It is often the case that parts show up in various kinds of clusters. There are simple but very intense polarizations that, because of their intensity, create all kinds of secondary “noise” in the client’s system. There are also systems that resemble a professional wrestling match: one wrestler taps out, and another jumps into the ring to take over where the first left off. There may be complicated sequences of protectors working together, using different means or working at cross-purposes. Then there are parts “murmurations,” or clouds of parts, that seem impossible to work with.

Based on the client challenges you bring in, we will explore and practice working with these different parts formations. What we don’t get to, you can bring to your practice groups.

One important way parts make themselves known is by blending—and sometimes by refusing to unblend. Through blending, a part is insisting on being truly seen and known. This can be challenging for both the client and the practitioner. With the right support, however, coming to know a part from within the blended experience can be a rich journey and an act of love.

At times, the practitioner may need to be the primary Self in the room until the client can awaken to Self within the blend. Unblending can then happen more organically, at the part’s pace and on its own terms.

For some clients, especially those with profound attachment wounds, the psychobiological capacity for a Self-to-part connection may not yet be fully developed. Before they can offer love to their young parts, they may need the experience of having those parts known and loved within the healing relationship.

We will explore direct and indirect access, as well as what other traditions call the transference relationship, from an IFS perspective. Together, we will consider the power of this dimension of the healing relationship.

Parts can show up as energy, sensations, unusual images, movement impulses, or simply a vague felt sense. Some parts make us forget, appear as swaddling clouds, or take us far outside our bodies.

It can be challenging to help clients Find these parts and know how to Focus on them as a foundation for beFriending them.

Drawing on examples you bring to class, we will use demonstrations and discussion to explore how we can Find, Focus on, and beFriend these parts.

There are inner critics that are so vicious that it can be hard to remember that they actually love our clients and are only trying to protect them. There are depressive parts, suicidal parts, anxious parts, and fiercely rigid Managers that seem immovable. Because of their intensity and the harm they inadvertently cause, these parts are very difficult for us and our clients to love. And yet, it is our job to love all of these parts and help our clients fall in love with them.

We will explore some of these challenging protectors and what they trigger in us, the practitioners. Through demonstration and discussion, we will practice working with these parts and the parts of us they stir.

When we feel stuck, more often than not, our client is blended with parts that we find difficult to love. This, of course, says more about us than about our clients and can provide a doorway to the parts of us that await healing.

In this class, we will share cases that trigger our parts. Together and in small groups, we will identify these parts and begin to tend to them. We will also leave with trailheads to follow in our own therapy and practice groups. If we are to be the healing presence we seek to be for our clients, we must be willing to follow these trailheads.

What itch has yet to be scratched? This is your class. We will cover as much as we can during the first half of the class.

We will say farewell and share:

• What are you leaving with?
• What needs were answered?
• Where are you now?
• What trailheads are calling to be tended?

We will introduce resources that will allow this cohort to continue meeting as a whole or in smaller groups.

Could we create an ongoing learning and healing community? Monthly meetings could include Q&A, a demonstration, debriefing, and discussion.