IFS Consultation
Are You Looking To Enhance Your Practice Using Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy?
If you are a therapist, practitioner, or coach who has completed Level 1 IFS training, you may now be in the process of obtaining certification through the IFS Institute. Whether you are looking to advance your training or brush up on your skills with an experienced IFS therapist, a consultant can help you learn more about how to integrate systems and parts work into your practice. If you have completed Level 1, consultation hours with me as an Approved IFS Clinical Consultant, count towards IFS certification. Please note: I operate independently and am not affiliated with the IFS Institute directly.
What Are Some Of The Professional Barriers You’ve Encountered?
Perhaps you don’t know how to make the transition into IFS and/or incorporate it with the other methods you use. There may be specific cases for which you are unsure about how to include parts work. Or it could just be that you’re curious about why Internal Family Systems is beneficial in trauma recovery, especially as it relates to Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and ancestral healing.
Furthermore, it’s essential that, as practitioners, we recognize when and how our own parts show up in the work we do with our clients. A fundamental aspect of Internal Family Systems is that the clinician must fully be in tune with the Self in order to facilitate IFS effectively. Oftentimes, this takes ongoing education, practice, and the perspectives of a seasoned therapist.
As an IFS consultant, I will work with you on the specific areas where you are looking to grow your knowledge and effectiveness. As you gain professional feedback, concrete skills, and mentorship, you will be able to use IFS more effectively.
How An IFS Consultant Can Help
No matter which modality you’re using, working with an experienced therapist who can help you strengthen your practice is always beneficial. A need for consultation does not signal incompetence—it demonstrates that you are invested in your practice and committed to being the most effective clinician possible for your clients.
IFS can be particularly challenging for practitioners who are new to it or used to other modalities. A “parts” perspective is not always that straightforward or accessible for all therapists, especially if they typically operate from cognitive behavioral and/or somatic frameworks.
Consultations in Internal Family Systems can significantly improve how you relate energetically with your clients. When clients have been impacted by significant trauma, it’s hard not to become activated, take on some of their pain, or develop burnout due to experiencing vicarious trauma. This can be particularly intense if you are a therapist, coach, or practitioner who identifies as a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP).
By establishing micro-skills that will help you stay regulated and aligned with the Self during sessions, you can enhance your theoretical understanding of IFS and incorporate it into your practice in a sustainable way.
As An IFS Consultant, I Offer Mentorship, Support, And Advocacy
IFS consulting is available to independently licensed therapists, as well as coaches and practitioners who have completed Level 1 IFS training. Consultees must be available during the day to receive IFS training and able to meet online via Zoom.
Group consultations are available to those in a shared practice. Sometimes therapists contact me who are colleagues or friends from their own consultation group (i.e., you can create your own group). You can also sign up for my mailing list to be notified when I offer a new IFS consultation group with openings. In essence, this process is designed to meet your needs—the length and frequency of sessions are up to you.
I tailor the consultation process to focus on your unique goals. In additional to theoretical training and instruction, our focus will be on skills building, individual parts work to improve Self-awareness, and attunement with your clients’ parts and pacing. We will accomplish this through role playing, video review, case consultation, and an exploration of countertransference.
What To Expect
My perspectives as an IFS consultant can help guide you in your practice. As you learn more about applying the IFS model, you will become deeply familiar with parts work in both a personal and professional capacity. Some of the concrete skills I will teach you are:
Introducing IFS concepts to new clients and integrating IFS concepts with current clients
Becoming aware of your “therapist parts”
Identifying key parts of a client’s presenting problem
Developing an attuned therapeutic relationship
Assessing external constraints
Increasing the client’s Self energy to target specific parts
Witnessing
Addressing Manager fears, negotiating Firefighters, and unburdening Exiled parts
Crossing over from EMDR to IFS, or learning when to use EMDR protocol within the IFS steps
These skills can be extremely effective for helping your clients “unblend” and work with their polarized parts.
A Culturally Competent And Affirming Approach
As both an IFS therapist and consultant, I operate from a culturally competent framework, encouraging clients to integrate all aspects of their identities. This applies to cultural, racial, religious, and ethnic identities, as well as those who are neurodiverse.
In addition, I am uniquely qualified to work with HSPs in consultation. Given my background working with Highly Sensitive People, I am aware of some of the unique barriers HSP clinicians face and the ways in which IFS helps with managing activation.
We can’t always see our blind spots as therapists, which can cause us to collude with our clients’ systems in an unhealthy way—either by taking on their hopelessness or getting flooded with our own emotions in sessions together. IFS is a robust, evidence-based model that offers us an opportunity to explore what is happening inside of ourselves. As a trained and experienced IFS consultation, I believe this modality can carry us through any clinical challenge.
Common Questions About Consultation In Internal Family Systems…
I’m already a licensed and experienced clinician—I’m afraid that seeking consultation means I’m not doing a good job.
As therapists, learning is a lifelong endeavor. In fact, if we develop the assumption that licensure automatically translates to expertise, it can prevent us from being effective clinicians and seeking the professional support we need. None of us are perfect, but IFS allows us to understand the parts of us that feel a need to be perfect. Doing work via consultation opens up our ability to provide ethical and effective therapy, approach our work with humility, and meaningfully sit with clients in their pain.
I’m not the best at receiving feedback, and I don’t want to find out that I’m not a good therapist.
All of us—including me—have strengths and areas where we can grow. As a consultant, I promise to offer you authentic feedback with kindness and softness so that you can further develop your skills in IFS. I will work with you to understand how and why you are becoming activated by holding up a mirror to the ways in which you are engaging with your clients.
No matter what your challenges are, I am on your side as an advocate, committed to supporting you in becoming the best therapist possible. I respect and honor the courage it takes to let yourself be seen.
As a seasoned Internal Family Systems therapist, what can I realistically get out of consultation?
Aside from being an experienced integrationist, psychologist, and IFS certified therapist, I specialize in working with counselors through my private practice. Since 2016, I have taught continuing education webinars to licensed clinicians throughout the country.
Many of the therapists I mentor struggle with “keeping the spark alive” when it comes to their careers. Our energy and motivations can change over the course of our professional journeys, especially given the real burnout that clinicians have experienced since the onset of the pandemic. I will meet you exactly where you are on your path, tailoring the consultation process to your specific goals.
Enhance Your Practice
If you are an IFS therapist, coach, or practitioner, a consultant can be the key to transforming your practice. For more information about how I can help, email me. IFS consulting is available to certified therapists throughout the country, as well as coaches and practitioners who have completed Level 1 training.
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