2-Day Experiential Internal Family Systems Therapy Workshop

CPD

Handouts

Faculty

Frank Anderson, MD Related seminars and products

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Frank Anderson, MD, completed his residency and was a clinical instructor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He is both a psychiatrist and psychotherapist. He specializes in the treatment of trauma and dissociation and is passionate about teaching brain-based psychotherapy and integrating current neuroscience knowledge with the IFS model of therapy.

Dr. Anderson is a lead trainer at the IFS Institute with Richard Schwartz and maintains a long affiliation with, and trains for, Bessel van der Kolk’s Trauma Center. He serves as an advisor to the International Association of Trauma Professionals (IATP) and was the former chair and director of the Foundation for Self-Leadership.

Dr. Anderson has lectured extensively on the Neurobiology of PTSD and Dissociation and wrote the chapter “Who’s Taking What” Connecting Neuroscience, Psychopharmacology and Internal Family Systems for Trauma in Internal Family Systems Therapy – New Dimensions. He co-authored a chapter on What IFS Brings to Trauma Treatment in Innovations and Elaborations in Internal Family Systems Therapy, and recently co-authored Internal Family Systems Skills Training Manual.

His most recent book, entitled Transcending Trauma: Healing Complex PTSD with Internal Family Systems was released on May 19, 2021.

His memoir, To Be Loved, is set to be released on May 7, 2024.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Frank Anderson maintains a private practice. He is the Executive Director of the Foundation for Self Leadership and has employment relationships with The Trauma Center and The Center for Self Leadership. Dr. Anderson receives royalties as a published author. He receives a speaking honorarium, recording, and book royalties from PESI, Inc. He has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Frank Anderson is a member of the New England Society Studying Trauma and Dissociation and the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation.

Objectives

1. Formulate why Internal Family Systems is a nonpathologizing treatment model and the clinical benefits derived from that approach.
2. Practice the steps of the Internal Family Systems model to incorporate into treatment planning.
3. Teach clients how to embrace their symptomology to improve self-awareness and emotion regulation.
4. Perform an IFS-informed clinical assessment to better reveal the root origin on anxiety and depression symptoms.
5. Demonstrate the steps of IFS method that can help clients avoid being “hijacked” by intense emotions and trauma symptomology.
6. Support the clinical benefit of shifting away from cognitive intellectual interpretation to be more emotional connection and physical embodiment.
7. Differentiate the three steps of treating the traumatic wound and practice guiding client in the process.
8. Appraise the nature of the research and evidence-base for IFS and evaluate risks and limitations.
9. Differentiate the value of empathy and compassion in the therapeutic process for improved treatment outcomes.
10. Propose an IFS focused view of countertransference that is more accessible for clinicians to manage in the therapeutic process.
11. Integrate Internal Family Systems with other forms of therapy such as EMDR, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, CPT, and DBT to create more targeted treatment plans.
12. Investigate how clinicians can have their own “parts” step back during the therapy process to create greater perspective and remove blockages in therapy.

Outline

• Comprehensive, compassionate, nonpathologizing treatment approach
• Paradigm-shifting perspective on “psychopathology”
• Easily integrated into other therapeutic modalities
• Teach clients to access inner wisdom and selfcompassion to heal anxiety, depression, addictions, and traumatic wound
• The range of different parts
• Self Energy

• Assess the diagnoses: PTSD, anxiety, depression, substance abuse and eating disorders
• Apply Meditation practices
• Working with protective parts the 6 F’s
  • Finding the symptom
  • Focusing on its fear
  • Separating the person (self) from the symptom
  • Becoming curious about it
  • Find the real story behind the symptom

• Moving from defensiveness to curiosity
• The difference between empathy and compassion
• Foster “internal attachment” work
• The “Self” of the therapist-countertransference redefined

• Identifying parts that conflict with each other
• Validate both perspectives
• Resolve polarities with Self energy

• Three phases of healing:
  • Witness the pain
  • Remove the wounded part out of the past
  • Let go of the feelings, thoughts, and beliefs

• EMDR, DBT, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Cognitive Processing Therapy
• Integrate IFS with other treatment modalities your current clinical approach

• Countertransference through the IFS lens
• Identifying parts that get activated and get in the way

Target Audience

• Counselors
• Social Workers
• Psychologists
• Therapists
• Addiction Counselors
• Physicians
• Marriage and Family Therapists
• Other Mental Health Professionals