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Online Program

Healing Interventions for Protective Systems

IFS with Trauma, Substances, Food, and more

with Cece Sykes, LCSW

A focused, experiential program for IFS℠ -informed clinicians working with clients whose systems organize around escape, control, shame, food, substances, overwork, or other protective strategies. Learn how to map these complex systems, build trust with protective parts, and help clients move toward healing without forcing change.

  • hero-bullet-calendar Starts September 1st, 2026
  • hero-bullet-clock Live lessons at 11:00 AM - 1:30 PM CT
  • hero-bullet-award 9 CE Credits (pending approval)
  • hero-bullet-users 5 hours of live interactive lessons
  • hero-bullet-video 4+ hours of recorded video lessons
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View Curriculum
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Cece Sykes, LCSW
IFS Senior Trainer
About the Program

When protective systems become complex, therapy can get stuck. 

Many clients engage in behaviors that look like addictions, including substance use, compulsive eating, avoidance, overwork, or other forms of escape. Yet focusing only on the "addictive behavior" often misses the larger internal system that organizes these patterns.

This program invites therapists to shift from viewing addictive processes as a single problem to understanding it as part of a complex internal system of protective parts.

Clinicians will learn practical tools to work with these complex systems through an Internal Family Systems-informed lens. They will learn how to map the internal system, help clients externalize and understand their parts, and create space where every part, manager, firefighter, and vulnerable part, has a seat at the table. The program combines short didactic teaching with experiential learning, including live system mapping, case consultation, and real-play demonstrations.

Through this hybrid format, therapists will learn to:

  • Recognize and map complex protective systems underlying addictive and compulsive patterns 
  • Understand the roles of managerial parts (perfectionism, judgment, criticism, shame) and firefighter parts (escape, soothing, autonomy-seeking behaviors
  • Use clinical mapping and “table” interventions to make internal dynamics visible and workable in session
  • Support clients in accessing the vulnerable parts that often drive these protective strategies
  • Help clients unblend from these systems and relate to their parts with greater clarity and compassion

What's Included

Everything Included in Your Program

From live teaching to lifetime recording access, every piece of this program is designed to help you bring this work into session with confidence.

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Recorded Video Lessons

4+ hours of recorded lessons you can watch at your own pace, as many times as you need.

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Live Sessions

5 hours of live sessions (September 23 & October 7) including experiential practice, system mapping, and case exploration. Recordings will be made available.

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Transcripts and Handouts

Full transcripts of all video content for easy reference.

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Community Forum

Private online community for discussion, questions, and peer support.

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Professional CE Credits

Pending approval for 9 continuing education credits for licensed mental health professionals. 9 IFS CE Credits to support your IFS certification or recertification path.

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Lifetime Access

Revisit all materials and lessons at any time. No expiration or deadlines.  

Curriculum

What You'll Learn

Each session builds on the last. From conceptual foundations to live demonstrations and hands-on experiential practice.

ON-Demand Module 1Available September 1st

A New Lens on Addictive Processes

This session opens with a compassionate, non-pathologizing lens on addiction. Rather than framing behaviors as problems to eliminate, Cece Sykes reframes them as protective strategies within a larger internal system, inviting participants into a more nuanced, humane understanding of why people struggle and how healing actually happens. Healing isn't about forcing change. It's about building relationships within the system so change becomes possible.

  • Recognize addictive behaviors as protective strategies within a larger internal system, not problems to eliminate
  • Understand why a non-pathologizing, compassionate lens changes how you work with clients who feel stuck.
  • Learn why healing comes from building relationships within the system, not forcing change

Live session 1September 23, 2026 • 11:00 AM - 1:30 PM CT

Therapist Sees The System

Select participants will have the opportunity to present a live case consultations to Cece. Through live triangle mapping of real cases, participants will learn how to identify, track, and stay oriented inside the client’s system.

ON-Demand Module 2available october 1st

From Theory to Practice: Helping Clients Safely Access and Heal Burdened Parts

This session brings IFS theory into practice. Participants will learn to recognize and respond to the dynamic interplay between protectors and underlying emotional pain, and to support clients in safely accessing and healing the parts that carry burdens from the past. Through teaching, experiential guidance, and an extended live clinical demonstration, the session shows how to navigate complex presentations, including addiction, shame, and internal polarization, while maintaining clarity, regulation, and therapeutic presence.

  • Recognize and respond to the dynamic interplay between protectors and underlying emotional pain
  • Support clients in safely accessing and healing the parts that carry burdens from the past
  • Build trust with protective parts, facilitate unblending, and support lasting healing from the inside out

Live session 2OCTOBER 7, 2026 • 11:00 AM - 1:30 PM CT

Therapist Helps the Client See the System

Participants will learn how to externalize and work with the system directly through real-play demonstrations and experiential practice. 

Together, these sessions provide therapists with a practical, experiential framework for working with complex internal systems underlying trauma, substance use, food-related struggles, and other forms of protective behavior.

CE Credits

Professional Continuing Credits (CEs)

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9

CE Credits

Pending approval for continuing education credits for licensed mental health professionals.

9 IFS CE Credits to support your IFS certification or recertification path.

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Sponsored by

AMEDCO

Credits are sponsored by AMEDCO, a nationally recognized CE accreditation organization.

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$47

Available for purchase

Once approved, CE credits will be available for purchase upon completion of the program. 

The instructor

Learn from Cece Sykes, LCSW – IFS Senior Trainer

Cece Sykes, LCSW, is an IFS Senior Trainer, author and consultant with over forty years of clinical experience specializing in recovery from trauma and addiction.

One of the founding trainers in the IFS Institute, Cece has educated therapists around the world on the IFS model and on her approach to treating addictive processes. Her original chapter on addiction appears in Innovations & Elaborations (2016) and her recent book IFS Therapy for Addictions: Trauma Informed Compassion-Based Interventions for Substances, Eating, Gambling and More with Martha Sweezy and Richard Schwartz was released in 2023.

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Testimonials

What Participants Are Saying

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"Cece is an excellent trainer - extremely knowledgeable and clear and concise, delivering complex information. She models IFS in every interaction."

Fall 2025 Participant

Healing Interventions for the Trauma-Addictions Cycle

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"This course should be mandatory for everyone interested in IFS! Loved the instructor's style and wonderful way she presented the material. "

Fall 2025 Participant

Healing Interventions for the Trauma-Addictions Cycle

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"I have now taken 4 courses from IFSI (not counting the Online circle and level one training). This was by far the best."

Fall 2025 Participant

Healing Interventions for the Trauma-Addictions Cycle

Pricing

Here's Everything You're Getting

From live teaching to lifetime access, every piece of this program is designed to help you bring this work into session with confidence. 

Full Program Access

297 one-time

Risk-free purchase. This program includes a satisfaction guarantee. 

  • 4+ hours of recorded video lessons
  • 5 hours of live sessions (recordings included)
  • Transcripts & handouts
  • Private community forum
  • CE credits available
  • Certificate of Completion
  • Lifetime Access
  • Bonus Content
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This program includes a satisfaction guarantee. You can learn more about it here.

About Us

The IFS Institute

The IFS Institute was founded with one mission: to bring more Self leadership to the world. For over 40 years, Internal Family Systems has offered a non-pathologizing approach to healing. One that sees every part of us as valuable and holds the belief that there are no bad parts.  

IFS teaches us to lead from the Self; the calm, curious, compassionate core that exists in all of us and knows how to heal.  

This program is your invitation to dive deeper into IFS and how it can be applied to addictive processes, and discover what's possible when you learn directly from Cece Sykes, a leading trainer at the IFS Institute, who has over forty years of clinical experience in community and private practice, specializing in recovery from trauma and addiction.  

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Ready to Bring This Work Into Your Sessions?

 Enrollment is open for a limited time. Join Cece Sykes this fall for a program built to help you see addictive processes differently, and help your clients move from managing their pain to healing it.
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FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to be a therapist or mental health professional to benefit from this program?

This course is designed for IFS-informed mental health professionals and healing practitioners who want to deepen their work with clients navigating addictive processes. Whether you’re new to addiction work or feeling stuck in old frameworks, this course offers a compassionate, empowering alternative to pathologizing models and space for your own integration along the way.  

When are the live events? What if I can’t attend it live?

The two live sessions are on September 23 and October 7, from 11:00 AM to 1:30 PM CT.

While we do encourage live participation, we understand that our learners lead busy schedules and live in different time zones, so all live events are recorded and uploaded to the Learning Hub within two business days. You’ll have lifetime access to the recordings.

How long can I access the recordings?

You'll have lifetime access to all recordings and materials.

Are professional Continuing Education Credits (CEs) available?

This program is pending approval for up to 9 Professional Continuing Education (CE) credits. These will be available to purchase for $47 at the completion of the program and a post-test will be available through our partner AMEDCO. This program also offers 9 IFS Credits for those eligible for IFS Certification. 

Are there discounts available for this course?

IFS Institute commits to learning and growing to become an organization that does its part to reduce harm and redistribute resources. As we actively work to expand the communities we reach, we are offering an invitational discount rate to people of the Global Majority, LGBTQ+, and those who are under more limited economic resources.

If a reduced registration rate encourages your participation or supports your overall financial well-being please complete this form.

 

What is the refund policy for this course?

 We're confident you'll find this learning experience to be everything promised and more. Register for this course, and if you're note satisfied, you can request a full refund by contacting our customer support team.

The deadline to request a refund is September 23, 2026.

No refunds will be granted after this date. 

If I completed the 2025 Healing Interventions for the Trauma-Addictions Cycle program, will I benefit from joining this program?

While the on-demand lessons in this year’s program are the same content from the program you completed last year, we believe you'll get real value from attending the two new live sessions with Cece, on September 23 and October 7.

This year's program also widens the scope beyond addiction to any protective system: shame, control, food, work, and more.

If you completed the 2025 program, check your email for an exclusive alumni discount on this year's program.

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Satisfaction guarantee

Try this program risk-free

 Try this program risk-free. We’re confident this will be a valuable investment in your education, personal growth, or therapeutic practice. If, for any reason, you don’t feel it meets your needs, you may cancel your participation by September 23, 2026 and receive a full refund. To request a refund, contact our customer support team.

No refunds will be granted after that time.

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