IFS Certification Reviewers

Members of the Certification Review Team:

Ralph S. Cohen

Ralph S.
Cohen

Solo Lead Trainer

-836 Farmington Avenue, Suite 101-B
West Hartford, CT 06119
United States

Business Phone

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.

Kay Gardner Photo

Kay
Gardner

Solo Lead Trainer

5225 Old Orchard Rd. #3
Skokie, IL 60077
United States

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."

Paul Neustadt

Paul
Neustadt

Solo Lead Trainer

259 Mass. Ave.
Arlington, MA 02474
United States

Business Phone

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.

Ann Sinko

Ann
Sinko

Solo Lead Trainer

264 Main St.
Portland, CT 06480
United States

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

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Nancy
Sowell

Solo Lead Trainer

39 Irving Street
Newton Centre, MA 02459
United States

Business Phone

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.

Mona Barbera

mona
barbera

Assistant Trainer

341 broadway
1
Providence, RI 02909
United States

Business Phone

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.

Cathy Curtis

Cathy
Curtis

Solo Lead Trainer

617 TREVETHAN AVE
Santa Cruz, CA 95065
United States

Business Phone

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 

Kevin Davis

Kevin
Davis

Assistant Trainer

701 Mt. Vernon Avenue
Charlotte, NC 28203
United States

Business Phone

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.

Rina Dubin

Rina
Dubin

Solo Lead Trainer

14 Crescent Street
W. Newton, MA 02465
United States

Business Phone

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.”

Dr. Steven Krantz

Steven
Krantz

Solo Lead Trainer

Online Only
Long Island, NY 11803
United States

Business Phone

Dr. Steven Krantz has been an IFS Trainer for many years and is currently a Solo Lead Trainer. He is also a full-time Associate Clinical Professor at Touro University Graduate School of Social Work. He has an online private psychotherapy practice from Long Island, NY and leads numerous online IFS consultation/supervision groups. Alongside his generic IFS practice, he has a specialty in working with addictions and adolescents.  Steve is passionate about the model and it's ability to access healing.  

Headshot of Einat Bronstein

Einat
Bronstein

Solo Lead Trainer

10 Havradim St.
Yehud 56275
Israel

Einat Avni Bronstein, MSW, graduated from Law school in Tel Aviv University, Israel, and earned her Master’s degree in Clinical Social Work at Washington University, USA. Einat is an experienced psychotherapist with over 30 years of clinical experience with individuals, couples, families, and groups. She has lived and worked with IFS since the early days of the model, and learned closely and directly from the IFS founder Dr. Richard Schwartz. Einat is a certified IFS therapist, a certified supervisor and a Senior International Lead Trainer for IFSI, leading Level 1,2 and 3 trainings.

Einat is also the co-founder and co-director of The Israeli Institute for IFS who brought IFS to Israel and trained hundreds of Israeli therapists in the model since 2008. She taught family and couples therapy in Tel Aviv University, presented multiple times at the IFS Annual Conference and led IFS trainings, seminars and workshops all over the world. Einat is married, has 4 children, one grandchild and lives in Israel.

Osnat Arbel

Osnat (Ossi)
Arbel

Solo Lead Trainer

Israel
Qoranit, Misgav
ISRAEL 20181
Israel

Business Phone

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

Photo of a white woman with short grey hair and glasses

Jory
Agate

Solo Lead Trainer

175 HARVEY ST APT 13
CAMBRIDGE, MA 02140
United States

Business Phone

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. 

Leslie Petruk, MA, LCMHC-S, NCC, BCC

Leslie
Petruk

Solo Lead Trainer

The Stone Center For Counseling and Leaderhsip

8508 Park Road #241
Charlotte, NC 28210
United States

Business Phone

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.

Headshot

Kirsten
Lundeberg

Co-Lead Trainer

3923 Old Lee Highway, Suite 63D
Fairfax, VA 22030
United States

Business Phone

Kirsten M. Lundeberg, LPC, LMFT, is a Northern-Virginia-based psychotherapist in private practice.  Kirsten works with individuals and couples, and is deeply committed to supporting therapists and practitioners who are interested in learning the IFS model through offering individual consultation and group consultation. She enjoys being a part of IFS trainings, and brings playfulness and creativity (music and poetry are passions of hers) to her teaching and to her work. She is grateful for the model both personally and professionally, and is especially grateful to be connected to the expanding and increasingly diverse community of IFS therapists and practitioners. For more information: www.kirstenlundeberg.com

Co-lead Trainer

Dan
Reed

Co-Lead Trainer

11467 Huebner Road
Suite 251
San Antonio, TX 78230
United States

Dan Reed, PhD, LPC, is a body-centered psychotherapist and counselor educator. He runs a private practice in Texas, offering support for leaders & entrepreneurs, consultation for IFS consultants and therapists, and psychotherapy. Dan’s particularly excited about supporting leaders and therapists in deepening their own capacity to be available to themselves and their experience. As leaders and therapists become more clear and confident, they can be more available to the people they serve with less effort. He has found IFS to be a wonderful framework to simplify the support/therapy process and offer language to effectively invite folks into their present moment experience to facilitate change. With a lifetime exploring the body and a background in science, Dan brings a pragmatic, grounded view to the IFS process.

Pilar

Pilar
De La Torre

Solo Lead Trainer

Calle Ana de Austria 34, portal G, bajo B
28050 Madrid Madrid
Spain

Business Phone

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.
 

Photo of Imma

Imma
Lloret

Solo Lead Trainer

Pujol 32 bis baix
08301 Mataró Barcelona
Spain

Business Phone

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.
 

Liz Martins

Liz
Martins

Solo Lead Trainer

Batheaston
Bath
BA1 7EE
United Kingdom

Business Phone

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.  

Carol Graybeal

Carol
Graybeal

Assistant Trainer

Associates in Counseling and Personal Development

115 FARLEY CIRCLE
SUITE 304
Lewisburg, PA 17837
United States

Business Phone

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

Jenny Fiebig, woman smiling, woman outside

Jenny
Fiebig

Assistant Trainer

Jenny Fiebig Counseling, LLC

227 E 14th St, Suite 202
Durango, CO 81301
United States

Business Phone

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.

bio photo of Dawn

Dawn
Balcazar

Assistant Trainer

17 Cottage Street
Wellesley, MA 02482
United States

Business Phone

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.  

Carmen Jimenez-Pride, LCSW, LISW-CP, RPTS, ICST

Carmen
Jimenez-Pride

Co-Lead Trainer

Outspoken Counseling and Consulting LLC

PO Box 5111
Augusta , GA 30916
United States

Business Phone

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”

Amy L. Marcotte, LCSW

Amy
Marcotte

Assistant Trainer

20 Mountain View Road
North Waterboro, ME 04061
United States

Business Phone

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.

Melissa Costa photo

Melissa
Costa

Assistant Trainer

Online Only
DeLand, FL 32724
United States

Business Phone

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.

Emma smiling with tree in background

Emma
Diamond

Co-Lead Trainer

Bellingen
Mid North Coast NSW 2454
Australia

Business Phone

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.

ECP 3

Ellie
Cunanan-Petty

Assistant Trainer

405 N Washington Street
Suite 104
Falls Church, VA 22046
United States

Business Phone

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.   

Analia

Analía
Castaños-Davis, MA, LMHC

Co-Lead Trainer

IFS Institute

Online Only
Ajijic and Seattle
45920 Chapala, Jal.
Mexico

Business Phone

Analia Castaños-Davis (she, her, ella)  is an IFS Trainer, Consultant and Psychotherapist. Spanish and English bilingual and bicultural.

She received her masters in Systems Counseling in 2009 from Bastyr University in Seattle, and has worked in community mental health and private practice since then. Analía created the first online IFS-Intro-Training in Spanish course, and is actively invested in growing IFS within the Spanish speaking community.

Besides IFS and IFIO, Analía has been trained in psychedelic therapy at the Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) and in Indigenous Medicine by Amita Academia Indígena in Mexico. Before coming to IFS, she specialized in couples therapy using EFT, Gottman Method and Relational Life Therapy.

Analía is originally from Guadalajara, México, lived in Seattle for 22 years and is now sharing time between Mexico and Seattle. In her free time she enjoys spending time with family and friends, traveling, dancing, hiking and eating delicious foods and desserts.

Her work focuses on teaching, doing group therapy, couples therapy, and offers IFS consultation to individuals and groups seeking IFS certification.

Español:

Analia Castaños-Davis (ella, ella, ella) es formadora del Instituto IFS en Estados Unidos, consultora y psicoterapeuta certificada en IFS. Bilingüe en Español e inglés.

Recibió su maestría en Psicología Sistémica en el 2009 de la Universidad Bastyr en Seattle Washington, y ha trabajado en salud mental comunitaria y práctica privada desde entonces. Analía creó el primer curso en línea  de Introducción a IFS en Español, y está activamente comprometida con el crecimiento de IFS dentro de la comunidad de habla hispana.

Además de IFS e IFIO, Analía se ha formado en terapia psicodélica en la Asociación Multidisciplinaria de Estudios Psicodélicos de California (MAPS) y en Medicina Indígena por Amita Academia Indígena en Guadalajara, México. Antes de IFS, se especializó en terapia de pareja utilizando EFT, Método Gottman y Terapia de Vida Relacional de Terry Real.

Analía es originaria de Guadalajara, vivió en Seattle durante 22 años y ahora comparte tiempo entre México y Seattle. En su tiempo libre disfruta de estar en familia, viajar, bailar, hacer senderismo, estar con amigos y comer deliciosa comida y postres.

Su trabajo se enfoca en formaciones, terapia de grupo, parejas multiculturales y terapeutas que buscan consultoría de IFS para certificación de forma individual o en grupos.