Full Course Description
Certified Internal Family Systems Trauma Clinician (IFSTC) Training
Learn the foundations of IFS – and see why we call this a trauma certification.
You won’t just learn the IFS model, you’ll learn every component as it relates to trauma. You’ll get straight into applying the model, learning how to notice parts within your client’s system and sorting out how each relates to their trauma experience.
Part I | Certified Internal Family Systems Trauma Clinician (IFSTC) Training: IFS and Trauma Foundations
Lay the groundwork to practice IFS with confidence.
- IFS for Trauma - Learn the full IFS model in-depth, including how each component applies to trauma-informed therapy.
- Beyond the DSM - Fully understand trauma through IFS's non-pathologizing lens.
- The Trauma Recovery Framework - Discover the powerful 3-phase approach you'll use alongside IFS to deliver deep and lasting healing.
- Parts Detection & Self-Assessment - Perfect your ability to detect your clients' parts and Self-Energy and set the stage for powerful healing.
- Engaging Parts - Discover six proven techniques (with scripts) to move from talking about parts to working with them.
- Building Trust and Connection - Master IFS therapy's key "6Fs" strategy and discover four essential interventions to use when you get stuck.
Skills Practice #1 - Take part in hands-on practice to turn theory into confidence.
Program Information
Target Audience
- Counselors
- Social Workers
- Psychologists
- Psychotherapists
- Therapists
- Marriage & Family Therapists
- Addiction Counselors
- Case Managers
- Physicians
- Other Mental Health Professionals
Objectives
- Explain the foundational components of the IFS model, including the nature and roles of parts the centrality of Self.
- Articulate the rationale for a transdiagnostic approach to trauma through the lens of IFS.
- Explain how parts become burdened or stuck in response to traumatic experiences and how this impacts the internal system.
- Develop an IFS-informed case conceptualization that reflects the client's internal system dynamics.
- Differentiate between types of parts within a client’s system, demonstrating awareness of their protective roles.
- Apply the IFS therapy roadmap in clinical sessions to guide clients in accessing Self and working with parts.
- Facilitate the unblending process to help clients differentiate between Self and parts in real-time.
- Conduct parts mapping to assess and track the client’s internal system over the course of therapy.
- Use six foundational IFS techniques to initiate and deepen therapeutic work with clients.
- Design an IFS-informed treatment plan within a three-phase trauma recovery model.
- Implement IFS strategies for working with suicidal parts in a safe, ethical, and attuned manner.
- Utilize the "conference table" technique to address polarizations and facilitate internal negotiation.
- Demonstrate how to obtain informed consent when engaging directly with parts.
- Summarize current research supporting IFS as an evidence-based modality and evaluate its relevance to clinical populations.
Outline
IFS and Trauma Foundations
- IFS for Trauma
- Beyond the DSM
- The Trauma Recovery Framework
- Parts Detection and Self-Assessment
- Engaging Parts
- Building Trust
Skill Practice Day 1 - LIVE
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08/15/2025
Module 1: Healing trauma’s imprint: Trauma-Informed Unburdening
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09/18/2025
Module 1: Supporting Stabilization and Emotion Regulation
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09/18/2025
Module 2: Trauma Processing in IFS Therapy
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09/18/2025
Module 2: Appreciation, Closing, Post Unburdening
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09/18/2025
Module 3: The Impact of Traumatic Stress on the Brain
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09/18/2025
Module 3: IFS in the Real World: Using IFS when there are external and internal constraints
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09/18/2025
Module 4: Healing Intergenerational Trauma with IFS Therapy
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09/18/2025
Module 4: Resilience Factors, Risk Factors, Memory Reconsolidation, and Post Traumatic Growth
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09/18/2025
Module 5: Developing your Parts Detector & Assessing for Self
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09/18/2025
Module 5: Working with Dissociation
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09/18/2025
Module 6: Attachment Trauma
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09/18/2025
Module 6: Hyperarousal States
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09/18/2025
Module 7: Direct Access & Co-Regulation
Step into the core of IFS trauma treatment.
- Steps to Facilitate the Healing of Trauma — Learn every step to safe, effective "unburdening" where you release the heavy emotions and energy a part has been carrying.
- Supporting Clients Before, During, & After — Get powerful tools for supporting clients at every stage of "unburdening" — including interventions for navigating setbacks.
- The Brain & Trauma — Discover how to use IFS to facilitate deep brain-based healing.
- Assessment & Treatment Planning — Learn how to create inclusive, flexible assessment and treatment plans to fit the specific needs of each client.
- Polyvagal & IFS — Learn to track your client's nervous system, including tools for keeping them in the window of tolerance.
- Direct Access & Co-Regulation — Use detailed scripts to confidently reach even the most hard-to-reach protective parts.
- Skills Practice #2 — Join your cohort for hands-on practice of your new trauma-informed IFS skills.
Program Information
Target Audience
- Counselors
- Social Workers
- Psychologists
- Psychotherapists
- Therapists
- Marriage & Family Therapists
- Addiction Counselors
- Case Managers
- Physicians
- Other Mental Health Professionals
Outline
Part II: Foundations in Treating Trauma
Healing trauma’s imprint: Trauma-Informed Unburdening
- Finally – The comprehensive unburdening training you’ve been waiting for.
- We’re going in-depth, looking at every nuance, teaching you to make informed decisions at every step, and preparing you with tools to tackle the most common challenges therapists face. You’ll walk away with everything you need to provide safe, effective healing that lasts.
During and After the Unburdening Process
- Support your clients every step of the way – before, during and after unburdening.
- Get the tools and strategies you need to safely close each session while ensuring your clients maintain connection with their part, no matter where you are in the healing process. You’ll learn how to keep the healing going between sessions and get step-by-step instructions for navigating setbacks along the way.
The impact of traumatic stress on the brain
- Understanding brain-based trauma - and how IFS can help heal it.
- Discover how trauma impacts brain functioning and learn powerful interventions that promote brain-based healing. You’ll learn strategies to hat target memory reprocessing, integrate prescribed medications within the IFS framework, and adapt your treatment plan to support healing from the inside out.
Trauma Assessment and Treatment Implications
- The structured measures and concrete tools to support effective treatment planning.
- Beyond just assessment tools for trauma – you’ll find out which measures are most appropriate for clients with minoritized identities, older adults, children and more. Get research-based guidance for adapting your clinical interview and adapting treatment plans to support the needs of each group.
Polyvagal Theory and IFS Therapy
- Read your client’s nervous system - and adapt your approach to unlock deeper healing.
- Clients don’t present in the same way in every session, and you need to know how to quickly assess their autonomic state so you can adjust your interventions accordingly. You’ll learn how to bring your client back into their window of tolerance, track nervous system shifts, and create ideal conditions for IFS work.
Direct Access and Co-Regulation
- Help your client’s parts feel safe – even when their hard to reach.
- Discover one of the most powerful IFS tools – Direct Access. You’ll learn two different methods and get step-by-step guidance on how to use each. We’ll also give you clear examples of what to say so you know exactly how to engage these hard-to-reach parts.
Skills Practice
- It’s time to put your skills into action.
- This day is all about getting hands-on with what you’ve learned so far. You’ll get the chance to practice, ask questions, get feedback, and build confidence - so you can take what’s in your head and start using it in real conversations with clients.
Objectives
- Explain the core principles of IFS that establish it as a trauma-informed therapy.
- Implement the IFS healing steps when working with clients experiencing PTSD and C-PTSD.
- Develop and sustain a therapeutic environment that supports safety and trust when engaging with a client’s Exile part.
- Describe key brain structures involved in trauma and PTSD, including their roles in emotional and physiological responses.
- Evaluate potential benefits and risks associated with common pharmacological treatments for PTSD.
- Integrate memory reconsolidation techniques into IFS interventions to support trauma resolution and lasting therapeutic change.
- Apply the principles of polyvagal theory to inform treatment decisions that align with a client’s autonomic state.
- Differentiate between trauma types using information gathered from specific standardized assessment tools.
- Assess client readiness and presentation to determine when to use Direct vs. Indirect Access methods.
- Implement co-regulation strategies to enhance client affect regulation and therapeutic attunement
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09/18/2025
Module 7: Therapist Parts and IFS
Expand your toolkit to transform even the toughest clinical challenges.
- Stabilization & Emotion Regulation — Integrate somatic tools, tapping, and movement to support distressed clients during IFS therapy.
- Trauma Processing in IFS — Learn powerful interventions for guiding clients through the deepest work, with safety and structure.
- IFS in Real-World Contexts — Adapt your approach for marginalized identities, neurodivergence, and other unique aspects of your client's lives.
- Healing Intergenerational Trauma — Work confidently with inherited wounds and "legacy burdens."
- Working with Dissociation — Recognize and safely engage dissociative parts.
- Attachment Trauma — Discover how to use IFS as an internal attachment repair process.
- Therapist Parts — Learn how to stay grounded in-session by addressing your own parts, countertransference, and burnout.
- Skills Practice #3 — Join your cohort for hands-on practice and get feedback on real-world application and integration.
Program Information
Target Audience
- Counselors
- Social Workers
- Psychologists
- Psychotherapists
- Therapists
- Marriage & Family Therapists
- Addiction Counselors
- Case Managers
- Physicians
- Other Mental Health Professionals
Objectives
- Identify evidence-based interventions to regulate hyperaroused states including the manifestation of anxiety, anger, and impulsivity.
- Differentiate when and how to incorporate relational resources in IFS therapy.
- Evaluate the appropriate use of integrating somatic exercises within the 6 Fs of IFS.
- Demonstrate appropriate techniques for integrating deep breathing practices within IFS parts work.
- Identify appropriate clinical interventions for managing hypoarousal, including dissociation, numbness and shutdown.
- Explain how various forms of sensory input (e.g., proprioceptive, tactile, auditory) can be used to support clients’ arousal regulation.
- Evaluate the benefits, risks and limitations of adjunctive modalities like exercise and yoga in trauma treatment.
- Describe key clinical, relational and systemic factors that facilitate successful trauma processing.
- Distinguish clinical indicators of meaningful progress in IFS treatment.
- Determine appropriate methods of adapting treatment plans to accommodate the needs of clients with marginalized identities.
- Apply recommended modifications to treatment plans that align with best practices for neurodiverse populations within an IFS framework.
- Discuss the ethical considerations of using self-disclosure in IFS therapy.
- Distinguish the process of Legacy Burdening unburdening from the standard unburdening protocols, demonstrating awareness of key procedural differences.
- Differentiate the clinical indications for using tapping, visualization, and movement based techniques alongside IFS to support stabilization and emotion regulation.
- Identify readiness markers and potential contraindications for initiating trauma processing within the IFS model.
- Analyze how internal and external factors—including systemic oppression, neurodivergence, and identity based stressors—shape treatment planning within an IFS framework.
- Distinguish dissociative parts from other protective responses and determine appropriate IFS informed interventions to support reconnection.
Outline
Part III: Advanced Skills in Trauma Recovery
- Module 1: Supporting Stabilization and Emotion Regulation
No single approach does it all – sometimes we need more tools.
Build a flexible, trauma-informed toolkit that incorporates somatic techniques, tapping, visualization, movement and more – so you can help your clients niavgate acute stress in and out of session. You’ll get step-by-step instructions for how to use these approaches alongside IFS and expert guidance on when to use each.
- Module 2: Trauma Processing in IFS Therapy
Help your clients work through painful experiences while they build resilience.
Learn the pivotal skill of trauma processing in IFS that goes beyond talking about the past We’ll show you how to recognize when your clients are ready, show you how to track progress, and give you the tools you need to intervene if things aren’t going as planned.
- Module 3: IFS in the Real World: Using IFS when there are external and internal constraints
Healing doesn’t happen in a vacuum– how to factor in real-world issues.
To be truly effective, you must consider the unique aspects of your clients lives that impact them the most – from marginalized identities, neurodivergence, gender, sexuality, and more. You’ll learn how to work with the internal and external realities your clients face, and how to make sure your IFS approach honors the whole of who they are.
- Module 4: Healing Intergenerational Trauma with IFS Therapy
Helping your client’s let go of what doesn’t belong to them.
Master the skill of working with Legacy Burdens. We’ll teach you how to spot them when they appear and give you three different methods for engaging them in the healing process. Through step-by-step guidance and expert tips, you’ll feel confident helping clients heal these deep, inherited wounds.
- Module 5: Working with Dissociation
Dissociation shows up more than you’d expect- know what to do when it does.
Go beyond DID and learn how to recognize dissociation shows up in the therapy room. You’ll learn 2 different ways to detect dissociative parts when they appear, specific treatment recommendations for how to engage them in therapy, and practical tools to help them reconnect.
- Module 6: Attachment Trauma
IFS is an Internal Attachment Therapy – here’s how to use it that way.
Discover how attachment wounds form and find out what you can do to help them heal. You’ll learn how to adapt your IFS practice to work with these vulnerable parts and find out which of the IFS interventions are most effective to repair relational trauma.
- Module 7: Therapist Parts and IFS
Confidently navigate your own parts and learn how to be a Self-led therapist.
This is your chance to use your IFS skills on yourself. You’ll learn how to identify your own parts, recognize when they get activated, and how to take steps to stay grounded and present in sessions. We’ll cover burnout, countertransference, vicarious trauma and more.
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09/18/2025
Practice Day 1 with Daphne Fatter - Certified Internal Family Systems Trauma Therapy Clinician (IFSTTC) Training
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03/27/2026
Small Group (Group 1 Only) Call with Daphne Fatter
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03/31/2026
Small Group (Group 3 Only) Call with Daphne Fatter
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04/08/2026
Small Group (Group 4 Only) Call with Daphne Fatter
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04/09/2026
Small Group (Group 5 Only) Call with Daphne Fatter
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04/09/2026
Practice Day 1 with Stacy Ruse - Certified Internal Family Systems Trauma Therapy Clinician (IFSTTC) Training
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03/24/2026
Small Group (Group 2 Only) Call with Stacy Ruse
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03/31/2026
Small Group (Group 1 Only) Call with Stacy Ruse
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04/07/2026
Small Group (Group 3 Only) Call with Stacy Ruse
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04/07/2026
Small Group (Group 4 Only) Call with Stacy Ruse
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04/08/2026