ThinkingHeart: 16 week Comprehensive IFS course
Two Cohorts:
1st Cohort will meet for 3 hours weekly for 16 consecutive weeks beginning September 6th, 2023, from 11:30am to 2:30pm ET
Link to schedule: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vQUU82U_Dc_mRBfGbdUHtNLioOtUmrY7M6ygYS363i6lMmX0xDbCMtmMNesQXWykKcpu5UrkKNozdUO/pub
2nd Cohort will meet for 3 hours weekly for 16 consecutive weeks beginning September 6th, 2023, from 5:30 to 8:30 pm ET
Link to schedule: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vTepewRyJen-wBiEg4IRnintiazUzYHeNz9IjaMKPxhnHXOb9gcyc-xo03wOq9_ccEl60z4TGt9oUOQ/pub
These are virtual trainings, ET time zone (please take into account the time zones where you live and plan for the end of daylight savings time on November 5, 2023).
Dr. David Stern is an IFS Certified Consultant consulting with IFS therapists from all over the world. Please email me with any questions: djstern@thinking-heart.com
48 CE Credits for Social Workers, Counselors, and Marriage and Family Therapists are available through NASW authorization # RI-8441 (please check with your local licensing boards to see if this authorization is accepted) There will be a fee of $20 to cover administration costs.
The goals for this course are for you:
- to learn and understand the IFS model and be able to apply it to your own internal system, your patients/clients and one another
- to be able to ask as many questions as you need and know where to go for further information and learning
- to form peer support groups so that your practice can continue to evolve
- to be invigorated in your practice and to see remarkable and permanent changes in many of your clients
- to learn IFS as a peace-making practice for you, your clients, your families, and communities
- to discover and strengthen your relationship with the spiritual and naturally healing core of your being
"David Stern is born to teach. He knows and experiences IFS in mind, body and heart, and conveys the concepts and the techniques from that deep well. He is kind, clear, and connected. I have seen him be part of a group and almost immediately be recognized as a leader, even if he wasn't in that role. People look to him for clarity and ever more expansive views of our inner system and the Self that permeates it."
–Mona Barbera, Ph.D.
author of “Bring Yourself to Love”
There will be 4, 4-week modules. Each module will follow the structure outlined below:
Teaching & Demonstration / 3 Hours
For our first meet we will say hello to each other and establish group guidelines. We will talk about the basics of the model, including the 3 types of parts we typically encounter in session, and introduce the concept of Self and Self-energy.
Subsequent week topics will include: Working with Protectors, Therapist parts, Exploring your own system (parts map), Unburdening exiles, and introducing the model to new clients, as well as introducing the model to existing clients.
The focus throughout the course will be on speaking for, not from your parts
I will then ask for a volunteer to be the subject of a demonstration and after the demonstration there will be time for questions and answers. You will be invited to do your own work in the demonstrations; an IFS healer needs to know their own system and that cannot be achieved solely through role-playing.
These meeting will be recorded for viewing following each meeting.
Readings & Resources
A Teaching Manual is included as part of the course as well as handouts on “How to Watch a Demo”, “How to do a Triad” and others.
You are invited to view the 10-part video series “IFS for Therapists” to enhance your learning during the course. In addition there is a five episode video series, “IFSQ&A” that addresses common questions you will encounter (these can found on the IFSCA website).
Required reading for the course is “Internal Family Systems Therapy Second Edition” by Richard C. Schwartz and Martha Sweezy available from the IFS Institute Bookstore.
Recommended reading includes: “Introduction to Internal Family Systems Therapy” also by Dick Schwartz and “Many Minds, One Self” by Dick Schwartz and Robert Falconer
In addition to reading you will have access to annotated training videos: I hour sessions which have been edited to highlight choice points and illustrate where therapist parts have wanted to intervene.
There are many interesting articles on the resources page of the IFSCA site and several will be recommended during the course. Also, Laura Schmidt, LMFT has a wonderful resource list on her site, https://lauraschmidtlmft.com/ifs/resources/.
The course will be run twice a year, starting in September/October and January/February with a minimum of 12 and a maximum of 16 people. It is open to social workers, therapists, counsellors, coaches and other healing professionals. To get the maximum benefit from this course it is preferable to be working 1:1 with people in a professional capacity.
The cost for the entire 4 Month course is USD $1900. After paying the full amount your registration is automatically complete.
Cancellation Policy
For full refund of registration fee, an USD$125 admin fee will be applied.
Payment may be refunded up to 4 weeks prior to the start date of the course. There will be no refunds 4 weeks prior to the start date.
Partial Scholarships
Special payment arrangements or partial scholarships will be available to individuals experiencing financial hardship. Please email me if this is something you would like to discuss.
A portion of proceeds will be donated to the IFS Foundation. Participants from developing countries will have a significantly reduced fee and individuals who have financial difficulties will be eligible for reduced fee or payment plan.
Each 3 hour full group meeting will be recorded and the recordings will be made available only to participants. At the end of the course you will receive a certificate of completion provided you have attended 90% of the live sessions – i.e. you may miss 2 of the 3 hour sessions. Graduates are recommended to refer to themselves as offering IFS-Informed Therapy.
This course will not lead to IFS certification. If you want to become IFS certified, you must take the IFS Institute’s Level 1 Training and complete all requirements.
I would like to say a word about safety. The only way to truly learn IFS is to practice with your own internal system. This means that you will be triggered. This is not a problem. It is an opportunity to develop a loving relationship with all your parts and discover the hidden gifts each of these parts will bring to your life and to your healing practices. I am committed to co-creating a learning community where all of us practice tending, using the IFS skills that we are learning, all that arises.
"Dr. David Stern brings profound wisdom and humanistic talents to his teaching. He combines years of solid experience using the IFS method with a deep communion with spiritual depths. His personal style is intensely supportive and connective and he brings a passion for the unfolding of the soul. Learning with David is a rich and transformative experience."
