# Joan Garriga Bacardí

Joan Garriga Bacardí (Bellpuig, Lleida, 28 November 1957) is a Gestalt and humanistic psychologist and psychotherapist. He is known for working on family constellation approach, and also for applying the technique to couples’ relationship problems, mainly in Spanish-speaking countries.
He was responsible for introducing Bert Hellinger to Spain in 1999, presenting his work with family constellations to the community of therapists.
Joan Garriga has studied constellations in detail as a systemic, phenomenological, existential and humanist vision. A best-selling author and international lecturer, he takes part in various training courses in Europe - Spain, Portugal, Italy, Russia, France, Switzerland, Finland, Bulgaria - and in America - Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Guatemala, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica and the USA.
He has published several books on key topics as parenting and parent-child relationship, couple relationship, transgenerational roots and influences, spirituality, philosophy for a fulfilled life and the art of living well, the process of transformation and the approach of family constellations.
He is a regular presence in magazines and newspapers, television and radio programmes, where he is interviewed and explains his therapeutic and philosophical views on these topics: the bond between parents and children, couple relationship, his vision of psychotherapy the art of living well, family constellations, health and illness, among other topics.

## Biography

Joan Garriga was born on 28 November 1957 in Bellpuig, a small farming village in the province of Lleida in Catalonia, Spain.
Left his village to go to the University of Barcelona to study Law. After three years of studies a crisis of vocation led him away from Law and into Art, especially theatre and creativity.
Later he began to study Psychology at the same University of Barcelona, where he was certified as a clinical psychologist.

## Professional career

Further studies in the field of Psychology led him to create the "Institut Gestalt" of Barcelona in 1985, together with Mireia Darder and Vicens Olivé. At this institution he worked for many years as a psychotherapist, team builder, trainer and supervisor in Gestalt therapy, Neurolinguistic Programming and body-based approaches. He left the "Institut Gestalt" as a partner, but continues to collaborate as a professional.
Over the years he has occasionally collaborated with theatre and film directors, using constellations as a tool to explore the subtleties of plots, characters and performance alignment - for many years collaborated at Juan Carlos Corazza's school - "Estudio Corazza para la Actuación".
He became acquainted with the work of Claudio Naranjo, with whom he learnt integrative psychotherapy, enneagram, meditation techniques within the Buddhist tradition and the use of music as a vehicle for inner work. For many years he also collaborated as a teacher, supervisor and therapist in the programmes run by Claudio Naranjo in different countries.
Later discovered the work of Bert Hellinger with family constellations, and in 1999 brought him to teach in Spain. By learning with Bert Hellinger he deepened in the systemic vision of psychotherapy and personal development.
In 2006 he founded Editorial Rigden Institut Gestalt, which publishes books on psychotherapy and spirituality.
He has given talks and workshops all over the world on various subjects, but mainly those related to the themes of his books: parent-child relationships, couple relationships, bonds in general, a fulfilled and meaningful life, the disorders of existence and their approach, family constellations, Gestalt therapy, the helping relationship, meditation, etc.
His approach to accompanying people is psychological as well as spiritual, a theme that is extensively developed in his book ‘Vivir en el alma”. He believes that some stages of life's journey, such as death or illness, are so demanding that they need to be approached from a broader perspective than a purely psychological one (ibid).
One of his special' topics is couple relationships, about which published the books "El buen amor en la pareja" (also published in English) and "Bailando juntos"
He is active and organises workshops in Spain and in different parts of Europe and America

## Published works
### Books

Garriga, Joan (2006) ¿Donde están las monedas? El vínculo logrado entre hijos y padres. Ed. Rigden-Institut Gestalt (also published in English)
Garriga, Joan (2008). Vivir en el alma. Amar lo que es, amar lo que somos y amar a los que son. Ed. Rigden Institut Gestalt
Garriga, Joan (2013). El buen amor en la pareja. Cuando uno y uno suman más que dos. Ed. Destino (also published in English)
Garriga, Joan (2014). La llave de la buena vida. Saber ganar sin perderse a uno mismo y saber perder ganándose a uno mismo. Ed. Destino
Garriga, Joan (2020). Bailando juntos. La cara oculta del amor en la pareja y la familia. Ed. Destino
Garriga, Joan (2021). Decir sí a la vida. Ganar fortaleza y abandonar el sufrimiento. Ed. Destino
Garriga, Joan (2024). Constelar la vida. Del amor ciego al amor lúcido. Ed. Destino

### Chapters in book

Garriga, Joan (2002). Joan Garriga describe su manera de hacer gestalt. In Naranjo, C. (Ed.) Gestalt de vanguardia (pp. 259– 274). Ediciones La Llave
Garriga, Joan (2002). Joan Garriga a propósito de las constelaciones en la gestalt. In Naranjo, C. (Ed.) Gestalt de vanguardia (pp. 275–290). Ediciones La Llave