Introduction to the IFS Model and Theory

• Brief history of IFS
• Basic assumptions and holistic approach
• Inclusivity, cultural humility, and competency
• Therapeutic and clinical applications

The Self-Led Therapist

• The 8 C’s: self qualities
• Holding Self-energy: 5 P’s for self-lead therapists
• The benefits of self-energy and therapist presence
• Compassion, connection, and understanding
• Setting appropriate boundaries
• Biases and transference in the therapeutic relationship

Neurobiology, Neuroscience, and IFS Therapy

• IFS therapy as a bottom-up treatment method
• Neuroscience 101 for therapists — what you need to know
• Sensing vs. making sense of things
• Stress reactions and the autonomic nervous system: Polyvagal 101
• Fear circuitry and the development of PTSD, trauma, dissociation, and complex trauma

The Internal System Through the IFS-Lens

• Defining parts: who and what are parts?
• Defining self: who and what is self?
• The burdened system
• Protective parts
• Managers: the proactive parts
• Firefighters: the reactive parts
• Exiles: the wounded & shadowed parts

Understanding IFS Therapy in 6 Phases

• Understanding the situation: Mapping internal and external factors
• Engaging the client: Intro, relationship, target, and tracking
• Permission to work with the protective system
• Healing exiles and internal wounds
• Integration of the work: Adapting to changes
• Completion & closure: appreciation and closing sessions

Foundational IFS Therapy Step by Step

• Unblending the system for emotional regulation
• The 6 F’s of IFS: Getting to know parts
• Shifting to inner story & connection
• In-sight work
• Direct access work

Working with Protectors

• Creating safety and getting permission
• Targets and use of trailheads
• Resistance as a protection
• Distinguish between parts and self
• Significance of appreciation
• Assess ability for in-sight or direct work
• Getting to know managers
• Getting to know firefighters
• Common protector concerns and fears

Working with and Unburdening Exiles

• Getting to know exiles
• Trauma, attachment wounds, and exiles
• Common exile concerns and fears
• Safely working with exiles
• Unburdening process step by step
  • Self to part relationship and preventing overwhelm
  • Witnessing, invitation, do-overs, and retrieval
  • Integration of work and additional considerations

Difficulties and Challenges

• Internal polarizations and alignment
• Therapist parts interfering
• When burdens and parts come back?
• Predicting ‘backlash’
• Complex systems - hard to track; lack of client self-energy
• Blended parts not unblending
• Lack of awareness in the body

Adaptations and Integration of IFS Therapy

• Attachment-based
• Somatic-based
• Complex trauma, and dissociation
• Spirituality, transpersonal psychology, and IFS therapy
• Integration with other models

Evidence, Research Limitations, and Treatment Risks

• Examining the current research
• Challenges to the research and research limitations
• Addressing potential risks
• Contraindications and other considerations

Click here for training objectives

Objectives

1. Integrate the "observer self" concept in psychotherapy.  
2. Define how neuroscience, neurobiology, and polyvagal theory inform the IFS framework.  
3. Summarize the fundamental principles of Internal Family Systems (IFS) and how they apply to clinical practice.  
4. Identify the three core categories of parts in the Internal Family Systems model.  
5. Evaluate the clinical implications of the relationship between Self-Leadership and relational outcomes.  
6. Develop an understanding of how therapists' awareness of their internal processes impacts their clinical work, the therapeutic relationship and client interactions.   
7. Examine neurobiology as related to trauma and complex trauma development.
8. Evaluate the preliminary support for IFS as a promising practice for the treatment of PTSD among adults with a history of childhood trauma.  
9. Utilize the Internal Family Systems model to enhance self-awareness and improve interpersonal skills in clients.   
10. Differentiate parts from Self, to speak for, as opposed to from, reactive emotional states.  
11. Utilize mapping techniques from IFS to externalize relational dynamics of the internal system.  
12. Identify parts of the internal system that become exiled and how trauma affects this phenomenon.  
13. Utilize IFS strategies to shift clients’ nervous systems towards regulation and help them access their own capacity for healing.  
14. Utilize IFS strategies to obtain protector permission to go to exiled parts to work with trauma wounds and release burdens.  
15. Identify patterns, aspects, and archetypal influences of the psyche through the IFS-lens.   
16. Distinguish the IFS approach to working with transference and countertransference in the therapeutic relationship.  
17. Describe somatic techniques to enhance awareness in working with parts and accessing Self.   
18. Identify challenges of using the IFS framework for complex trauma.