Using Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy for Trauma, Anxiety and Grief: Clinical Tools to Connect Clients to their Parts for Deeper Healing

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All members of the PESI, Inc. planning committee have provided disclosures of financial relationships with ineligible organizations and any relevant non-financial relationships prior to planning content for this activity. None of the committee members had relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies or other potentially biasing relationships to disclose to learners.  For speaker disclosures, please see the faculty biography.

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Daphne Fatter, PhD Related seminars and products

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Daphne Fatter, PhD, is a licensed psychologist, clinical consultant, author, and international speaker specializing in integrative trauma-informed therapies. She is the author of Integrating Internal Family Systems Interventions into EMDR Therapy and is widely recognized for her expertise in blending parts work with evidence-based trauma modalities. Dr. Fatter is EMDR certified, an EMDRIA approved consultant, and has over twenty years of experience providing trauma treatment. As a certified ancestral healing practitioner, she also supports clients and clinicians in addressing intergenerational and historical trauma. Dr. Fatter earned her Master of Arts in transpersonal counseling psychology from Naropa University and her doctorate in counseling psychology from Pennsylvania State University. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in clinical psychology at The Trauma Center under the direct supervision of Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, MD. She previously served as the military sexual trauma coordinator at the Fort Worth VA Outpatient Clinic and has extensive experience providing training to mental health providers serving the military. Her published works span the areas of Internal Family Systems therapy, EMDR, countertransference, mindfulness, and ancestral healing.

Grounded in the understanding that traumatic stress is multilayered – relational, developmental, biological, cultural, systemic, collective, historical, and spiritual – Dr. Fatter brings a neuroscience-based, compassionate, humble, and skills-based approach to professional education. She offers engaging workshops, webinars, and trainings on a range of trauma-related topics, including PTSD, complex trauma, complicated grief, and divorce recovery. Dr. Fatter is based in Dallas Texas where she balances her clinical practice with parenting her three children. Learn more at www.daphnefatterphd.com.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Daphne Fatter maintains a private practice. She receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from Psychotherapy Networker and PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Daphne Fatter is a member of the American Psychological Association, the EMDR International Association, and the Texas Psychological Association.

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Objectives

1. Analyze the fundamental principles of Internal Family Systems (IFS) and how they apply to clinical practice. 
2. Evaluate the characteristics of Self and its role in the internal system of the client. 
3. Examine the three types of parts in IFS and their impact on the client's internal system. 
4. Interpret clinical symptoms through the lens of IFS and develop a comprehensive understanding of how to apply the model to the client's specific needs. 
5. Describe the principles of IFS and how they can be applied in working with anxious parts to reduce their intensity and impact on clients' daily lives. 
6. Implement self-leadership techniques to provide a sense of inner stability and support for clients navigating the grieving process, including working with exiles in grief and addressing common protectors. 
7. Explore how to address trauma-related fears and concerns by working with protective parts and facilitating communication with exiles in the client's system.

Outline

Internal Family Systems: Heal Wounded Parts, Transform Protective Parts, and Deepen Connection with Self

• Foundational principles and goals of IFS
• Understand different parts of your clients’ internal system
• Parts Led Systems vs Self-Led Systems
• IFS, Cultural Identities, and Intersectionality

Steps of IFS Therapy and How to Get Started

• The IFS approach to assessment and treatment planning
• Develop a relationship with clients’ core self and develop self-leadership skills
• Facilitating communication and collaboration between parts
• How to integrate IFS therapy experiences into clients’ daily lives
• Guided Experiential Exercises to help clients identify and connect with different parts

IFS for Anxiety: Working with Anxious Parts to Reduce Their Intensity

• How IFS shifts a client’s relationship with anxiety and reduces symptoms
• Identify “worrier” or “perfectionist” parts that activate in response to anxiety triggers
• Facilitate communication with an anxious parts to understand their motivations
• Unburden exiled parts and release blocked or stuck anxiety-related emotions
• Practice self-compassion and self-care to reduce anxiety over time
• Case Examples

An Internal Family Systems Approach to Grief: Providing Stability and Support for Clients Navigating the Grieving Process

• The latest grief research and DSM-TR Prolonged Grief Disorder Criteria
• Self-leadership to provide a sense of inner stability through the grieving process
• Exiles in grief and how they can be accessed and worked with in IFS therapy
• Addressing common protectors, such as avoidance, dissociation, and numbing
• Integration of Art, Writing, Ritual & Cultural Practices with IFS
• Using IFS to identify and process secondary losses
• Working with acute loss, ambiguous grief, prolonged grief disorder
• Intergenerational Trauma: Legacy Burdens & Grief
• Case examples

IFS Therapy for Trauma, PTSD and Complex Trauma

• How IFS differs in emotion regulation strategies from other approaches
• Common therapist missteps in IFS
• Address trauma-related fears and concerns by working with protective parts
• Work with exiles to help clients process and heal from traumatic experiences
• Developing self-leadership in clients to increase their resilience and coping skills
• IFS techniques to help clients release emotional and physical trauma stored in the body
• Navigating polarizations in the client’s system
• How does IFS address Intergenerational, collective and ancestral trauma
• Case Examples

Additional Considerations in IFS

• Limitations of the Research & Potential Risks
• Using IFS in Groups
• IFS & Therapeutic Relationship
• IFS & Countertransference, Vicarious Trauma, & Burnout
• Therapist Self-Disclosure
• Medications in IFS

Target Audience

• Counselors
• Social Workers
• Psychiatrists
• Psychologists
• Addiction Counselors
• Marriage and Family Therapists
• Therapists
• Physicians
• Nurses
• Other Professionals Who Work within the Mental Health Fields