Our Trainers Directory

INTERVIEW

Cece Sykes, LCSW, ACSW; IFS Senior Trainer, US and international. Contributed to Levels 1 and 2 IFS training manuals and teaches L1 as well as L2 Trauma and Addiction. Cece has over thirty years of clinical experience working with individuals, couples and families, specializing in work with the effects of trauma and addiction. Her chapter on compassionate approaches to addictive process appears in IFS: Innovations and Elaborations, 2016, Routledge. 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 all of these topics. Cece lives and works in the city of Chicago.

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.

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

Gretchen King is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and an AAMFT Approved Supervisor. She sees clients and supervises therapist trainees in her private practice in the loop 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, an IFS Assistant Trainer, Gretchen is known for her clarity and gently challenging teaching style. 

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 20 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.

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

Mariel Pastor, MA, LMFT, is an IFS Lead trainer based in Portland, Oregon and Adjunct Faculty at Portland State University Graduate School of Counseling. Trained in IFS since 1998, she leads workshops and retreats on the Unburdened System mandala nationally and internationally, and produces other IFS continuing education workshops in Portland. Mariel works with individuals and couples in private practice, specializing in trauma, mood disorders, grief, and relationship issues. In addition to IFS, Mariel has developed Character Mapping for actors, writers, and directors to aid in developing backstory and for using the craft as a healing practice. www.Character-Mapping.com and www.marielpastor.com

Marushka has been in private practice for 25 years in Newton Center Ma. She is a couples therapist and has co-lead experiential couples workshops at Esalen Institute in Big Sur Ca. and currently co teaches IFS couples workshops. Marushka also sees individuals and kids 8 and over and since discovering IFS in 2005 sees people through an IFS lens. Marushka is also a seasoned hypnotherapist and has worked with habit disorders, anxiety, trauma, and people going through transition and loss. Her personal experience with a long-term meditation practice helps her convey a level of warmth and caring.

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.

Frances D. Booth, LICSW is a Certified IFS Therapist and Trainer. Her practice specialties are trauma, anxiety, depression, cancer, eating disorders, 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 seeks to cultivate Presence in work and life. She loves to sing, dance, bike, run, sail, read, laugh, dine, attend theatre, and spend time with grandchildren.

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.

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.

Nancy Wonder, Ph.D, is a licensed psychologist in private practice in Tallahassee, Florida. She has been involved with the internal family systems community since 2003 and has been part of Level 1 training staffs from Portland, Oregon to Atlanta, Georgia. She is currently an Assistant Trainer and offers consultation and supervision services for IFS therapists in training. Her practice includes work with trauma survivors especially in the area of sexual abuse. She has presented at the national IFS conference on sexuality and parts for the last two years. Her students and clients describe her as open, warm, and accepting. She loves spending time with her husband, daughter, and two grandchildren.

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.

INTERVIEW

Pamela Krause, MSW, LCSW is an IFS Senior Lead Trainer and is also trained in Hakomi therapy. She has a private practice working with adults, adolescents, and children. She has a sub-specialty in adapting the IFS model for use in younger children. Pam is known for her lively yet compassionate approach to therapy.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Osnat (Osi) 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

INTERVIEW

Ralph Cohen, PhD, LMFT is a Professor in the Department of Counseling and Family Therapy at Central Connecticut State University where he is director of the Master's program in Marriage and Family Therapy and 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 Approved Supervisor for the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. He recently served on the Connecticut Association for Marriage and Family Therapy Board as Secretary and is a founding member of the Advocacy Committee. Dr. Cohen is 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 Newington, Connecticut, providing IFS-based therapy for individuals, couples, and families.

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.

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.  

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 current focus is on healing and sustaining relationships.

Kathy Cox, MSW, LICSW, is a Certified IFS Therapist and IFS Assistant Trainer and has been a psychotherapist for more than 25 years.  She lives in Olympia, Washington where she offers IFS therapy, training and consultation to therapists learning IFS.  Kathy has a special interest in trauma, grief and loss, and spirituality, and is known for her humor and warmth. 

INTERVIEW
Ann L. Sinko, LMFT has 20 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 10 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 psychodrama and uses sandtray therapy 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

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.

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.

Jory Agate, MA, LMHC, MDiv, IFS Certified. Jory comes to the field of psychotherapy after a 10-year career in Unitarian Universalist ministry that focused on youth, families, sexuality, leadership development, and multiculturalism. In her current practice of psychotherapy and spiritual counseling she specializes in working with individuals, families, clergy, couples and staff teams. Fluent in American Sign Language, Jory provides therapy for those who communicate in ASL. She maintains a private practice in Cambridge, MA and is a frequent trainer for IFS Institute, PESI, and the Unitarian Universalist Association.

Jim Andralis, LCAT, is a Manhattan-based psychotherapist in private practice.  He has also been trained in EMDR and studied integrated trauma treatment at the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy's Trauma Studies Center.  Jim has been involved in every New York Metro area Level 1 IFS training since 2011, and loves being part of the  growing network of IFS people here. He and his husband, Larry, live in Manhattan's East Village.

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.