Mel Galbraith MSW, RSW
Course Instructor
About Mel (Please Click)
“Melissa both lives and teaches the model. She manifests her Self-energy in her teaching, her parenting and her activism. She is a gift to the queer community and I cannot recommend her more highly.” Derek Scott, Founder, IFSCA
This course is open to Mental Health professionals who identify as Female/Non-Binary and Queer and is limited to a maximum of 20 participants.
The goals for this course are for you:
- to be able to learn within the safety of a group where all of you is welcome
- to learn and understand the IFS model and be able to apply it to your own systems, your patients/clients and one another
- to be able to ask as many questions as you need and know where to go for further information
- to form peer support groups so that your practice can continue to evolve
- to be invigorated in your practice and to see remarkable and permanent changes in many of your clients
3 Hours
For our first meet we will say hello to each other and establish group guidelines. We will talk about the basics of the model, including the 3 types of parts we typically encounter in session, and introduce the concept of Self energy.
Subsequent week-1 topics will include: Working with Protectors, Therapist parts, Exploring your own system (parts map), Unburdening the exiles, and introducing the model to new clients, as well as introducing the model to existing clients.
The focus throughout the course will be on speaking for, not from your parts
I will then ask for a volunteer to be the subject of a demonstration and after the demonstration there will be time for questions and answers.
You will be invited to do your own work in the demonstrations; an IFS therapist needs to know their own system and that cannot be achieved from role-playing.
A 1 hour lecture reinforcing the teaching points from each didactic session will be emailed to participants
3 Hours
This will either be practice with your fellow learners or a supervised practice session. Week 2 and 3 alternate between these two ways of learning. If it is a supervised session You will be working with the HIPPA-compliant* Zoom video platform in groups of three or four. Each group will work with myself or another IFS therapist colleague who will supervise your work, offering suggestions where necessary.
The supervised sessions will be recorded and only your group will have access to the recording so that you may review your work if you choose.
You will each have an opportunity to work as therapist for up to 45 minutes, and as client, and as observer. There will be up to 15 minutes after each practice session for feedback.
*HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996) A United States legislation that provides data privacy and security provisions for safeguarding medical information.
3 hours.
This will either be practice with your fellow learners or a supervised practice session. Week 2 and 3 alternate between these two ways of learning. If it is a supervised session You will be working with the HIPPA-compliant* Zoom video platform in groups of three or four. Each group will work with myself or another IFS therapist colleague who will supervise your work, offering suggestions where necessary.
The supervised sessions will be recorded and only your group will have access to the recording so that you may review your work if you choose.
You will each have an opportunity to work as therapist for up to 45 minutes, and as client, and as observer. There will be up to 15 minutes after each practice session for feedback.
*HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996) A United States legislation that provides data privacy and security provisions for safeguarding medical information.
3 Hours
We will meet as a large group again and you will be invited to bring questions arising from your own practice and/or from learning the theory. We may choose to do a piece of work if you are feeling stuck with a particular client or using the model. We may explore your own parts getting triggered by clients to help you get clarity and possibly unburden a part of your own.
This is a good forum to get to know your therapist parts. Challenging issues like active suicidality, difficulty with unblending and working with trauma, addictions etc. may be brought here.
A 90 page Teaching Manual is included as part of the course as well as handouts on “How to Watch a Demo”, “How to do a Triad” and others.
You are invited to view the 10-part video series “IFS for Therapists” to enhance your learning during the course.
Required reading for the course is “Internal Family Systems Therapy Second Edition” by Richard C. Schwartz and Martha Sweezy available from the IFS Institute Bookstore.
Recommended reading includes: “No Bad Parts” also by Dick Schwartz and “Many Minds, One Self” by Dick Schwartz and Robert Falconer
In addition to the reading there are annotated training videos: I hour sessions which have been edited to highlight choice points and illustrate where therapist parts have wanted to intervene.
There are many interesting articles on the resources page of the IFSCA site.
The course is open to social workers, therapists, counsellors, coaches and other mental health professionals. To get the maximum benefit from this course it is preferable to be working 1:1 with people in a professional capacity.
The cost for the entire 4 Month course is USD $1,900 and is payable in advance – refunds will not be issued. Each 3 hour teaching/practice session will be recorded and the recordings will be made available only to participants; as will the didactic teachings and consultation groups. If you are unable to attend a day you will receive the session recording.
There will be an optional “Deepening your Core IFS Practice “ weekend after the course ends which will address some of the more advanced IFS Teachings. Time and details TBD in early 2022. Participation in the weekend is necessary to be eligible for inclusion in the directory.
Please Click Here for more information or to register