Training

Internal Family Systems: Working with Parts in Practice

This six-session online training introduces registered mental health practitioners to the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model.

Across the program, you will develop a clear understanding of the core components of IFS, learn practical ways of working with parts, and experience the model through guided exercises and supported skills practice.

The training combines:

• Six 2.5-hour live Zoom webinars
• At least six hours of pre-recorded theory
• A comprehensive training manual and selected readings
• Experiential exercises and small-group practice
• Opportunities for questions, reflection and consolidation
• A certificate of attendance on completion as “IFS informed.”

The training is designed to provide a strong foundation for incorporating an IFS-informed approach into clinical practice. It is introductory training and is not a substitute for official IFS Institute Level 1 training.

Throughout the training, you will learn how to:

1. Understand the foundations of the IFS model
Develop a strong grounding in the core principles of IFS, including the understanding that the mind is made up of different parts, all of which carry positive intent.

2. See clinical presentations through a parts lens
Learn how to make sense of symptoms, inner conflict, protective strategies, and stuck patterns using an IFS framework.

3. Map a client’s inner system
Build confidence in helping clients identify their parts and understand the roles, relationships, and dynamics within their internal world.

4. Recognise and support Self-energy
Develop clarity about Self, the qualities of Self-energy, and how to support greater Self-leadership in therapy.

5. Work respectfully with Protectors
Learn how to identify managers and firefighters, understand their fears and concerns, and approach them with curiosity rather than pressure.

6. Approach Exiles with care and clarity
Explore how vulnerable exiled parts carry pain, and how to work with them in a paced, safe, and clinically attuned way.

7. Recognise blending and support unblending
Strengthen your ability to notice when a client is blended with a part and help create enough space for connection, insight, and healing.

8. Ask clear and purposeful IFS questions
Gain a structured set of questions and prompts that help open the system and deepen the therapeutic process.

9. Work with common clinical complexities
Learn how to navigate protector fears, polarisation, reluctance, and stuck dynamics with greater confidence and skill.

10. Use direct access effectively
Understand when and how to use direct access, including different forms of direct access, when clients are highly blended or insight is limited.

11. Learn the healing steps of the IFS model
Follow the sequence of exile healing, including witnessing, redoing, retrieval, unburdening, inviting in new qualities, and integration.

12. Build confidence through experiential practice
Each 2.5-hour session includes teaching, reflection, and experiential exercises in small groups, so you can deepen your understanding through both learning and practice.

Session Structure

Each live webinar includes:

• 10 minutes – Welcome, orientation, and short meditation
• 30 minutes – Check-in, reflection, and questions linked to the theory
• 20 minutes – Experiential exercise
• 5 minutes – Break
• 60 minutes – Experiential exercises in groups, applying the model in practice
• 25 minutes – Additional Experiential Exercise, Reflection and/or Questions and closure

 Introductory training:  This introductory training  is not the official Level One training offered by the institute.