Transcending Trauma: a 5-Day Residential Retreat

Working with clients who suffer from complex PTSD can often feel like being on a roller coaster. The extreme reactions, multiple comorbidities, difficulty with boundary issues and volatility in relationships make these clients challenging even for the most skilled therapists. Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy has a unique way of addressing and overcoming the complexities of relational trauma. It deals with the cognitive by addressing and unloading distorted thoughts and beliefs, it incorporates the body as it supports the movement and discharge of physical sensations, and it facilitates the release of painful feelings (such as unworthiness, loneliness, and unlovability) by healing the wounds that parts of us carry.

Learning Objectives:

• Explore the different types of trauma and examine the ways IFS is different from traditional phase-oriented treatment.
• Demonstrate how to incorporate IFS with other models of treatment and address protective parts in a trauma-specific manner so your clients can unlock access to the wounds they protect.
• Discover the differences between empathy and compassion as it relates to Self-energy.
• Learn essential strategies to effectively gain permission from protective parts to access hidden vulnerability.
• Discover the unique way IFS approaches early attachment wounding.
• Delve into common adaptations of relational trauma such as neglect, vulnerability, shame and substance-use.
• Review the range of traumatic wounds and discover the various forms of healing associated with complex PTSD and dissociation.
• Incorporate neuroscience knowledge as it relates to the IFS model and review the neurobiology of PTSD and dissociation.
• Investigate how neuroscience can inform therapeutic decisions with extreme symptoms and will discover the unique ways in which IFS addresses attachment trauma.
• Review common roadblocks to healing and discuss ways to successfully overcome them so your clients can effectively release the pain they carry.

This retreat style workshop will include case examples, personal experiences, and clinical exercises to enhance your learning as well.