Richard C. Schwartz – New Perspectives for the Trauma Therapist

Richard C. Schwartz – New Perspectives for the Trauma Therapist: An Internal Family Systems (IFS) Approach

Check it out: Richard C. Schwartz – New Perspectives for the Trauma Therapist: An Internal Family Systems (IFS) Approach

Description

One of the chief obstacles to effective trauma treatment can be the therapist’s view of trauma symptoms like dissociation, rage, and suicidal thoughts as frightening evidence of deep pathology, rather than an expression of the natural human impulse toward self-protection. This workshop will demonstrate how the IFS model offers a way to enter into clients’ inner ecology without the overemphasis on containment and stabilization that’s common in trauma work today. You’ll learn an approach that moves more quickly by honoring clients’ inner protectors, getting their permission to access inner exiles, and contacting the core Self—a reservoir of calm, wisdom, and inner leadership. You’ll discover how to:

• Distinguish among a client’s “parts”—including protectors, managers, and exiles—and communicate and negotiate with each one
• Honor clients’ inner protectors and transform them to move quickly and effectively through the process of healing
• Shift the role of the therapist from primary attachment figure to a container who opens the way for the client’s core Self to emerge
• Use methods for honestly and transparently handling situations in which traumatized clients may trigger you

Outline

The Parts Perspective

Goal of Therapist

Understanding the Goal of the Parts

Reducing the Client’s Fear

Accept the Voices

Vulnerable Parts and How to Work with Them

Improve the Relationship Between Parts

Map of Parts: Exiles, Managers, Firefighters

Rules of Parts That Protect the Self

Respect the Protectors

Vulnerability Reveals the Gift

Process of Therapy

Working with the Parts

Appreciating the Gift

Developing Trust with Parts

Including the Body

Inviting Qualities to Enter the Body

Clove of the Garlic

Faculty

Richard C. Schwartz, Ph.D., Owner Related seminars and products: 12

The Center for Self Leadership

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Richard Schwartz, Ph.D., earned his Ph.D. in marriage and family therapy from Purdue University, after which he began a long association with the Institute for Juvenile Research at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and more recently at The Family Institute at Northwestern University, attaining the status of associate professor at both institutions. He is co-author, with Michael Nichols, of Family Therapy: Concepts and Methods, the most widely used family therapy text in the United States.

Dr. Schwartz developed Internal Family Systems in response to clients’ descriptions of experiencing various parts – many extreme – within themselves. He noticed that when these parts felt safe and had their concerns addressed, they were less disruptive and would accede to the wise leadership of what Dr. Schwartz came to call the “Self.” In developing IFS, he recognized that, as in systemic family theory, parts take on characteristic roles that help define the inner world of the clients. The coordinating Self, which embodies qualities of confidence, openness, and compassion, acts as a center around which the various parts constellate. Because IFS locates the source of healing within the client, the therapist is freed to focus on guiding the client’s access to his or her true Self and supporting the client in harnessing its wisdom.

This approach makes IFS a non-pathologizing, hopeful framework within which to practice psychotherapy. It provides an alternative understanding of psychic functioning and healing that allows for innovative techniques in relieving clients symptoms and suffering.

In 2000, Richard Schwartz founded The Center for Self Leadership in Oak Park, Illinois. Dr. Schwartz is a featured speaker for many national psychotherapy organizations and a fellow of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, and he serves on the editorial boards of four professional journals.

He has published four books and over 50 articles about IFS. His books include Internal Family Systems Therapy, Introduction to the Internal Family Systems Model, and The Mosaic Mind (with Regina Goulding), as well as Metaframeworks (with Doug Breunlin and Betty Karrer). Dr. Schwartz lives and practices in Brookline, MA and is on the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry, Harvard School of Medicine.

Speaker Disclosure:

Financial: Richard Schwartz is the Founder of The Center for Self Leadership. He receives a speaking honorarium from PESI, Inc.

Non-financial: Richard Schwartz is a Fellow and member of the American Association for Marital and Family Therapy.