Our Trainers Directory

Risa Adams, MD, CCFP is a family physician with a focused practice in perinatal mental health care in Elora, Ontario on the traditional lands of the Attawandaran, Wyandot, Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee peoples. Risa loves making connections and building IFS community, and is thrilled to be part of an emerging team of trainers in Canada. Having experienced educational trauma herself, she is acutely aware of and sensitive to shame in learning environments, and prioritizes relationship and consent in all of her IFS work.

Jory Agate, LMHC, MDiv., MA, IFS Certified, is an Internal Family Systems therapist, trainer, and consultant with a private practice in Cambridge, MA.  Jory is committed to creating a collaborative clinical space that honors the cultural uniqueness of her clients. She specializes in treating trauma without pathologizing individuals for the creative ways they may have learned to cope. Jory had previous careers as a Unitarian Universalist minister and Sign Language interpreter/Deaf educator in the US and abroad.  She works in English and ASL with hearing and Deaf individuals, families, couples, clergy, staff teams, and parents of individuals with major mental illness. Jory is a trainer/presenter for the IFS Institute, PESI, the Unitarian Universalist Association, and the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI).  In addition to her private practice, she provides training and consultation in IFS therapy, cultural agility, sexuality education, leadership development, and group dynamics.  The mother of two young adults, one hearing and one Deaf, she lives with her wife and their pandemic puppy in Cambridge, MA. 

Galit Arad-Trutner, MSW, LICSW is a certified IFS therapist in private practice in Bellevue, Washington. She works with individuals, couples, and groups. Galit is passionate about working with gender, race, religion, and sexual orientation related trauma, multicultural families, and intersectionality of privilege and oppression.

Originally from Israel, Galit has experience working in both Israel and the US in various settings including hospitals, community mental health, justice system, and sexual trauma. She is fluent in Hebrew and English.

Osnat (Ossi) Arbel, PhD, LMFT is a Lead Trainer in Israel. As the Co-founder of the Israeli Institute for IFS she is training, supervising, and facilitating groups while living the IFS model both personally and professionally. In her private practice she provides IFS-based therapy for individuals, couples, and families. Dr. Arbel is an AAMFT Clinical Member and Approved Supervisor currently dividing her time between Israel, and Colorado. In Israel she is teaching MFT courses at Tel-Aviv University and Tel-Hai Academic College and supervising MFT practicum courses. In Colorado she holds an Assistant Professor appointment at Argosy University/Denver campus, teaching at the Counseling and MFT programs. Visit her on the web: www.ifs-israel.org ; On facebook: facebook.com/DrOsnatArbel ; Join her on LinkedIn: il.linkedin.com/in/oarbel

Brenda Aufderhar, RN, LICSW, IFS Certified, is in private practice in Spokane, Washington, USA. She has used IFS since 2000 with individuals, couples, therapy groups, and integrated IFS into play therapy with traumatized children in a community health center. Her passion for including the body in IFS therapy is informed by her training as a nurse, along with her Hakomi and Craniosacral Therapy certifications. Being raised in South America for 10 years, Brenda marinated in other cultures that permanently broadened her sense of others and added depth and flavor to her inner landscape of parts.

Dawn Balcazar, Ph.D. is a doctoral level clinical psychologist, certified IFS therapist, and IFS approved consultant in private practice remotely and in person in Massachusetts. She received her BA from Wellesley College and her Ph.D. from University of MA/Amherst and has been a clinical supervisor at The Trauma Center and Wellesley College. Alongside working within the IFS model, Dawn specializes in psychological trauma, bereavement and enjoys working with the diverse local college student population, particularly first-generation students. Dawn is a nature lover, hiker, sailor, and a dedicated animal rescuer who runs a Caribbean based non-profit cat shelter and rescue.  

Mona Barbera, PhD, CC, is a psychologist in private practice in Rhode Island. She offers IFS couples therapy, IFS couples workshops and is the author of the award-winning IFS relationship book, Bring Yourself to Love: How Couples Can Turn Disconnection into Intimacy. She is a former board member of the New Society for the Treatment of Trauma and Dissociation, and is trained in EMDR and Imago Relationship Therapy. She is an Assistant Director and Shambhala Assistant Director for Shambhala Buddhist meditation.

Frances D. Booth, LICSW is a Certified IFS Therapist, Counsutant, Trainer. Her practice specialties are trauma, anxiety, depression, cancer, medical dis-ease and attachment disorders. She graduated from Cornell University (with honors) and Simmons School for Social Work and has held adjunct faculty positions at Smith College School for Social Work, Tufts Medical School, and The William James College. She loves to sing, dance, bike, run, sail, read, laugh, dine, enjoy the arts, and spend time with grandchildren.

Einat Avni Bronstein, MSW, LCSW, Co-founder of The Israeli Institute for IFS, earned a masters in clinical social work from Washington University and graduated earlier from the Tel Aviv University Law School. An experienced psychotherapist with 23 years of practice in individual, couples, family, and group therapy. Einat led multiple workshops, seminars and trainings in the US and in Israel, she has completed Levels 1, 2 and 3 training in IFS and is a certified IFS therapist, IFS supervisor and IFS lead trainer. She is also an instructor in the Marriage and Family Therapy program through Continuing Education at Tel Aviv University.

Denise Caldwell, LCSW, is a certified IFS therapist in private practice in Catawissa, Pennsylvania, USA.  She is also trained in the IFIO model and works with individuals and couples in her private practice.  She is certified as a Structural and Contextual family therapist and has used play and sand therapies in the past with children, teens, and families in her 40 years of social work experience.  She is a consultant and supervisor for individuals seeking their licensure and for IFS and IFIO clinicians. Her goal is to make changes for equality and opportunity for as many individuals in her own community as well as on a larger scale through teaching and involvement with groups devoted to change.  She lives with her wife and dogs and loves to kayak, bike, swim and take relaxing walks in nature.  She loves all types of music and singing at her local church. 

Analia Castaños-Davis (she, her, ella)  is an IFS certified Therapist, Trainer and Consultant.

She received her masters in Systems Counseling in 2009 from Bastyr University in Seattle, WA. She has worked in community mental health and private practice since then. She created the first online IFS-Intro-Training in Spanish course, and is actively invested in growing IFS within the Spanish speaking community. She has been trained as a psychedelic therapist by the Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) and in Indigenous Medicine by Amita Academia Indígena in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Analía is originally from Guadalajara, lived in Seattle for 22 years and is now temporarily living in Mexico while seeing clients online. 

She works with individuals, multicultural couples and therapists seeking IFS certification.

Hi! I'm Sand Chang, PhD (they/them), and I'm a Chinese American nonbinary psychologist and DEI consultant who works at the intersection of trans health, eating disorders, trauma recovery, and body liberation. I'm a Certified IFS therapist, consultant, and trainer, Body Trust provider, and EMDR therapist. I am passionate about integrating IFS and Somatic Experiencing.

Supporting others’ learning process is one of my number one passions, and I feel grateful to have had opportunities to work with a wide range of groups and organizations. I started my teaching career in psychology graduate programs, and from there I branched out to provide trainings to educational institutions, medical systems, grassroots organizations, non-profits, startups, and the corporate sector. I've spent much of my career working in trans health and co-authored A Clinician's Guide to Gender Affirming Care, as well as the APA guidelines for working with trans communities and the WPATH Standards of Care Version 8. Eating disorders from an anti-diet, fat liberation perspective is also an area of emphasis in my work. You can learn more about me here: https://www.sandchang.com/

INTERVIEW

Ralph Cohen, PhD, LMFT is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Counseling and Family Therapy at Central Connecticut State University where he was the director of the Master's program in Marriage and Family Therapy and currently coordinates the Internal Family Systems Continuing Education Program. He is Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and is an AAMFT Approved Supervisor. Dr. Cohen was a founding co-editor of the Journal of Self Leadership, and IFS-oriented professional publication. As a licensed psychologist and Marriage and Family therapist, Dr. Cohen has a private practice in West Hartford, Connecticut, providing IFS-based therapy for individuals, couples, and families.

Melissa Costa, LMFT, is a Certified IFS Therapist, IFS Clinical Consultant, and educator. Melissa lives and works in the flat lands of central Florida where she serves clients regionally and internationally.  Her heart lives somewhere where the leaves turn crimson and gold in the fall and the winding mountain paths beckon. With over 25 years of experience in health and wellness education, yoga and bodywork, Melissa weaves extensive mind/body/spirit knowledge and awareness into her psychotherapy practice.  She specializes in working with Fire Fighter parts, and with IFS therapists and practitioners, who seek to deepen their knowing of the IFS model.  Melissa’s Managers and Fire Fighters love to work and play in Self-land and are excited to get to know you wherever you are in your journey to the home in your heart.

Kathy Cox is a licensed social worker, a Certified IFS Therapist and IFS Trainer. She has been a psychotherapist for more than 25 years and has been learning, using and teaching the Internal Family Systems model since 2003. She lives in Olympia, Washington where she offers IFS therapy, training and consultation to therapists and practitioners learning IFS. Kathy feels called to support folks to work with and heal the emotional, cognitive and spiritual barriers that limit their full participation in life. This includes addressing and working with the impact of systemic racism and other societal forces on one’s life. Kathy has a special interest in trauma, grief and loss, and spirituality, and is known for her humor and warmth.

Ellie Cunanan-Petty, LMFT, is a Certified IFS Therapist with nineteen years of clinical experience.  She is licensed in Virginia, Washington DC and New Jersey and has a private practice in Falls Church, Virginia, where she works with adults and couples.  She also provides supervision to therapists working toward licensure in Virginia, as well as clinical consultation to therapists learning IFS.  Ellie has an interest in working with people in improving their relationships, both within themselves and with others.   

Cathy Curtis, LCSW is an IFS Lead trainer and has been a psychotherapist for over 25 years. She has been trained in many different body-centered modalities. For the past 10 years, she has primarily used IFS in her work with individuals and couples. She is also a lead trainer for the Intimacy From The Inside Out basic and advanced trainings. Cathy lives and works in Santa Cruz, CA 

Terri Dalton, PhD, LCSW, CADC is a co-lead trainer,  clinical social worker and addictions therapist in private practice, a teacher, and a long time outdoor retreat leader with thirty years of experience working with complex trauma, addictions, anxiety, and depression.  Four years ago, after 12 years of running outdoor IFS focused retreats for women all over the United States, she opened her own nature focused retreat center "In the Beyond" located in the Pacific Northwest outside Olympia, Washington.  She specializes in individual and group work with all ages but particularly with women and girls healing from trauma and addictions.  She integrates IFS with her somatic practices that also include yoga, meditation and Authentic Movement.  IFS has been a passion of hers for more than fifteen years as a solid foundation in her vision of healing lives that began early in her life growing up hiking and backpacking the Sierra Nevada Mountains of Central California where she grew up.  Her vision has brought hundreds of children and women into weeklong healing experiences, now using IFS, in the outdoors of the Sierras, Appalachians, Rockies, Olympics and Cascades.  She maintains a private practice in both Chicago and in Olympia, WA, where she lives with her therapist husband, and their beloved therapy pets. 

Kevin Davis, LCSW, LMFT, LCAS, Approved AMFT Supervisor, is an IFS therapist who specializes in addiction, trauma and the impact of early imprints. She has a passion for helping clients connect to and use the inherent treatment plan that lives in all of us as individuals, relationally and in community. Kevin is Co-Founder of Hospice at Charlotte, and founder of the Family Therapy Training Institute at United Family Services. With over 30 years of experience, Kevin uses mind/body approaches to help others enhance resilience and achieve purpose.

PILAR DE LA TORRE has been a psychologist and gestalt psychotherapist for more than twenty-five years.  Certified trainer in the IFS model and co-founder of the IFS Institute. She organizes the official IFS training in Spain.  She has supervision groups and for fifteen years she has been accompanying individuals, families and couples in psychotherapy based on IFS.  She is founder and director of the Institute of Nonviolent Communication.  She is trained in gestalt body therapy.  IFS has transformed her life and the lives of many people she accompanies. She has a strong commitment to spread this vision of the human being in the world.
 

LaTonya Demps, LCSW is a psychotherapist, trainer, consultant, and social justice advocate. In her private practice LaTonya is passionate about offering an affirming, collective healing community for individuals and couples. She specializes in complex trauma, perfectionism, anxiety, relational concerns, and caretaker burnout. LaTonya utilizes IFS, self-compassion, EMDR, and mind-body approaches in her work- with a focus on the impact of systemic racism and oppression. She facilitates mental health workshops, and feels honored to support practitioners and clinicians as they learn IFS. LaTonya is a Certified IFS therapist, consultant and trainer with the IFS Institute.  LaTonya is also a Qualified Administrator of the Intercultural Development Inventory © where she focuses on supporting organizations to build supportive, culturally affirming environments for their teams. 

Emma Diamond is a Certified Internal Family Systems therapist, case consultant and trainer with a Masters in Family Therapy from Newcastle University, Australia. Emma has 18 years of clinical practice working with complex and relational trauma. She has worked with IFS in the context of individual and family therapy including with children and young people across culture, complexity and identity. She currently works in private practice as a psychotherapist and supervisor specialising in CPTSD in NSW Australia. Emma is known for her warmth, openness and inclusivity. In her down time she enjoys forest bathing, beach walks with her dog and all adventures in the natural world.

Irina Diyankova, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist, certified IFS therapist, and an Assistant Trainer. She has private practice in Knoxville, TN, USA where she specializes in working with complex trauma in adults and adolescents. Being born and raised in Russia, Irina has a special interest in applying IFS across cultures, as well as working with cultural dynamics and burdens. Irina has completed all three levels of IFS training. SHe has also conducted multiple IFS workshops and consultation groups in the US and Russia. She is very passionate and excited about IFS Model and loves sharing it with other therapists and human services professionals. In her leisure time she loves practicing yoga, hiking, traveling, reading and writing.

Rina Dubin, Ed.D, LPC, is a solo lead trainer and a licensed psychologist practicing in Newton, MA. She provides psychotherapy to individuals and couples and offers consultation for individual, dyad and small groups. She also offers workshops to larger groups on various topics which always include an experiential focus.

IFS has been foundational for Rina since her first immersion in 2004. She has found IFS to be the deepest and most profound approach for healing and expansion and highly values how this work is an approach to living and not a “model.”  More recently, a focus of Rina’s work has been to expand not only how up-close systems (family, school) impact our parts but how the larger systems through which we all navigate impact our parts and our different identities. This feels much more complete and ties to her legacy heirloom of “make the world better.”

Mary DuParri, MA, LPC is in private practice in the St. Louis area where she has assisted in Level I trainings and presented Internal Family Systems introductory seminars. Mary has spent a lifetime in helping professions. Starting in the healthcare field as a clinical microbiologist, then following the night school route to a counseling degree, she is now a counselor, a consultant and a mentor to new IFS therapists.

Michael Elkin is an IFS Senior Lead Trainer who has been teaching the model throughout the US and Europe since 1999. He brings a background of hypnotic and strategic technology to his practice of IFS,

and has contributed innovative approaches to addictions, phobia, and anxiety. His teaching is humorous and stimulating. His emphasis is on healing and sustaining relationships. My current focus is to provide consultation and training to practicing therapists, coaches, and guides.

Elina Falck is a certified IFS therapist, and an approved IFS consultant. She is in private practice, specializing in trauma recovery and clinical consultation. Because she lives on a small island off the coast of British Columbia, Canada, her entire practice is online.  She is an immigrant to Canada, from Sweden. 

She is passionate about helping IFS therapists becoming even better at their craft. As a trauma therapist, she has a particular interest in helping her clients recover from shame, and heal from their harsh experiences. She delights in helping her clients reconnect to their Self-energy, especially when they have learned to perceive Self-access as dangerous and untrustworthy. 

Jenny Fiebig is a professional counselor licensed in both Montana and Colorado. Her private practice focuses on helping individuals and couples heal from trauma, and most specifically trauma related to outdoor accidents. Her first career was in outdoor education and guiding. While working with people for long periods of time in a wilderness setting, she found the profound connection people shared to self, to others and to the landscape they were traveling within. In 2010 she went back to school to pursue a graduate degree in Mental Heath Counseling at Montana State University. She was exposed to IFS while working for a group practice in Bozeman, MT and has deepened her knowledge in IFS ever since. Jenny has been through multiple Levels 1, 2 and 3 with IFS-Institute and IFIO, is a Certified IFS Therapist, and an Approved IFS Clinical Consultant for Certification. IFS has taken her all over the US, Australia and Portugal. She completed the ATP program with IFS Institute. Now she works as an Assistant Trainer for IFS-I and has experience working with a number of lead trainers. Jenny has a deep passion for IFS and is excited to be in a teaching role with IFS Institute to bring this model to more healers around the world.

Fatimah Finney, LMHC is a serial goal-setter, lover of new ideas, and imaginative thinker. She is a certified Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapist and maintains a private practice serving BIPOC and young adults. As an administrator of the Intercultural Development Inventory, Fatimah is a consultant to individuals and organizations looking to build their capacity and skills in centering diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice. Fatimah facilitates workshops on intercultural competence, microaggressions and mental health awareness with an aim to make workplaces more inclusive and equitable. Prior to her counseling and consulting practice, Fatimah spent the majority of her career providing in-home therapy to children, adolescents and adults and serving in clinical leadership roles. Through her work in community mental health settings, she cultivated a strong commitment to helping therapists increase their cultural competence and clinical fluency with diverse populations.

Jess (she/her/hers) is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist based in Minneapolis, MN, who enjoys working creatively and collaboratively with individuals, couples, families, and communities, and has been doing so in a variety of clinical settings since 2014 (in-home, day treatment, schools, and outpatient). Jess enjoys supporting those learning the model and offers a practical approach to the work. Her first career was as a theater director and teaching artist; she brings the same playfulness and curiosity of exploring what it means to be having a human experience to her current work. Dedicated to collective healing, Jess continues to examine her white body privilege and how it impacts the world around her while working to dismantle oppressive systems. 

Tamala Floyd, LCSW-BACS has over 25 years of experience as a psychotherapist working with children, families, and women with trauma histories. She has expertise in childhood sexual abuse, women’s sexual trauma and domestic violence.Tamala has worked in various settings including schools, criminal justice, hospitals, community mental health and private practice. She is an IFS consultant providing BIPOC therapists and practitioners with supervision towards IFS certification. Tamala provides business coaching to women entrepreneurs and therapist to assist in building their businesses and practices by overcoming mindset blocks that impede their success. She has authored a chapter in “Fiercely Speaking,” entitled, Healing the Wounded Mother and a chapter in an upcoming the book, “Internal Family Systems Therapy: Supervision and Consultation.” The chapter focuses on IFS consultation with BIPOC therapists.

INTERVIEW

Kay Gardner, MS, LCPC, is a certified Hakomi therapist who incorporates body work into her therapy practice.  She is the creator of several workshops, including "Men and Their Mothers" and "Women, Sexuality, and Power."

INTERVIEW

Paul Ginter, EdD is a private practice psychologist in Kalamazoo, Michigan.  Paul primarily uses the Internal Family Systems Model in his work with individuals, couples and families.  He is particularly interested in incorporating spiritual practices such as meditation into his work with clients.

Be patient towards all that is unsolved in our heart and try to love the questions themselves

by Rainer Maria Rilke, says what IFS means to me and how I work with clients.

Our parts have wisdom for our healing, whether they come as questions, experiences that leave us wondering what that was about, or experiences that leave us feeling more aware of who we are, what we are about and what we want.  My background in private practice over the last 18 years is a combination of exercise psychology and psychotherapy with humor and fun added to the mix. Currently, as an Assistant Trainer with IFS, my work has deepened as my depth of understanding about IFS as evolved.  Please see my website: www.lewisburgcounseling.com

Gerard Grigsby, LCPC, LPC, is a proud Black, gay, first-gen college graduate (and HBCU alum) with roots in the world of recovery. He earned his M.Ed in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, as well as his Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision, from Ohio University. Gerard has over 10 years of clinical counseling experience — he has worked in college counseling and community mental health settings, and he currently manages a private practice in his home state of Maryland. Gerard’s practice is open to all, but he is most energized in his work with Black queer and same-gender-loving men. Gerard officially began his IFS journey as a member of the second BTR-IFS Level 1 cohort. Since then, he has served as a PA for several trainings and discovered a passion for teaching and supporting the learning of others, especially healers of color. Gerard is so grateful for the opportunity to develop his gifts and continue his personal growth within the IFS community. When he takes his therapist hat off, Gerard enjoys spending time with loved ones and making people laugh. He also enjoys dancing, boxing, singing, hiking, listening to audiobooks, and journaling.

Natalie Yvette Gutiérrez, LMFT, is a certified IFS therapist in New York. She identifies as Latine, of Puerto Rican diaspora. Much of her work is dedicated to providing psychotherapy to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color healing from CPTSD, working with ancestral trauma and the impact of systemic racism and oppression on parts. Natalie is the author of The Pain We Carry. She is a proud mother of two and a budding equestrian.

Marina is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in private practice in Los Angeles. Having been born in Iran and raised in a multi-cultural family, she brings a cross-cultural lens to her work with clients and her general orientation as an IFS trainer. Marina has also trained in wilderness programs for healing and wholing of the Self through communion and connection with Nature. She considers Nature in all her manifestations (animal, plant, mountain, sky, river and all) to be a source of her most intimate guidance and her spirituality. Having emigrated from Iran at an early age, Marina has lived in various countries and speaks and practices IFS in English, Spanish, French and Farsi.

INTERVIEW

Toni is a Senior Trainer for IFS Institute facilitating basic and advanced trainings. She has designed and written curriculum for several programs including a training on using IFS therapy with couples. Toni leads IFS retreats and seminars for couples, a women's retreat and the annual kripalu retreat with Richard Schwartz. She is an experienced trainer with a reputation for having an approach that is respectful, compassionate and empowering. She is in private practice specializing in relational issues and lives in Durango, Colorado with her husband Jordan and a menagerie of animals.

Gwen Hurd, LCSW, NCCE, NCPC, is a Certified IFS Therapist and Clinical Consultant.  She graduated from the University of Chicago with her MSW in 1994. She was introduced to IFS during her graduate program and began her level one in 1998. She finished her level three training in 2014 and began Program Assisting in 2015.  She has used IFS in her work as a Child Protection Investigator in the Chicago area and with at-risk youth and families both as a therapist and program director, in northwest Indiana.  She moved to St George, Utah in 2008.  She has taught at both the bachelor's and master's degree levels.  She is currently the Clinical Director and Therapist/Custody Evaluator at Sage Circle Counseling Center in St George. She is currently licensed in Utah, Nevada, Texas, and Nebraska.  

Carmen Jimenez-Pride is the founder, and Executive Director of Outspoken Counseling and Consulting. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Registered Play Therapist Supervisor, Certified EMDR Therapist, Internal Family Systems Therapist, Registered Yoga Teacher, Registered Children Yoga Teacher and a Certified Daring Way™ Facilitator. Carmen is also a LEGO® Serious Play® Facilitator.

Carmen is the developer of Diversity in Play Therapy Inc.; and creator/organizer of the Diversity in Play Therapy Summit. 

Carmen received her Bachelor of Social Work with a certificate in Child Protective Services from Benedict College. She was then accepted into the advanced standing program at the University of South Carolina earning a Master of Social Work with a focus on communities and organizations. Carmen’s passion is youth/ children, and she has dedicated herself not only to enriching the lives of children, but also providing the tools and curriculum for clinicians to ensure her goal to reach others has an even farther span in society. 

Carmen is experienced in clinical treatment of children, adolescents and adults with culturally diverse backgrounds addressing a wide range of concerns. Carmen’s career in the mental health field spans more than 15 years.

Her experience as a therapist, consultant, trainer, educator, coach and author encompass Carmen’s approach to practice, which is “Together We Will Grow”

Crystal Jones, LCSW, is a Certified IFS Therapist and Lead Trainer. She feels extremely grateful to have experienced and witnessed the healing benefits of the IFS model in her own life and in the lives of her clients.  She has 20 years of clinical experience and owns a private group practice, Life Source Counseling Center, Inc., in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Crystal is known for her compassion and heart-led approach to her work.  She is passionate about creating safe spaces for BIPOC women to feel connected, seen, heard, and valued as they do their healing work individually and collectively. She also enjoys providing IFS clinical consultation to therapists and practitioners learning the model and pursuing certification. She truly looks forward to sharing in the healing journeys of all inspired by this model.

Gretchen King is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and an AAMFT Approved Supervisor. She sees clients and offers consultation in her private practice in downtown Chicago. Her specializations are relationships - with Self and others - and spirituality and she works with adult individuals and couples. Gretchen has been involved with IFS trainings since 2000 in a variety of capacities. Currently, a Co-Lead Trainer, Gretchen is known for her clarity and gently challenging teaching style. 

David Kitchings, LPC, is an Assistant Trainer, certified IFS therapist and approved IFS clinical consultant with a private practice online practice. He is also an IFIO (Intimacy from the Inside Out) couples therapist and is on staff for IFIO trainings.  David teaches introductory IFS workshops and leads IFS and IFIO consultation groups.  He provides IFS-inspired executive coaching and is continuously training in IFS and psychedelics.  David returned to the field of psychotherapy after a long period of time working as an attorney, business owner, and stay-at-home dad to three children.  He has also lived in Singapore and Switzerland, working with expatriates and the international IFS community.  David has a deep interest in spirituality, and is an artist and musician.

INTERVIEW

Pamela Krause, MSW, LCSW is an IFS Senior Lead Trainer and is also trained in Hakomi therapy. She teaches Level 1, 2, and 3 IFS trainings as well as leadership develop programs for IFS-I.

Mary Kruger, MS, LMFT, founded Rimmon Pond Counseling, an IFS-based private practice in Connecticut, and has specialized in addictions, eating disorders, trauma, and relationships for over 20 years.  Mary incorporates IFS with her own penchant for the experience, and has developed a variety of creative ways to work with parts and access Self-energy in individual, relational, and group contexts.  She enjoys sharing her experience in her teaching and consulting on a national level. Mary is noted for her humor, creativity, passion, and love of dancing and people.

Dr. HeaKyung Kwon is a licensed psychoanalyst and creative arts therapist in New York with more than 25 years of experience. As a trauma therapist, she has been trained in many different treatment modalities such as IFS, EMDR, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, AEDP and the Theory of Structural Dissociation. Among all these approaches, IFS has become the foundation of her work. She received her Master’s and Doctorate degrees in Music Therapy from NYU, and her Certificate in Psychoanalysis from the National Institute for the Psychotherapies in New York City. On top of serving a wide range of clients in her private practice and supervising therapists, she has been teaching extensively and conducting workshops on trauma and IFS.

She was born and raised in Korea and moved to the US as an adult. She currently resides in both New Jersey and South Korea with her husband and two daughters. She loves bridging the two cultures and enriching both through a deep understanding shaped by her lived experience. She is also a Korea IFS training organizer and dedicated to planting the roots of IFS in Korea and Asia.

Imma Lloret is a psychologist and has been a psychotherapist for over 30 years in Barcelona, Spain. As the co-founder of the Spanish IFS Institute, she organizes IFS trainings, supervises, and facilitates groups along with her private practice where she provides IFS-based therapy for individuals and couples.  Imma also worked as an Associate Professor in the degree of Psychology at UOC (Open University of Catalonia).  She is also certified in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and Somatic Experiencing, and has advanced training in AEDP.  IFS has transformed her life and her view of the world and she is honored to be able to contribute to its spread.
 

Kirsten M. Lundeberg, LPC, LMFT, is a Northern-Virginia-based psychotherapist in private practice.  Kirsten works with individuals and couples and offers supervision and consultation to therapists as well. Kirsten is deeply committed to supporting therapists and others who are interested in learning the IFS model and enjoys being a part of the training staff for trainings in the DC and surrounding areas, currently as a Lead Trainer. Kirsten is grateful for the model both personally and professionally, and is especially grateful to be connected to the expanding community of IFS therapists and practitioners. For more information: www.kirstenlundeberg.com

Amy is a graduate of Saint Joseph's college in Maine and the Columbia University School of Social Work.  She was commissioned in the US Army as a social worker and deployed to Somalia and Haiti with the 10th Mountain Infantry Division.  She has served combat Veterans and survivors of military sexual trauma as a therapist and director of the Sanford Vet Center (part of the VA) from 1996 until retiring in 2022.  Her IFS journey began in 2013 and has led her on a path to PAing several trainings, becoming a certified therapist and clinical consultant and now serving as an Assistant Trainer.  She is excited to be part of the mission to bring IFS to many different communities.

Liz Martins is a Certified IFS Therapist, supervisor and trainer based in the UK and working in private practice. Liz has worked to support healing, growth and development for over 30 years, including as a social worker, therapist, supervisor, organisational and group facilitator, mentor and trainer. She has a particular interest in integrating IFS in supervision/consultation and in supporting the practice of newly trained IFS therapists.  

INTERVIEW

Susan McConnell has taught IFS throughout the US and in Europe since 1997.  Her involvement as Senior Trainer with the Center includes developing training curricula, training IFS training staff, and designing and leading somatic psychotherapy retreats and seminars.  In her private practice in Chicago, Susan specializes in recovering the wholeness of body, mind and spirit, drawing from her bodywork and movement experience and her Buddhist practice. She brings commitment and passion to her work and her play with her partner and her dogs along Lake Michigan's shores.

Tish has maintained a private practice in the DC / MD area for 35 years. She has been actively involved in IFS trainings since 2009, first as a PA, and currently as an AT. Tish brings authenticity, humor and a keen Parts Detector to her work.

Early in her career, Tish worked with Individuals and Families struggling with Substance Abuse; later developing an Outpatient Program at the George Washington University Dept.of Psychiatry.

Prior to “drinking the IFS Koolaid”, Tish received 3 yrs of formal training in Gestalt Therapy and 1 yr. of training in Family Therapy.

She continues to be amazed at the power of the model; and the privilege of witnessing clients healing. 

Nancy Morgan, MS, PhD, BC-TMH, is a licensed clinical psychologist in California and a licensed professional counselor in Oregon and Colorado. She provides Introduction to IFS training for therapists and educators and Introduction to Psychedelics training and consultation for IFS-trained therapists and practitioners interested in learning about psychedelic-assisted therapies and research. Nancy is a Level III trained, Certified IFS Therapist and IFS Consultant. She received her Certificate in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies and Research from the California Institute of Integral Studies, her Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy certification through the Ketamine Training Center, and her Psychedelic-Assisted Facilitation certification from the State of Oregon. She authored the IFS and Psychedelics chapter in Altogether Us: Integrating the IFS Model with Key Modalities, Communities, and Trends. Nancy has a limited private practice in Ashland, Oregon. www.theguideinside.com.

Paul Neustadt, MSS, LICSW is an IFS Co-Lead Trainer and an AAMFT Approved Supervisor. He has a private practice in Arlington, MA where he specializes in couples therapy, parent coaching, and IFS consultation. For 17 years he was the director of a community counseling and prevention program for children, adolescents, and their families, and before that he worked in a college counseling center and a community mental health center. He taught couples and family therapy at a family therapy institute and in two graduate programs. As a trainer Paul creates a safe and accepting atmosphere, attending thoughtfully to group process and making sure all parts are welcome. He teaches the Model with a clear, down to earth and open-hearted manner.

INTERVIEW

Mariel Pastor, MA, LMFT, is an IFS Lead Trainer and consultant based in Portland, Oregon. Trained in IFS since 1998, she leads workshops and retreats on the Unburdened System mandala internationally and online. She is the principal author of the IFS Institute Level 1 Participant Training Manual and is Co-founder and Clinical Director of the IFS Telehealth Collective, a multi-state group practice with IFS-trained and licensed clinicians.  Mariel is a compelling teacher widely known for her clarity, warmth, and humor.  She has a special interest in Integral Psychology and incorporates somatic psychotherapies and spirituality within the framework of IFS.  Her previous work in the entertainment industry and love of working with artists inspired her to create Character Mapping – an experiential psychological toolbox for actors, writers, and directors to create authentic characters and use the craft to find their Selves.  Information about all of these offerings can be found at www.marielpastor.com  www.Character-Mapping.com, www.ifstherapyonline.com  

Kim Paulus, LMFT (pronouns: she/her/hers) is a psychotherapist and IFS approved consultant in private practice in the Ohlone territory of Oakland, California.  She is a queer and mixed-race Vietnamese American cisgender woman, and she specializes in treating trauma with folks who live at the intersection of LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC, including multiracial people and first generation children of immigrants.  She has been practicing IFS since 2004, and integrates IFS with Somatics and Interpersonal Neurobiology, while holding a keen social justice lens and a strong sense of humor. She has a passion for bringing the healing power of IFS to marginalized communities, in hopes of co-creating a world where all can be free. Learn more about Kim and her work here:  https://kimpauluslmft.com/.

Leslie Petruk, LCMHC-S, NCC, BCC is an IFS-Level-3 and IFS Certified therapist, a Board Certified Coach and the Director of The Stone Center For Counseling and Leadership (www.thestonecenternc.com) in Charlotte, NC. Her group private practice serves children, individuals, couples and families.  One of her specialty areas is working with parents utilizing the IFS model.  In addition, Leslie provides consultation and supervision to individuals and groups seeking licensure or IFS Certification.  She has taught introductory IFS workshops as well as the application of IFS for clinicians working with children and parents.  Leslie has presented at the IFS National Conference on Parenting, The Application of Sandtray to IFS, IFS and Play Therapy, and applying IFS to Work with Children and Parents.  She has also developed a parenting program that applies IFS principals for all parents which she offers in a workshop format.

Chris Ratte, LCSW, Certified IFS therapist has a deep love for sharing, teaching and living the IFS model with others.  Chris has been working in the fields of mental health and addictions for over 30 years.  Over these years, he has had the experience of working in numerous treatment settings. Presently, Chris is in private practice, working with individuals and couples as well as providing both individual and group supervision.  

Chris has found a home with IFS; in working with others, as a personal process, and as a member of the larger IFS community.  Chris is truly appreciative of the opportunity to have his healing journey occurring alongside many beloved friends, mentors, and fellow IFS’ers.

Dan Reed, PhD, LPC, is a body-centered psychotherapist and counselor educator. He runs a private practice, teaches, and supervises in Texas. Dan’s research has focused on supervision informed by IFS. He’s particularly excited about supporting therapists deepening their own capacity to be available to themselves and their experience, while inviting their clients to develop new relationships with their experiences. He has found IFS to be a wonderful framework to simplify the therapy process and offer language to effectively invite therapists and clients into their present moment experience to facilitate change. With a lifetime exploring the body, a background in science, and a subspecialty in neurofeedback, Dan brings a pragmatic, grounded view to the IFS process.

Sue Richmond has a private psychotherapy practice, as well as an IFS consultation practice. She uses a compassionate, heart-centered approach in applying the IFS model with individuals, couples and groups. She is a frequent presenter at the IFS Annual Conference on how to bring IFS-informed practice to groups. Sue has taught as Adjunct Faculty to social work students at the University of Saint Joseph in CT, and has extensive experience in bringing IFS to hospital-based behavioral health programs and outpatient agency settings. She served in the U.S. Navy Reserve, and has experience using the IFS model with veterans and their families as well. Sue brings to her practice a wealth of life experience, and a deep desire to help others feel more empowered and experience more joy in their lives.

Dr. Alexia Rothman is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Atlanta, GA, since 2004. She is a Certified Internal Family Systems therapist, an international speaker and educator on the IFS model, and an IFSI-approved professional consultant. She offers workshops and retreats on the IFS model throughout the U.S. and internationally. She co-hosts the IFS-informed podcast miniseries, Explorations in Psychotherapy, and the IFS podcast, IFS Masters, and has published a book chapter on the integration of IFS and Polyvagal Theory.

Dr. Rothman is a United States Presidential Scholar who graduated summa cum laude from Emory University as a Robert W. Woodruff Scholar. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where she was an Edwin W. Pauley Fellow and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. She has held adjunct faculty positions at Emory University and Agnes Scott College.

https://dralexiarothman.com

Gaby Satarino is a Licensed Professional Counselor Supervisor and Certified IFS Therapist. She has over 20 years of clinical experience working in community mental health and primary care settings providing trauma-informed psychotherapy for at-risk youth, refugees, the homeless, and incarcerated populations, as well as survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, and torture.

Gaby’s clinical work is undergirded by a passion for understanding the ways in which Latinx cultural values impact engagement and treatment outcomes in mental health, and it has focused on community outreach work aimed at reducing utilization gaps among Latinx communities. She authored a chapter on Latinx and IFS in the Altogether Us: Integrating the IFS Model with Key Modalities, Communities, and Trend book. 

www.gabysatarinocounseling.com 

VIEW APPEARANCES (Workshops and Retreats 

Richard Schwartz began his career as a systemic family therapist and an academic. Grounded in systems thinking, Dr. Schwartz developed Internal Family Systems (IFS) in response to clients’ descriptions of various parts within themselves. He focused on the relationships among these parts and noticed that there were systemic patterns to the way they were organized across clients. He also found that when the clients’ parts felt safe and were allowed to relax, the clients would experience spontaneously the qualities of confidence, openness, and compassion that Dr. Schwartz came to call the Self. He found that when in that state of Self, clients would know how to heal their parts.

A featured speaker for national professional organizations, Dr. Schwartz has published many books and over fifty articles about IFS.

INTERVIEW
Ann L. Sinko, LMFT has over 30 years of clinical experience and is licensed marriage and family therapist in Connecticut. She is in private practice and has been teaching as a adjunct Professor in the Marriage and family therapy program at Central CT State University for 26 years. She has integrated IFS theory and technique in all facets of her creative work with families, couples, individuals and groups. She establishes a safe environment in which clients experience unconditional acceptance. She has a background in gestalt therapy and uses sandtray therapy and in her work. Ann is passionate about teaching and believes that theory is best integrated though experiential learning. She brings has a down to earth, concrete style along with a sense of humor to her teaching. Ann is a seasoned world traveler, loves the outdoors and is a avid gardener

Nancy Sowell is an Internal Family Systems lead trainer and consultant in private practice on Cape Cod and in Newton, Massachusetts. She is a teaching associate at Harvard Medical School in the Department of Psychiatry at the Cambridge Health Alliance, where she has been a clinical supervisor for many years. Nancy has been a psychotherapist since 1992, working with individuals, couples, and groups. She has pursued training from many therapeutic schools of thought and in various therapeutic techniques, such as hypnosis, biofeedback, EMDR (Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) and meditation. She integrates mindful awareness of the body, emotions, thoughts, and deeply held beliefs, as they influence our mood, behavior, health, and relationships. Specializing in behavioral medicine and IFS-based treatment for pain and illness, Nancy co-created an IFS treatment program for rheumatoid arthritis patients in a pioneering research study at Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston. She knows both personally and professionally the power of Self compassion in healing and restoring health.

Katelyn Staecker, LCSW, is a Certified Practioner of Psychodrama, Sociometry and Group Psychotherapy, and a psychotherapist, teacher, workshop leader and IFS assistant trainer. She has been in private practice on the North Oregon Coast for over 30 years. Katelyn facilitates workshops and retreats on Spirituality, Conscious Eating, Personal Growth and Relationship Skills. She has a special interest in developing communities of all types and teaching the interpersonal skills necessary for sustaining them. She works with a gifted co-therapist, Sophie, who is a Labradoodle and oh so cute.

I love the IFS model deeply and it combines my careers as a clinical psychologist, animal welfare activist, and wildlife photographer. Given my clinical expertise in trauma and dissociation (my 1991 doctoral dissertation was on the phenomenological experience of dissociation), I have trained in many things (e.g. group dynamics, hypnosis, EMDR, addictions) and have let my heart and sense of what is true be my guides. Once I met IFS it provided the glue that has run through all the other constructs from which I emanate. This includes a knowledge of and fondness for the 12-Steps as a form of spiritual practice and a concern with human addiction and greed as it destroys the planet. I know that the more we all can come from a Self-led place, the more we can affect others to do so as well.  I am an experienced teacher, supervisor and therapist and enjoy using this model to help people with relationship to themselves, their loved ones and the world as a whole.

INTERVIEW

Cece Sykes, LCSW, ACSW; IFS Senior Trainer, US and international. Contributed to IFS training manuals and teaches L1,  L2  Compassion for Addictive Processes and Level 3. Cece has over thirty-five  years of clinical experience working with individuals, couples and families, specializing in work with the effects of trauma and addiction. Her chapter on working with addictive processes appears in IFS Innovations and Elaborations (2016). She co-authored IFS Treatment for Addictions: Trauma-Informed Compassion-Based Interventions for Substance Use, Eating, Gambling and More  (2023) with Martha Sweezy and Dick Schwartz. Cece also has special interests in spiritual practices intersecting with therapy and in the impact of psychotherapy upon the life of the therapist and she lectures, consults and and leads workshops on these and related topics. Cece lives and works in Oak Park/Chicago.

Elizabeth Taeubert LCSW, RN, MS is an Internal Family Systems Therapist and Lead Trainer for CSL. She has extensive experience as a group facilitator and educator with an approach that is sensitive, respectful, and empowering. Elizabeth is in private practice in Denver and Boulder Colorado. She works with adult individuals and couples. She also works with clients via phone and skype.

Madeleine Warren, LMFT, LCPC is an IFS-Level-3 and an advanced-IFIO-trained clinician and consultant specializing in the treatment of complex trauma. She is a certified IFS therapist in private practice (madeleinewarrentherapy.com) in Evanston, Illinois, where she sees individuals and couples. In addition to her clinical work, Madeleine provides supervision and consultation to individuals and groups. She has taught introductory IFS workshops to therapists and students, and is excited to be involved with IFS trainings as she has a great passion for teaching and inspiring others.

Lawrence Wentworth, PhD, LP, LMSW is a certified IFS therapist and IFS approved consultant who runs a large private practice in Utica, Michigan.  He is also licensed in Michigan, Ohio and Florida.   Lawrence runs a weekly online IFS consultation group and enjoys mentoring graduate students and introducing them to the IFS model.  He specializes in treating people experiencing chronic and complex PTSD and integrates IFS and EMDR.  Lawrence Wentworth, PhD, LP, LMSW is a certified IFS therapist and IFS approved consultant who runs a large private practice in Utica, Michigan.  

Lawrence is thrilled to be a part of the training team for the IFS Institute.