Dates and Times: Thursday, March 4, 2021 - 9:000 am to 4:30 pm; Friday, March 5, 2021 - 9:00 am to 4:45 pm
Instructor: Richard C. Schwartz, PhD
Location: Live on Zoom due to Covid 19 precautions
Credits: 12 CEs
Instructor: Richard C. Schwartz, PhD
Location: Live on Zoom due to Covid 19 precautions
Credits: 12 CEs
Description
This presentation will provide a brief review of the basics of the IFS model by Richard Schwartz, PhD, who developed the model, then will focus in detail on its use with attachment and trauma. IFS is a non-pathologizing, hopeful framework within which to practice psychotherapy now certified as an evidence-based practice by SAMHSA. IFS offers both a conceptual umbrella under which a variety of practices and different approaches can be grounded and guided, and a set of original techniques for creating safety and fostering Self-to-Self connection in individuals, couples and families.
The first day of the workshop will focus on helping clients release personal burdens related to traumatic experiences in their lives. An overview of the clinical applications of IFS in trauma work will be presented. You will learn through didactic teaching, interactive dialogue, demonstration and live interviews.
During the second day, the focus will be on understanding and releasing legacy burdens. Legacy burdens are powerful organizers of our minds and behaviors. You will be become more aware of the beliefs and emotions we and our clients absorb from family, peers, ethnic groups and cultural contexts regarding ourselves and/or groups with whom we identify, as well as groups we consider “other.” We will explore the sources of those burdens and the fears of releasing them. This work is critically important to create more peace and less divisiveness in our often fractured world.
Grounded in systems thinking, Dr. Schwartz developed Internal Family Systems SM, in response to clients’ descriptions of various parts within themselves. He focused on the systemic relationships patterns among these parts that were similarly organized across clients. He found that when clients’ parts felt safe and were allowed to relax, they would experience spontaneously the qualities of confidence, openness, and compassion that Dr. Schwartz came to call the Self. He will show us how to support clients in that state of Self, to facilitate their healing of their own parts.
The first day of the workshop will focus on helping clients release personal burdens related to traumatic experiences in their lives. An overview of the clinical applications of IFS in trauma work will be presented. You will learn through didactic teaching, interactive dialogue, demonstration and live interviews.
During the second day, the focus will be on understanding and releasing legacy burdens. Legacy burdens are powerful organizers of our minds and behaviors. You will be become more aware of the beliefs and emotions we and our clients absorb from family, peers, ethnic groups and cultural contexts regarding ourselves and/or groups with whom we identify, as well as groups we consider “other.” We will explore the sources of those burdens and the fears of releasing them. This work is critically important to create more peace and less divisiveness in our often fractured world.
Grounded in systems thinking, Dr. Schwartz developed Internal Family Systems SM, in response to clients’ descriptions of various parts within themselves. He focused on the systemic relationships patterns among these parts that were similarly organized across clients. He found that when clients’ parts felt safe and were allowed to relax, they would experience spontaneously the qualities of confidence, openness, and compassion that Dr. Schwartz came to call the Self. He will show us how to support clients in that state of Self, to facilitate their healing of their own parts.
Instructor

Richard C. Schwartz, PhD, is a marriage and family therapist, author and creator of the Internal Family Systems model. He began his career as a systemic family therapist and an academic. He co-authored, with Michael Nichols, Family Therapy: Concepts and Methods, the most widely used family therapy text in the U.S. Dr. Schwartz was Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Institute for Juvenile Research and later at The Family Institute at Northwestern University. His Internal Family Systems approach to psychotherapy suggests alternative ways of understanding psychic functioning and healing creating innovative techniques for relieving clients’ suffering and symptoms. In 2000, Richard Schwartz founded the Center for Self Leadership in Oak Park, Illinois now known as IFSI, the Internal Family Systems Institute. A featured speaker for national professional organizations, Dr. Schwartz serves on editorial boards of four professional journals. He has published several books and over fifty articles about IFS. His books include: Many Minds, One Self; You Are The One You’ve Been Waiting For: Bringing Courageous Love to Intimate Relationships; Internal Family Systems Therapy; Introduction to the Internal Family Systems Model; and The Mosaic Mind: Empowering the Tormented Selves of Child Abuse Survivors (with Regina Goulding); as well as Metaframeworks(with Doug Breunlin and Betty Karrer), about transcending current models of family therapy.
Participants will learn how to:
- deal with client “resistance” more effectively and with less effort
- utilize the clients’ Self to repair attachment injuries
- recognize the IFS model as an internal attachment model
- identify the effects of trauma on parts and Self
- have a sense of how to utilize the model in treating trauma
- gain some awareness of their own parts and how those parts impact treatment
- explore the sources of burdens and fears
- identify strategies for releasing burdens and fears
Schedule for Day 1
9: 00 - 10:30 Overview of IFS Theory and Principles
10:30 - 10:45 Break
10:45 - 12:30 Definition of Self in IFS terms and Ways to Access Self of the Client Even in the Face of Trauma
12:30 - 1:30 Lunch break
1:30 - 3:00 Using the Client’s Self to Repair Attachment Injuries
3:30 - 3:15 Break
3:15 - 4:30 The IFS Model as an Internal Attachment Model
10:30 - 10:45 Break
10:45 - 12:30 Definition of Self in IFS terms and Ways to Access Self of the Client Even in the Face of Trauma
12:30 - 1:30 Lunch break
1:30 - 3:00 Using the Client’s Self to Repair Attachment Injuries
3:30 - 3:15 Break
3:15 - 4:30 The IFS Model as an Internal Attachment Model
Schedule for Day 2
9: 00 - 10:30 The Effects of Legacy Trauma on Parts and Self
10:30 - 10:45 Break
10:45 - 12:30 Using the IFS Model to Treat Legacy Burdens
12:30 - 1:30 Lunch break
1:30 - 3:00 Explore the Sources of Burdens and Fears
3:30 - 3:15 Break
3:15 - 4:30 Identify Strategies for Releasing Burdens and Fears
4:30 - 4:45 Completion of workshop evaluation
10:30 - 10:45 Break
10:45 - 12:30 Using the IFS Model to Treat Legacy Burdens
12:30 - 1:30 Lunch break
1:30 - 3:00 Explore the Sources of Burdens and Fears
3:30 - 3:15 Break
3:15 - 4:30 Identify Strategies for Releasing Burdens and Fears
4:30 - 4:45 Completion of workshop evaluation
Learning Objectives
- Participants will be able to identify the basic theory and principles of Internal Family Systems therapy as they apply to working with trauma
- Participants will be able to identify how the Internal Family Systems Model understands the primary route to healing trauma
- Participants will be able to identify the 3 major roles that wounded parts play in the inner system
- Participants will be able to list the 8 qualities that define Self
- Participants will be able to describe how the IFS model as an internal attachment model
- Participants will be able to explain parallels between external and internal attachment styles
- Participants will be able to identify the effects of trauma on parts and Self including having 2 ideas about how utilize the model in releasing personal trauma
- Participants will be able to describe legacy burdens
- Participants will be able use 2 methods to help them stay in Self when working with traumatized clients
- Participants will be able to compare the way IFS works with other trauma to models that rely on psychoeducation and skill building to begin trauma work.
Target Audience
This learning event is designed for helping professionals including, but not limited to, social workers, psychologists, mental health counselors, marriage & family therapists, and nurses. We design the learning methodology to further develop beginning, intermediate, and advanced helping professionals by supporting improvement of skills for direct practice, supervision, and management positions. People who attend from professions other than those we are able to provide CEs for may request a Certificate of Attendance.
Cost
Individual Registration: Early rate by 12/31/2020: $350, Regular rate:$370.
Group Registration: Early group rate $330 by 12/31/2020: Regular rate: $350 per person for groups of two or more. Groups must register and pay together to receive the discount.
NEAFAST members may access a discounted rate of $330. Black Therapists Rock, National Association of Black Counselors and all BIPOC clinicians may access an equity rate of $280.
Please contact us for discount codes. No application is required.
Group Registration: Early group rate $330 by 12/31/2020: Regular rate: $350 per person for groups of two or more. Groups must register and pay together to receive the discount.
NEAFAST members may access a discounted rate of $330. Black Therapists Rock, National Association of Black Counselors and all BIPOC clinicians may access an equity rate of $280.
Please contact us for discount codes. No application is required.
Location
The event will be held live on Zoom due to Covid 19 public health guidance
Registration Instructions
Please note the online system allows you to register: using your Paypal account, using Paypal as a conduit to your credit card or provides instructions to mail a check. Please complete the online registration form at the link below even if you will be mailing a check for payment. Your space is not secure until payment is received.
Workshop CEs

Participants MUST attend 100% of the program to earn the 12 CEs approved. CE certificates will be given at the end of the event after you are fully paid and have completed the evaluation form. Details for approved professions: 12 CEs have been approved for licensed Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy, Psychology and Nursing professionals by Commonwealth Educational Seminars. Licensed Mental Health Counselors can earn 12 CEs as Therapy Training Boston has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 6707. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Therapy Training Boston is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs. For more detailed information about CEs, read this.
PLEASE NOTE: Twelve continuing education credits for IFS Institute certification renewal have been approved.
PLEASE NOTE: Twelve continuing education credits for IFS Institute certification renewal have been approved.
Cancellations and Refunds
Workshops and courses may be cancelled by Therapy Training Boston if minimum enrollment requirements are not met. In this case, full fees will be refunded or applied to future programs. Otherwise, no refunds are provided for registrants.