When facilitating either a group experiential (or a one-to-one session), it really helps me to stay attuned to what is happening, and get the pacing right for a group, if I can see both the participants and their paper.

The very best way we’ve found for this to work is:

1. use a laptop, as these can easily be moved
2. raise it up onto a box of pile of books or a box
   
3. place it at the far end of your table (ideally to one side, not facing)
4. angle it down to show both you and your paper

The top left picture below shows the ideal setup – the others show a few alternatives – but to the side works best.

OTHER THINGS that help me see clearly are:

• sit near the router OR use an ethernet cable
• in daylight, sit facing or side on to a window, not with your back to it
• after dark, have good lighting in the room

(NB this setup is simply to enable the me to stay follow where everyone is in the process. Please be assured that within a group everyone will be busy with their own drawing, not looking at you/their screen.)

So, a plea – please experiment in advance to find your setup, in order that we don’t take up too much time in the session with this.  Thank you!

• • • • Open to all (usually attended by a mix of therapists & general public).
      • It’s a good idea to have a basic understanding of both IFS and Polyvagal theory.
      • Please prepare by watching my Youtube video that introduces the graphic.

The reason for this criteria is that this is an experiential, participatory workshop. It not designed as a training, however clinicians who attend might take elements of the workshop into their client sessions.

Foundation 2: Conference Table (Community Experiential)

• • • • Open to therapists / practitioners / coaches – normally those doing some form of parts work with clients/groups.
      • You need to understand the core principles of IFS (eg through your own therapy or study) but you do NOT have to have done an official IFS Institute training.

The reason for this criteria is that the workshop introduces a way of using Drawing into Self that can be used in community group settings as well as individual therapy sessions.

• • • • Open to therapists/practitioners / coaches who have completed the IFS Institute Level 1 training – OR another live training of at least 36 hours that includes supervised practice (eg Stepping Stone)

The reason for this criteria is that the workshop demonstrates using Drawing into Self for delivering the full IFS healing protocol, therefore clinicians need to already be fluent in using IFS with clients.

…Gosh yes, it can be SO frustrating to muddle international times and end up missing a workshop or event you’ve been looking forward to!  I’ve done it myself and am really sorry for you if this happened.

I receive so many requests to attend on another date (or get a recording) when people miss my events, that I thought it might be helpful to explain my approach.

Maybe the most important thing to explain is the huge difference in how I approach a mass webinar-type events with hundreds of participants and a small, interactive workshops with maybe just 12 participants:

• My larger webinars/talks are usually free of charge, so you are very welcome to come another time if you miss it.  You can join my mailing list to hear about any new dates.  Occasionally I record the presentation and put it online, in which case I’ll send a link to everyone who registered once it’s uploaded.
• For my smaller workshops I treat them just as I would if we were meeting in person. We are co-creating a safe space together where you can do experiential personal work and share deeply, so it is a live experience and not appropriate for others to watch afterwards.  The refund policy for each event is explained on the booking page, but in addition if you let me know in advance that you can’t make it, I will do my best to re-sell your ticket and then refund you less a small admin fee.

If you miss the date of a small workshop due to a mistake in the time conversion, I do not offer refunds.  There are several reasons for this: my ticket prices are very reasonable, including a lot of bursaries, and if I had to give a free ticket to everyone who made a mistake with the time (and sadly, people often do) this would mean I had to raise ticket prices for everyone to cover the admin time and lost income, plus those on waiting list still don’t get a chance to come.  You are however very welcome to re-book at the lowest ticket price for another date – or email me if you need a bursary because I really want my events to be affordable.

In order to support you to be there on time I do my best, by doing all of the following:

• including conversions for several major international time-zones in each event description
• send you a link to a time converter in your confirmation email so that you can check your local time and put it in your diary
• send you an email 24 hours before the start time, stating that it starts in 24 hours
• send you an email 1 hour before the start time, stating that it starts in 1 hour

My aim is always to be as fair as I can to the maximum number of people, including myself.  If you think I could do things better, please send me a message, because I’m always open to learning and improving.

Photo: TRAUMA MATTERS Conference with Gabor Maté, London 2019

“IFS Constellations” is a way of working I’ve devised over the past few years that integrates the full IFS protocol with aspects of the Constellations process.  If offers a somatic group exploration of IFS for both individual and collective healing.

IFS Constellations are very different from Family Constellations – the original form devised by the German psychologist Burt Hellinger from traditional Zulu practices:

• in IFS Constellations we explore the internal system of ‘parts’, not the external family/ancestral system
• we use the full healing protocol of IFS (unblending, witnessing, unburdening & retrieving), whereas Family Constellations use a completely different set of questions and assumptions
• and unlike psychodrama or sculpting, IFS Constellations unfold from mindful embodiment rather than cognitive information

The word ‘constellation’ simply means a collection of parts – sometimes stars or symptoms, but in this case, the various parts of us that react in different ways to a situation.  Many different forms of Constellations have evolved from Hellinger’s work, including Systemic / Corporate / IoPT / Environmental.  (You can read a little more about the differences between IFS Constellations and some other approaches below)

The fundamental similarity is that all ‘Constellations’ involve a somatic phenomena which is variously described as quantum entanglement, telepathy or universal inter-connectedness; like gravity, it is impossible to explain but very evident and powerful.

I offer IFS Constellations workshops and retreats in the UK (sign up to my mailing list to hear about new dates). My Drawing into Self online courses offer a variation of this work using intuitive drawing.

++++++

WHAT HAPPENS IN AN IFS CONSTELLATIONS WORKSHOP?

The workshop begins by establishing a safe and supportive environment for participants to explore together during the day, with introductions, guidelines and an embodied IFS meditation. You may bring a particular issue to explore, or simply a desire to know yourself more deeply, or to feel more free and powerful in your life.

The process of participating will be explained before the first Constellation begins. One person briefly describes what they want to explore, with others in the group invited to ‘represent’ the parts that arise as the Constellation unfolds. The process of ‘representing’ is simply noticing and naming thoughts, feelings and physical sensations – there is no acting or role-play involved, so everyone can do it.

Gradually a constellation (or collection) of parts emerges around the issue – effectively creating a map of internal dynamics. The Internal Family Systems protocol is applied throughout, fully guided by the facilitator, bringing curiosity, compassion and validation that helps to soften entrenched behaviours and beliefs, and open the possibly for transformation.

Witnessing and participating in Constellations offers profound personal insights and growth, plus a precious experience of developing trust and connection within a group through shared experience within a safe container.

++++++++

SOME KEY DIFFERENCES …. BETWEEN IFS CONSTELLATIONS & OTHER TYPES

– IFS Constellations work with the client’s experience of, and connection with, their own INTERNAL system of parts (NB IoPT does this too, but there are many differences including all of the following)

– IFS Constellations include SELF – both individual and universal – and the core focus of the process is to cultivate the client’s connection with Self so their parts can heal (NB IoPT has a ‘Healthy Self’, but this is roughly equivalent to unburdened, Self-connected Managers in IFS)

– IFS Constellations are based around the clear and replicable IFS healing protocol: unblending, witnessing, retrieving and unburdening (i.e. not simply encountering parts)

– IFS Constellations are designed to avoid the common problem of a client being blended throughout their Constellation (not just unhelpful and painful, but can be re-traumatising) by 1. the built-in process of noticing, naming and using dialogue to unblend, and 2. deliberately working with Protectors first, to prevent backlash from going too quickly to Exiles.

Family Constellations, IoPT Constellations and IFS Internal Constellations all use the ‘morphic field’ phenomenon of group somatic resonance, as utilised by Burt Hellenger in his original Family Constellations.

I have participated in many Family Constellations and trained in IoPT Constellations. I loved both but also was disturbed by certain issues, including re-traumatisation. After training in IFS, I spent several years exploring how to fully combine the IFS protocol with the constellations process to create IFS Internal Constellations.

Family Constellations work with the external system of family & ancestors, whereas IFS works with an individual’s internal system of parts.

IoPT Constellations work with internal parts, so can appear similar to IFS at first, but there are many significant differences, a few of which are outlined below:

• IoPT does not include a universal essential Self (the IoPT ‘Healthy Self’ is roughly equivalent to unburdened, Self-connected Managers in IFS)
• IoPT constellations involve simply ‘encountering’ parts – there are no core questions to ask parts and there is no healing protocol equivalent to the IFS process of unblending, witnessing, retrieva, re-do and unburdening
• IFS maintains safety by working with Protectors first, on the understanding that they will backlash if we go to quickly to Exiles, whereas IoPT is an open space and the client decides which parts they get to know
• IoPT regards Exiles as the parts carrying trauma (they are called ‘Traumatised Parts’) and Protectors (called ‘Survival Strategies’) as unhealthy, whereas a core tenet of IFS is that all parts have a positive intention (and both Exiles and Managers can carry trauma)
• IoPT has no concept of being blended, so clients often go through a constellation completely blended with a part
• Perhaps most fundamentally, the core focus of IoPT is identity and autonomy, whereas the core focus of IFS is compassion and the other universal qualities of Self

Much as I admire Franz Ruppert (the creator of the IoPT method)’s books about trauma and identity, I experience IFS as a far more supportive (for both facilitator and client), compassionate and safer modality – and therefore more healing.

Someone who is familiar with IoPT constellations asked me these questions, so I thought I’d post my replies to help others:

 

QUESTION:

IoPT uses intention method, does the IFS do the same or is it more like the traditional Family Constellation?

ANSWER:

Neither! Though the method is recognisably similar to other types of constellation, it is also very different. Here’s what happens:

The client brings an issue to work with, but there is no written intention and we do not invite representatives to take on either people or words.

Instead we work with the client noticing and naming parts as they experience them somatically in the moment (just as in IFS 1:2:1 therapy).  Then consciously ‘unblending’ from that part and inviting a representative to step into it.

From this point the normal ‘resonance’ process of constellations takes place – which usually leads to further parts emerging.

The conversation that develops between the client and their parts through the constellation is guided by the curiosity and compassion questions from IFS therapy.

Richard Schwartz’s 3-part IFS model is similar in some ways to Franz Ruppert’s IoPT model (I think both have been around 25+ years, but have no idea which came first, or if they developed with awareness of each other).  On key difference is that Schwart’z concept of – and way of working with – ‘Self’ is very different from Ruppert’s ‘I’, with the former focussing on unblending from parts and consciously building self-compassion.

QUESTION:

Do you train people in this method, so they get certified practitioners of IFS constellation?

ANSWER:

There is no certification – IFS Constellations is a very new process devised by me, so I am currently the only person currently using it.

For anyone wanting to use my model, core training in IFS therapy, plus some form of constellations facilitation and a good therapeutic knowledge of current psychotrauma theory and practice would be essential foundations.

Of course the headline isn’t ideal of this BBC piece reporting on findings published in the British Journal of Psychiatry : – ‘personality disorder’ is more compassionately expressed as ‘mental health challenges’. 

But its great to see this information in the mainstream at last. We frequently uncover the link in constellation and hypnotherapy processes.

The article also points to previous research into similar links between between stress in pregnancy and the development of depression, anxiety and schizophrenia.

And the study highlights the importance of providing mental health and stress support to both pregnant women and families during the antenatal AND postnatal period.

Motherhood is the most vital job in the world, and life will be transformed when our society and community respect and support the role of mothers properly.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-49593620

“Arguably there is only one underlying mental health diagnosis :- complex/attachment trauma”.

Discuss…

In the 1940s a landmark study by the US military investigated why some veterans succumbed to PTSD, whilst others who experienced exactly the same events, or worse, did not. It clearly showed that Adverse Childhood Experiences were the key – decades later, things like early parental separation, sexual abuse or emotionally/physically violent parenting were the key. For some reason the report was shelved, but you can watch the documentary here –https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HKK5f4E7AFg