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Virginia Satir Biography -

Virginia’s first job after college was in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, as a public school teacher. Though she said the climate there as "rigid" and "reactionary" (Russell 7) for her taste, Virginia was nonetheless taken with her pupils. She was always interested in the family lives of her students. In fact, not long into her career as a teacher, she began to go home with her students to visit with and solicit support from their parents. It was here, perhaps, that Virginia’s idea of healing the family was born: "If we can heal the family," she said, "we can heal the world" (Laign 20). After one year of teaching in Williams Bay, she became the school principal for a year.

Completing her tenure in Williams Bay, Virginia realized her high school ambition of being a traveling teacher. Her career took her to Ann Arbor, Shreveport, St. Louis, and Miami (Russell, King). The more she taught, the more she learned about her students and their families: "I realized there were a lot of things that needed to be understood that I didn’t understand and that’s when I decided to find some other place to get education. Somehow I happened on social work school. Someone told me about it; I didn’t remember who that was" (Russell 10).

Snap Shots of Virginia

Family of Origin

Education

Teaching Career

Marriage & Children

Graduate School

Virginia's Career in Therapy

Virginia's Philosophy

The Pioneer

Illness & Death

The Legacy

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