How to Incorporate Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS) and Parenting

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Frank Anderson, MD Related seminars and products

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Frank Anderson, MD, completed his residency and was a clinical instructor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He is both a psychiatrist and psychotherapist. He specializes in the treatment of trauma and dissociation and is passionate about teaching brain-based psychotherapy and integrating current neuroscience knowledge with the IFS model of therapy.

Dr. Anderson has lectured extensively on the Neurobiology of PTSD and Dissociation and wrote the chapter “Who’s Taking What” Connecting Neuroscience, Psychopharmacology and Internal Family Systems for Trauma in Internal Family Systems Therapy – New Dimensions. He co-authored a chapter on What IFS Brings to Trauma Treatment in Innovations and Elaborations in Internal Family Systems Therapy, and recently co-authored Internal Family Systems Skills Training Manual.

His most recent book, entitled Transcending Trauma: Healing Complex PTSD with Internal Family Systems was released on May 19, 2021.

His memoir, To Be Loved, was released on May 7, 2024.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Frank Anderson maintains a private practice, is the co-founder of the Trauma Institute, and is the co-founding producer of Trauma Informed Media. He receives royalties as a published author. He receives a speaking honorarium, recording, and book royalties from PESI, Inc. He has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Frank Anderson is a member of the New England Society Studying Trauma and Dissociation and the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation.

Additional Info

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This product is not endorsed by, sponsored by, or affiliated with the IFS Institute and does not qualify for IFS Institute credits or certification.

Objectives

1. Evaluate what Internal Family Systems model of therapy brings to parenting with the “Parts” concept.
2. Create ways to engage parents in an exploration of their moments with compassion and empathy instead of guilt and shame.
3. Demonstrate how to help parents lead from a place of power and set limits for their children while still expressing love and support.
4. Differentiate among the various parenting styles vs. attachment styles and how they influence your client’s parenting approach.
5. Propose an IFS-informed approach to co-parenting that helps promote improved intrafamily relationships.
6. Apply the “triggering agreement” intervention when working with clients around resolving parenting issues that arise for them.

Outline

Internal Family Systems (IFS)

• Comprehensive, compassionate, non-pathologizing treatment approach
• Paradigm-shifting perspective on “psychopathology”
• Easily integrated into other therapeutic modalities
• Teach clients to access inner wisdom and self compassion

What IFS Brings to Parenting

• Incorporating parts language in the Family
• Positive intentions of all parts
• All parts welcome… really

Starting the Parenting Journey

• Expectations
• Family legacy - both the gifts and burdens
• Cultural and spiritual dimensions
• Parenting styles
• Attachment styles

Neuroscience and Development

• How brain development affects parents and children
• Developmental stages, attachment and parental response
• Parenting adolescents

When Parents Are Not at Their Best

• Reactive moments
• When kids become your perpetrator
• The different triggering scenario’s
• When parents overidentify with their children

Correct It, Don’t Perpetuate It

• How to recover and repair when parents lose it
• Direct access parenting
• Getting to the root of the reactivity

Improving the Co-Parenting Experience

• When parents aren’t aligned
• Creating a “Triggering Agreement”

From Reactive to Responsive

• Healing the wound
• The Parent Self
• Love and limits
• Maintaining the connection

Special Circumstances

• Single parenting
• Gender/sexuality issues
• Special needs children
• Parenting children with mental health issues
• Parenting adult children

Target Audience

• Counselors
• Social Workers
• Psychologists
• Therapists
• Marriage & Family Therapists
• Case Managers
• School Psychologists
• School Counselors
• School Social Workers
• Nurses
• Physicians
• Addiction Counselors