course »Introduction to Internal Family Systems Therapy Model for Child Welfare Professionals

Date: 3/27/2020, 9:15 am—4:45 pm
County: Alameda County
CEUs: 6
Location: eBerkeley
Sponsor: A Better Way, Inc.
Phone: 510-601-0203
This course will introduce the basic concepts of the Internal Family Systems Model for child welfare professionals. It will provide experiential learning through demonstration of the model with a volunteer patient and grant time for practical learning experiences to be applied in work with system-involved youth and families. IFS understands that the psyche is made up of sub-personalities, called parts, which make up a kind of inner system. Parts often get into conflicts with each other and act in dysfunctional ways in an attempt to protect us from pain. All of this happens largely outside our awareness, and when we do see what is happening, we frequently try to banish the parts that are causing difficulties. Yet, this rarely works.

IFS, on the other hand, teaches us to relate to our parts with openness, curiosity, and compassion, not judgment, which allows each part to reveal its hidden agenda and the pain it defends against. This paves the way for healing and transformation, which can be accomplished by following the detailed IFS procedure. The psyche is largely organized to protect itself from pain, which is why IFS makes a distinction between parts that are in pain and parts that protect us from it. Protectors are parts that handle the external world and protect against vulnerability and pain. Exiles are young child parts that are in pain from the past.