Training · Family novel
The family novel: when writing becomes a training tool for therapists
Jennifer Denis, a psychologist and trainer, has chosen to put family history back at the heart of the training path of future therapists. Through a singular device, inspired by the Centre de Formation à la Systémique (CFS) in Brussels and developed at the Atelier Systémique, she invites students to write their family novel — an experience as intimate as it is formative.
A tool inherited and reinvented
The family novel belongs to a lineage. Born in the practices of the CFS and theorised in the book La naissance d’un thérapeute familial (The birth of a family therapist; Ackermans & Canevaro, 2022, Érès), it finds fresh vitality today at the Atelier Systémique, a centre founded in 2022 by Jennifer Denis in partnership with the CFS.
This writing is not a mere literary exercise: it is a journey through the values, the transmissions, the silences and the shadows of family history. Three generations are summoned — grandparents, parents and oneself — sometimes right up to the formation of one’s current couple.
A process in several stages
The family novel is built up gradually, over four years of training.
1
Personal writing
Students set down what they know of their own history, their memories, their representations, their founding myths.
2
The family account
Relatives are met and questioned: their voices come to enrich, contradict or complete the initial text.
3
Collective sharing
In the fourth year, each student devotes a full day to presenting their novel: read by the group, discussed, worked on with floating objects, and sometimes extended by a meeting with family members.
Each account thus becomes a mirroring: students learn to recognise what they have received, what they choose to pass on and what they wish to transform.
A formative and transformative experience
What is striking about this device is its experiential dimension. Students are not merely observers: they become explorers of their own system, confronted with their invisible loyalties and family silences, but also with their resources and their values.
Beyond being a teaching tool, the family novel is a performative ritual. By learning to write and read their own story, therapists train themselves to receive the stories of others.
An invitation
The family novel questions every one of us. What would happen if you wrote the story of your family? Which values, which narratives, which silences would come to light? Perhaps you too would discover that one becomes a therapist — or simply an adult — only by agreeing to enter into dialogue with one’s origins.
The conversation with Jennifer Denis — in French — can be watched below.
How to cite this article
Besse, J. (2025, September 14). The family novel: when writing becomes a training tool for therapists. Complexe Systémique. https://app.complexe-systemique.com/en_GB/articles/the-family-novel-when-writing-becomes-a-training-tool-for-therapists
To go further
- What you need to know about the genogram, a systemic toolMapping family history across three generations, to see what repeats itself and what gets passed on.
- Brothers and sisters: the invisible bond that shapes our livesWhy therapists gain from questioning their own sibling history before opening that door with the families they see.
- Floating objects in systemic therapyThe metaphorical supports used to work on narratives in a group, when words alone are no longer enough.
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