IFS Skills Lab

IFS Skills Lab

Enhancing Parts Mapping, Befriending, Direct Access, and Healing Steps

A 10-week, live experiential course featuring five 3-hour sessions for therapists and practitioners who are ready to take their Internal Family Systems (IFS) skills to the next level through live demos, hands-on practice, and meaningful feedback in a small group setting.

Limited to just 24 participants, the IFS Skills Lab is intentionally designed for intimate, high-touch learning. With three experienced IFS facilitators present to guide each session, you’ll receive personalized support for your growth, integration, and clinical skill development.

Participants will earn 15 NBCC continuing education hours upon full completion of the course.

What This Course Offers

The IFS Skills Lab bridges the gap between conceptual understanding and embodied application. You’ll learn by doing—through structured practice, real-time feedback, and live demos that bring the model to life.

Each session includes:

  • Focused instruction on a specific IFS skill

  • Live demo to model the work

  • Small group practicums to practice the specific skill with facilitator support

  • Pre-session prompts to guide your internal preparation

  • Opportunities to receive direct feedback and grow your clinical intuition

Course Structure

  • 5 live sessions across 10 weeks

  • 3 hours per session (15 hours total)

  • Meets every other week

  • Limited to 24 participants for a personalized, interactive experience

  • Includes live demonstrations, pre-session guidance, and small-group practice

Meeting Content

Meeting 1: Parts Mapping & Getting to Know Your Parts
Learn how to map your system using different formats and explore parts that show up around a chosen theme or issue.

Meeting 2: Managers – How They Protect You
Get to know a proactive protector part of your system. Practice identifying, befriending, and interviewing a manager in guided groups.

Meeting 3: Firefighters & Direct Access
Work with a reactive protector part of your system that steps in to manage overwhelm. Practice using Direct Access and observe the shift to insight with the 6 Fs.

Meeting 4: Exiles, Healing Steps & Integration
Gently approach vulnerable exiles and practice (or witness) the IFS healing steps: witnessing, unburdening, and integration.

Meeting 5: Integration Follow-Up & Final Wrap-Up
Revisit previous work, receive support in post-unburdening integration, and participate in final reflection and closing.

Live Session Dates & Times

August to October Cohort

The IFS Skills Lab meets every other Tuesday from 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM Pacific Time on Zoom.

Session Dates:

  • Tuesday, August 26

  • Tuesday, September 9

  • Tuesday, September 23

  • Tuesday, October 7

  • Tuesday, October 21

Please plan to attend live, as the experiential nature of this course depends on real-time participation. The meetings will not be recorded.

Who This Course Is For

The IFS Skills Lab is designed for clinicians and practitioners who are already grounded in the core concepts of Internal Family Systems and want to strengthen their application through hands-on practice.

This course is ideal for you if you:

  • Have a working knowledge of protectors, exiles, Self-energy, and the IFS flow

  • Are actively using IFS-informed approaches in your clinical work

  • Want to deepen your fluency in parts mapping, direct access, and the healing steps

  • Are looking for structured practice and live feedback in a safe, supportive environment

  • Value experiential learning over didactic lectures

    Note: We’ll offer light refreshers and orienting commentary about each meeting’s topic, but this course does not provide instruction in the IFS model itself. If you are not yet trained in the IFS Model, we recommend that participants have completed at least one of the following:

What You’ll Gain

  • Confidence navigating protector systems and healing steps

  • Real-time experience with parts mapping, direct access, healing steps, and integration

  • Supportive feedback from experienced facilitators

  • A stronger connection to your own system and your clients’

  • A community of thoughtful peers to grow alongside

  • 15 NBCC CEs for live attendance and full participation

Course Fee

$795 USD

Payment plans are available at checkout through Afterpay.

Ready to Join?

Spots are limited and tend to fill quickly. We’d love to support you in deepening your IFS skills in a way that’s embodied, supported, and impactful—for both you and your clients.

Course Leaders

  • Kendhal Hart, PsyD, LPC-S, LPCC

    Kendhal is an EMDRIA-Approved Consultant and Trainer, IFS Certified Therapist and Clinical Consultant, and Level 3-trained practitioner. She is the creator of The Integrated EMDR and IFS Model and specializes in teaching clinicians how to apply parts work within trauma-informed care. Kendhal brings warmth, clarity, and deep experience to her teaching and consultation spaces, and is passionate about helping therapists grow their internal and clinical confidence.

  • Kristie Boggs, MA, LPC

    Kristie is an innovative therapist and educator who excels at integrating IFS into therapeutic practices for enhanced effectiveness. She is IFS Level 1 trained through IFSI. With her extensive experience in counseling and a focus on experiential learning, Kristie helps therapists uncover and address the parts of themselves that impact their professional lives and personal well-being.

  • Alyce Messer, MSW, LCSW

    Alyce Messer is a therapist and EMDR Consultant who works with high-achieving individuals navigating relational challenges rooted in attachment wounds, trauma, and boundary issues. Alyce is Level 1 trained through the IFS Institute, currently completing Level 2 and working toward certification. She’s also passionate about helping other therapists grow—personally and professionally—through consultation that is reflective, supportive, and grounded in authenticity.