Internal Family Systems (IFS) & Intimacy From the Inside Out. Integrating the Intrapsychic and Interpersonal in Couple’s Therapy with Toni Herbine-Blank

This module will explore Internal Family Systems theory and technique in working with couples. Using IFS with couples, the therapist invites exploration of each partner’s individual inner life and also supports couples in envisioning a lively dance that includes communicating well, repairing inevitable rupture, making room for the needs of both individuals as well as the needs of the relationship, and exploring Self-to-Self connection.

This four-segment course will cover the very basic protocols of Intimacy from the Inside Out (IFIO) These include: Tracking sequences or painful patterns of interactions, Courageous Communication and why doing deep intrapsychic work with one person while the other witnesses is a healing intervention.

Module 1

Introduction to Intimacy from the Inside Out

In this segment we’ll look at the development of IFIO, an overview of the assumptions, the goals and the general components of the model. We’ll address the very basic road map and beginning protocols

Module 2

Tracking Sequences

In this module we look at how couples fight, the dilemma of protectors, how to begin to break negative patterns of interaction. We also offer an invitation to each partner to look inward as a way out of conflict.

Module 3

Courageous Communication

In this segment we look at ways to help couples have safe and courageous conversations through unblending and affect regulation

Module 4

Individual Work in the Presence of a Partner

In this segment we discuss why working with an individual in the presence of their partner is powerful for a couple. We also address the need to maintain a safe and predictable triangle for the work to be successful.

”I will not rescue you. For you are not powerless. 

I will not fix you. For you are not broken.

I will not heal you. For I see you, in your wholeness. 

I will walk with you through the darkness as you remember your light.”  

by Sheree Bliss Tilsley