Virginia Satir (1916-1988) was referred by many as the "mother of family therapy". Her books People Making and Conjoint Family Therapy are two of the central texts of humanistic psychology. Satir held high hopes and great enthusiasm for the ability of the human spirit to make this world a better place to live. She believed that human beings can fulfill what they were meant to fulfill; that they can use themselves more positively, more effectively; and that they can have more choices for greater freedom and power in spite of their past.

The Satir model is known as the "growth model". This model aims to effect lasting change in individuals by enhancing awareness and understanding of communication patterns; discovering family of origin learnings and coping patterns; building self-esteem; expanding self discovery and self responsibility; diagnosing dysfunctional dynamics and reshaping relationships; enhancing congruence and tapping internal resources for external change.

Jean McLendon brings over thirty years of professional experience to her career in mental health, human relations, and organizational change. In her consulting practice, Jean has worked with leaders and teams of diverse business background, governmental agencies and educational institutions, and consulted on matters of team development, succession planning, conflict resolution, transition and change management, and leadership development. In her psychotherapy practice, she works with individual, couples and families and supervises other psychotherapists.

Jean is widely recognized as a master in the use of the Satir Growth Model and methods. Mentored for nearly twenty years by the late Virginia Satir, renowned educator-author and family systems therapist, Jean is known as one of the foremost practitioners of Satir's methods. Jean was requested by Satir to substitute her in the month-long workshop of the international Colorado Summer Institute, which Jean had been the Director of the Module 1 Process Community for years, before Satir died in 1998. Currently she serves as President of Avanta: The Virginia Satir Network.

Jean taught at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, at the Staff College of the National Institute of Mental Health, and served as adjunct faculty to the Union Institute. She is a faculty member with Avanta: The Virginia Satir Network, the Satir Institute of the Southeast and a faculty specialist for the Whole Systems Design Graduate Program at Seattle University.

Jean frequently presents on topics of organizational consulting and psychotherapy. In 2002 Jean was the Keynote Presenter at the Annual Conference of the American Academy of Psychotherapists. Her contributions were recognized recently as she was awarded the 2003 NCAAMFT Champion of the Family Award and in 2004, Avanta's Living Treasure Award, by Avanta, The Virginia Satir Network.