Introduction to Internal Family Systems: A Workshop with Richard Schwartz

This workshop meets on Saturday & Sunday, January 25th & 26th, 2020, 10am-5pm.

12 Continuing Education Credits Available for psychologists, California licensed LCSWs, LPCCs, LEPs, LMFTs, and nurses. See below for details.

The Internal Family Systems (IFS) model is a highly efficient and effective way to access a state of inner clarity and compassion, or the Self, from which self-healing occurs. From the Self, participants are able to calm and transform their troubling inner voices, the critical and anxious chatter, compulsive distractions, as well as feelings of vulnerability, inadequacy, and being overwhelmed. These parts of the psyche are surprisingly responsive and resilient when addressed with respect and patience. They readily forsake their inner battles, and take on valuable inner roles once they are accepted and witnessed.

The IFS model offers an evidence-based, empowering and non-pathologizing paradigm for understanding and transforming our personal inner worlds. It also brings to therapists a sense of awe and adventure as they accompany clients on their inner journeys. IFS offers therapists and healers a way to make their practice more enjoyable, effective, and less of a struggle.

For clients, the healing and reorienting of their “inner families” in an environment of genuine acceptance translates into concrete behavioral change, as well as improved ability to relate well to people. IFS is a gentle, yet powerful, healing delivery system that releases the therapist from the need to be clever because it trusts and empowers the clients’ Self.

This workshop introduces the basic principles and techniques of IFS and illustrates them with experiential exercises and video illustrations. Participants walk away with new perspectives and methods for themselves and even their most difficult clients.

Richard Schwartz, PhD, began his career as a family therapist and an academic. He co-authored, with Michael Nichols, Family Therapy: Concepts and Methods, the most widely used family therapy text in America. Richard developed Internal Family Systems in response to clients’ descriptions of various parts within themselves. He focused on the relationships among these parts and noticed that they were organized in patterns that resembled the families he had worked with. He also found that when the clients’ parts felt safe and were able to relax, clients would experience spontaneously qualities of confidence, curiosity, and compassion that he came to call the Self. He found that when in that state of Self, clients knew how to heal their parts.

In 2000, Dr. Schwartz left academia and founded the Center for Self Leadership in Oak Park, Illinois. The center offers three levels of training in IFS, an annual national conference, publications, and DVDs. IFS trainings and workshops are also being held in many other countries around the world. Since 2012 Dr. Schwartz has lived in Brookline, MA and is on the faculty at Harvard Medical School. A featured speaker for national professional organizations, Dr. Schwartz has published five books and over fifty articles about IFS.

Continuing Education Credits (available for an additional $60): 12 CEs Available

• CE credits for psychologists are provided by the Spiritual Competency Resource Center (SCRC) which is co-sponsoring this program. The Spiritual Competency Resource Center is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The Spiritual Competency Resource Center maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

• The California Board of Behavioral Sciences accepts CE credits for LCSW, LPCC, LEP, and LMFT license renewal for programs offered by approved sponsors of CE by the American Psychological Association.

• SCRC is approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing (BRN Provider CEP16887) for licensed nurses in California.

• For questions about receiving your Certificate of Attendance, contact CIIS Public Programs at publicprograms@ciis.edu. For questions about CE, visit www.spiritualcompetency.com or contact David Lukoff, PhD at CE@spiritualcompetency.com.

• LCSWs and MFTs from states other than California need to check with their state licensing board for approval.