IFS Certification Reviewers

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.

Michael Elkin is founder and director of the Center for Collaborative Solutions in Newton and Salem MA. He has been practicing therapy for over thirty years, and has presented training workshops throughout the US and in many other countries. He has developed innovative ways of understanding and treating addictive and compulsive behavior, and is currently most interested in the building and maintenance of successful relationships. His is the author of Families Under the Influence, and several articles.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.