We have all been taught that our romantic partner should end our misery and make us feel happy and alive. When he or she doesn’t we wonder if they’re the right one. Yet, for most of us, no partner is capable of keeping our heads above the pools of pain and shame we bring to intimate relationships. Only we can drain those pools and become the primary caretakers for the young, needy parts of us that are drowning in those pools. Once this inner trust is achieved, we can love our partners courageously and unconditionally because we don’t need them to always do the heavy lifting of our spirits.
This workshop is designed to help you and your partner learn how to achieve courageous love, based on the presenter’s Internal Family Systems model of psychotherapy. When couples have self-led conversations, their relationships harmonize naturally. They can discuss even highly charged issues productively and feel safe to reveal their most vulnerable parts to each other.
Internal Family Systems therapy synthesizes two paradigms: systems thinking and the multiplicity of the mind—and brings concepts and methods from many schools of family therapy to the world of sub-personalities. In addition to learning how to help clients access their Self, participants will learn the dif-ferent kinds of parts they will encounter in clients (managers, firefighters, and exiles) and how to help those parts transform. The workshop will provide tools to help therapists stay centered and open-hearted, as well as provide a user-friendly language for therapy that encourages disclosure and empathy.