much more interesting. I understood why neither the clinic nor the coaching had been a professional alternative for me until very recently.
a) The difference is in looking at the future, and I wonder how many coaches, consultants, or therapists do this?
b) Organizations are understood only when they are seen as living and social organisms
c) The possibilities are not in the people, but in what together they choose to construct conscious or not
d) Everything that a living system needs, is within it.
e) The constellation technique is useful to reduce the complexity of what we live in our social systems, so the other can clearly realize what the origin was, what he wants to build for him, how he has contributed to that whether it is possible or not, what he could do if he wants it to be different and the coach accompaniment that reminds you of your autonomy and sufficiency.
This is what Michael practiced all the time, allowed me to look at my autonomy and remember my sufficiency, and with that I was able to reconcile myself with my professional training and expand my panorama regarding the therapeutic processes.
Very grateful to Michael
The Blumenstein Theory is an invitation for every human being who wishes to live his good life. It only requires clarity of what you need, connect with your autonomy and sufficiency to choose your contributions and the appropriate ways to achieve it.
This implies that it is not in the hands of any individual to make things happen, but in what is built in any social system through the contributions and impact it has on social organization.
In that sense there is a huge gap between what I learned twenty years ago and what I practice and love today, starting with myself.
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