Treating Complex Trauma with Trauma-Informed Internal Family Systems
What is Trauma-informed Internal Family Systems? It’s therapy that embraces the ground-breaking advances of IFS, but adds a deep understanding of the traumatized brain and integrates trauma-informed interventions for clients with Complex Trauma. It utilises key interventions from neurobiology, Polyvagal Theory, Attachment Theory, Sensorimotor, and EMDR – to help complex clients feel safer, and begin to access Self in small, manageable increments. It emphasizes the importance of the therapist’s Self and working with therapist parts throughout the treatment. If you have clients who have trouble doing IFS, this may be the course for you.
This course will cover IFS-informed ways to assess, stabilise reactive neurobiology, address early attachment rupture, as well as parts mapping, meeting place for parts, and therapist parts.
The course is designed to bridge the gap between a working knowledge of IFS and working with Complex Trauma in your office. In six lectures, you will learn an accelerated curriculum infused with an awareness of Self and therapist parts, including assessment, attachment repair, working with extreme protectors, and the unique challenges of preverbal parts. Interventions from polyvagal theory, attachment theory, and Sensorimotor, will be integrated into the IFS framework. The course will include lecture and video demonstrations.
This course assumes you have a working knowledge of IFS. And, though the topic might sound heavy, rest assured, the workshop will be fun.
Lecture 1
- Summarise stabilisation in trauma-informed IFS.
- Describe dissociation on a spectrum from simple PTSD to complex PTSD.
- Describe the hard & soft signs of dissociation.
- Summarise the importance of the therapy frame for complex clients.
Lecture 2
- Summarise the lived experience of trauma.
- Define procedural learning.
- Apply autonomic defenses to a difficult client.
- Summarise two ways to bring sessions to a close safely.
Lecture 3
- Practice working with therapist parts to find Self.
- Summarise attachment repair strategies in the clinical hour.
- Define implicit direct access, and why it is helpful with complex clients.
- Describe three ways to help complex clients become oriented to parts language and perspectives.
Lecture 4
- Describe two types of parts mapping and why they are important.
- Name three easy ways to externalise parts.
Lecture 5
- Describe how suicidal parts are trying to help the client.
- Summarise how The Kitchen Table intervention works and why it is helpful for complex clients.
Lecture 6
- Describe why legacy burdens may be a good first step with preverbal parts.
- Apply what you have learned in this course to one of your complex clients.
CPD Information For Mental Health Professionals
Enjoy complete flexibility with 100% self-paced learning you can access anytime, anywhere, and on any device. Pay once for lifetime access.
Course Duration: 6 learning hours
Certificate and CPD hours: On completion you’ll receive a Certificate of Completion to support your CPD records.
Assessment: Complete a short quiz at the end (80% pass mark), which you can resit as many times as needed.
Lifetime Access: Your access to the course does not expire, so you can revisit key concepts anytime you want a refresher for practice.
CPD Eligibility: This program may be suitable for CPD for professionals such as:
- Psychologists
- Counsellors and Psychotherapists
- Social Workers
- Community Workers
- Mental Health Nurses
- General Practitioners (GPs)
- Occupational Therapists
CPD requirements vary between professional bodies, so please check with your association or credentialing body to confirm you can claim CPD hours/OPD points for this program and what evidence they require.
Course Content
Meet Your Instructor
Complex trauma cases that leave clinicians feeling overwhelmed and underprepared often transform when approached through the lens of Internal Family Systems. Colleen West has spent over 20 years specialising in the intersection of trauma and parts work, becoming a recognised expert in helping both clients and clinicians navigate the most challenging presentations with confidence and clarity.
As an IFS Certified Therapist and Approved Consultant, West has dedicated her practice to training clinicians in advanced trauma treatment since founding Smart Therapy Tools in 2015. Her books - including We All Have Parts: An Illustrated Guide to Healing Trauma With Internal Family Systems and The IFS Flip Chart - translate complex therapeutic concepts into accessible tools that clinicians can use immediately. Her training with luminaries like Richard Schwartz, Janina Fisher, and Philip Manfield, combined with extensive study of leading trauma experts including Bessel van der Kolk and Martha Sweezy, gives her comprehensive expertise in treating complex presentations.
West's specialty areas include preverbal trauma, complex trauma, attachment injuries, and the integration of IFS with EMDR and somatic approaches. Her focus on preverbal trauma - the often-overlooked period from conception to age two - helps clinicians understand how early developmental disruptions create lifelong patterns of emotional dysregulation and relational difficulties. She teaches practitioners to recognise when traditional therapy approaches fail because they don't address the parts of clients that formed before language and explicit memory.
What sets her training apart is practical wisdom gained from lived experience. As one of seven daughters from an alcoholic family who experienced significant childhood trauma, West brings authentic understanding to her teaching. She shows clinicians how to work confidently with highly polarised internal systems, thinking protectors, and clients who struggle with standard IFS approaches.
For your practice, expect to gain specific techniques for working with preverbal trauma, tools for helping clients who can't access traditional parts work, and frameworks for managing your own parts when working with complex trauma cases. Her approach particularly benefits clinicians working with clients who have attachment injuries, addiction, or severe emotional dysregulation.
Quick Win: West's "Double Whammy" concept teaches clinicians to recognise that preverbal trauma creates both immense shame and emotional dysregulation - a framework that immediately clarifies treatment priorities and intervention strategies.
Qualifications
- M.A., Counseling Psychology, Holy Names University, Oakland, CA
- B.A., Political Science, University of California San Diego
- Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist, California
- IFS Certified Therapist and Approved Consultant
- Former EMDR Approved Consultant (EMDRIA)
- Additional training in Relational/Depth Psychotherapy, Psychodynamic child and family therapy
Selected Books
- We All Have Parts: An Illustrated Guide to Healing Trauma With Internal Family Systems (2021, Smart Therapy Tools)
- The IFS Flip Chart: A Psychoeducational Tool for Unlocking the Multiple Mind (2023, Smart Therapy Tools)
Teaching & Roles
- Founder & Trainer, Smart Therapy Tools, 2015–present
- IFS Certified Therapist & Approved Consultant, 2005–present
- Individual Consultant for trauma-informed clinicians, 2010–present
- Author & Content Creator, trauma-informed therapy materials, 2018–present
Specialised Training
- Studied with Richard Schwartz (IFS founder), Philip Manfield, Janina Fisher, Chris Burris, Cece Sykes
- Ongoing study of writings by Frank Anderson, Martha Sweezy, Bessel van der Kolk, Patricia Papernow, Michelle Glass
- Integration of IFS, attachment theory, Sensorimotor, and EMDR approaches
Ready to work more confidently with complex trauma and highly activated internal systems? Discover how Colleen West's IFS-based methods can transform your ability to help clients heal from their deepest wounds.
Feedback & Reviews
This course includes:
- Lessons 6
- Topics 0
- Duration 6 hours
- Quizzes 1
- Language English