1–2 hours of on-demand video content each month
Move through it at your own pace in IFS’s easy-to-navigate Learning Hub. Each module includes
a dynamic mix of information, experiential exercises, and powerful demonstrations.
Monthly live 75-minute Q&A sessions
Engage in interactive discussions to deepen your understanding. Each month, you’ll meet with Pam Krause, Crystal Jones, or Richard Schwartz, the founder of IFS. (Sessions are recorded for those who can’t attend live.)
Downloadable resources
Keep PDF handouts, slides, transcripts, and exercises for quick reference during and after the course.
Real-life IFS demonstrations
Including an exclusive full-length session with Richard Schwartz, only available in this program.
Let’s Get Started.
Enroll Today!
See what others
have said about the Online Circle Program:
”The Online Circle program allowed me an affordable way to dip my toe in the water and check things out before committing to another training....You all have impressed me as a wise, compassionate and talented group and I feel all the richer for having participated in the Circle.”
"I don't know where to start, it has been fabulous. I have recommended it to many many colleagues, even those already trained in IFS."
"Thank you for making this possible. Everything was positive about it for me. The highlights were getting more intensive training than is possible in regular IFS trainings. It is so helpful to have the phone calls and sessions available on PDF. I loved being able to study at my pace…. Also, the opportunity to see how Dick works was such a privilege and learning experience. It made me feel more connected and inspired by the model."
Building Blocks of the IFS Model
- History of the model and its basic assumptions from IFS Founder Dick Schwartz
- Overview of parts and how they manifest themselves in our systems
- Exploration of the nature, traits and roles of specific types of parts – managers, firefighters and exiles
- Review of the nature of Self and its role as healer in the system
- Learn the concepts of blending and unblending
- Experience: Parts Mapping Exercise
- Experience: Self Energy Meditation
- Experience: Getting to Know a Part Meditation
Live 75-minute Q&A Event with Dick Schwartz Wednesday, April 22 at 1 PM ET
The Flow of the Model
- Flow of the IFS model with a focus on creating Self-to-part relationships through "in-sight"
- Assess the client’s situation, including identities, relationships, and current goals for therapy
- Identify and work with a “pod” of protectors and the exiles they guard
- Review how to invite and support unblending in clients’ systems
- Observe the full flow of the model, from selecting a target part to unburdening an exile and integration
- Demonstration: Assessing the Situation
- Demonstration: Selecting a Target Part & Establishing a Relationship
- Demonstration: Learning about a Protector
- Demonstration: Connecting with & Witnessing an Exile
- Demonstration: Unburdening an Exile
Live 75-minute Q&A Event with Crystal Jones Monday, May 11 at 12 PM ET
The Protective System
- Role and nature of managers and firefighters
- Typical concerns of protectors, including typical protector fears, and guidance on addressing these concerns
- Explore how the 6 F’s are used to find and develop a relationship with a part
- Demonstration: Using the 6 F’s
- Demonstration: Hope Merchant
- Demonstration: Reassuring Protector Fears
- Exercise: Discovering your Manager Fears
- Exercise: Reflecting on your Firefighters
Live 75-minute Q&A Event with Pam Krause
Tuesday, June 23 at 12 PM ET
Exiles and Their Burdens
- Understand the nature of exiles and the types of burdens they carry
- Explore important elements of working with exiles, including building trust
- Observe the critical steps of the unburdening process for personal as well as legacy burdens
- Experience: Identifying a Cultural Legacy Burden
- Demonstration: Unburdening a Personal Burden
- Demonstration: Releasing Cultural/Legacy Burdens
- Experience: Cabin with Ancestor Meditation
Live 75-minute Q&A Event with Crystal Jones Monday, July 27 at 12 pm ET
Integration and Polarizations
- Learn the importance of and process for integration following an unburdening
- Experience your own system and parts during meditations and exercises
- Observe specific techniques for working with highly polarized parts
- Understand the role of "direct access" in highly polarized systems
- Experience: Room Meditation
- Experience: Two Handed Exercise
- Experience: From Activation to Awareness Meditation
- Demonstration: Unblending Two Parts
Live 75-minute Q&A Event with Pam Krause Tuesday, August 11 at 12 pm ET
Direct Access and What Does it Mean to be Self-led?
- Introduction to the concept of direct access
- Comparison between and explanation of when to use in-sight and direct access
- Tips for how to develop direct access skills
- Understand what it means to be Self-led and how it shifts how you engage internally and externally
- Demonstration: Implicit Direct Access
- Exercise: Unblending
- Exercise: A Daily Practice Meditation
Live 75-minute Q&A Event with Dick Schwartz Wednesday, September 2 at 1 PM ET
Let’s Get Started.
Enroll Today!
1-2 hours of
on-demand teaching
instruction per month
Monthly live Q&A events
with your instructors, recorded for those unable to attend live
EXCLUSIVE Full-length demonstration
with Dick Schwartz
Connect with a global
learning community
within our IFS Learning
Hub
Certificate of Completion
Transcripts of all
learning sessions
Richard C. Schwartz, PhD, is the creator of Internal Family Systems, a highly effective therapeutic model with a growing evidence base that de-pathologizes the multi-part personality. Richard is also the founder of the IFS Institute, which primarily offers training for professionals. He is currently a Teaching Associate in Psychiatry at Cambridge Health Alliance, a Harvard Medical School teaching affiliate. Richard has authored or co-authored more than ten books on Internal Family Systems and related topics, including No Bad Parts and Internal Family Systems Therapy. He lives near Chicago with his wife Jeanne, Vice President of the IFS Institute, close to his three daughters and six grandchildren.
Pamela Krause, MSW, LCSW, is a Senior Lead Trainer for IFSI, also trained in Hakomi therapy, and has led Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 trainings since 2005. Pam adapted the IFS model for use with children and adolescents and has created both onsite and online trainings on the topic. Pam authored a chapter on IFS with Children & Adolescents in Internal Family Systems Therapy: New Dimensions, and also co-authored a chapter called Getting Unstuck in the 2017 book Innovations and Elaborations in IFS – addressing occasional ruptures and impasses in our work in IFS. Pam has played a key role at the Institute in mentoring and teaching new trainers globally, helping to shape the next generation of IFS trainers. She also has a private practice in Mechanicsburg, PA.
Crystal Jones, LCSW, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and lead trainer for IFSI, who passionately spreads the healing essence of the IFS model worldwide. Known for her embodied compassion, relatability, and heart-led approach to her work, Crystal has personally experienced the transformative power of the IFS model in her own healing journey. This profound experience fuels Crystal’s dedication to creating safe spaces for marginalized communities, particularly Black women and women of color, to feel connected, seen, heard, and valued as they embark on their healing journeys, individually and collectively. Crystal is fervently committed to teaching the model in a way that illuminates and speaks to the global majority, ensuring its adaptability, accessibility, and relevance to diverse populations.
Let’s Get Started.
Enroll Today!
