Understand the Basics of Internal Family Systems Therapy
- Overview of Internal Family Systems therapy
- Key concepts, such as self-energy, protectors, and exiles
- The role of the therapist in guiding couples
- Research and research limitations
Use IFS Model Principles to Assess Readiness for Couples Therapy Success
- How to determine if partners are able to benefit from IFS couples therapy
- Barriers that impact readiness
- Indications and contraindications for couples therapy and IFS therapy
- The goals of IFS therapy with couples
Get Started: Create IFS Therapy-Informed Treatment Plans for Couples
- How to find out if your own parts get in the way
- Develop goals unique to the couple
- Ensure treatment remains focused on the actual problems
- Recreate the problem in real time in the therapy room
- Avoid unsuccessful, draining, or unfocused sessions
Integrate the IFS Model into Your Couples Therapy: Key Applications to Strengthen Connection, Open Communication, and Resolve Conflicts
- How partners’ inner systems interact
- Inner parts that may contribute to relationship issues
- Identify protectors and their good intentions
- Establish appreciative relationships with protectors
- Find the right depth of intervention
- Healing exiles
- Restore natural connection with unburdened inner systems
- Release self-awareness, self-compassion, and innate communication
- IFS strategies to identify and communicate needs, fears, and concerns
- Release the confidence of the couple to solve their own problems
Apply the IFS Model to Partners with Trauma
- How past traumas may affect a couple’s dynamics
- Identify trauma-related inner parts and their influence on the relationship
- Use IFS to facilitate trauma-informed couples therapy approaches
- Avoid pitfalls with traumatized partners
Case Studies and Practical Examples: How IFS Therapy Can be Used to Address Common Relationship Challenges


