Show Notes
Having worked in community mental health at the outpatient department of the Cambridge Health Alliance for 18 years as a therapist, supervisor and the associate director of the DBT program, Martha Sweezy experienced with a wide variety of mental health challenges, many related to the sequelae of trauma. She is currently an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School and a clinical and program development consultant at Cambridge Health Alliance. Until January, 2015, Martha was the Associate Director and Director of Training of DBT at Cambridge Health Alliance. In addition to being the author of several articles, Martha is a co-editor or co-author of eight books related to IFS (see Publications), and co-leads (with Toni Herbine-Blank) workshops for IFS trained therapists on shame and self-compassion, fondly nicknamed “Shame Camp” by participants. Martha has an online private practice.
More from IFS Talks
In this episode, we sit with Cece Sykes, LCSW, a leadi trainer at the IFS Institute with over forty years of clinical experience in trauma and addiction recovery, to explore one of the most distinctive and challenging aspects of the IFS model: how therapists actually help clients find their way to Self.
In this episode of IFS Talks, Nancy Sowell, Martha Sweezy, and IFS founder Richard Schwartz join us to explore their new book, IFS Health Therapy: Treating Trauma-Related Physical Illness & Toxic Stress.
In this special episode of IFS Talks, we welcome Richard C. Schwartz, Martha Sweezy, David Lovas, and Sunny Strasburg, authors of Psychedelic Medicine and Internal Family Systems Therapy: A Clinical Skills Manual. Together, we explore why IFS and psychedelic-assisted therapy can be naturally complementary, and why the medicine itself is only one part of the therapeutic process. Our guests discuss the importance of preparation, respect for protectors, internal consent, careful pacing, therapeutic presence, clinical safety, and ethical practice. The conversation examines how therapists can distinguish Self-energy from altered or dissociative states, decide when to intervene during challenging experiences, and respond to fear, overwhelm, shutdown, and protector backlash. We also consider sensitive questions concerning touch, boundaries, therapist readiness, personal experience with psychedelic medicines, and the assessment of clients for whom this work may not yet be safe. Finally, we turn to integration: how IFS can help people make sense of psychedelic experiences, reconnect with every part of their system, and translate insight into meaningful and sustainable change. We believe this is a thoughtful and clinically grounded conversation about the possibilities of bringing IFS and psychedelic medicine together, without losing sight of humility, consent, safety, and respect for the client’s inner healing intelligence. This episode is intended for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice or encourage the use of psychedelic substances outside appropriately qualified, ethical, and legal settings. We are excited to celebrate the launch of IFS Collected Wisdom: Conversations with Experienced Voices in Internal Family Systems a book that brings together voices, reflections, and lived experience from across the IFS community. This book was created from a desire to honor those voices, and to acknowledge that wisdom in IFS doesn’t live in one place or one person. It lives in relationship, in experience, and in the field as it evolves. Thank you for being a listener, for being part of this community, and for continuing to explore what becomes possible when Self leads. We hope that IFS Collected Wisdom can become a companion in your IFS journey. Here is a link to the IFS Collected Wisdom book contents.
We are excited to celebrate the launch of IFS Collected Wisdom: Conversations with Experienced Voices in Internal Family Systems a book that brings together voices, reflections, and lived experience from across the IFS community. This book was created from a desire to honor those voices, and to acknowledge that wisdom in IFS doesn’t live in one place or one person. It lives in relationship, in experience, and in the field as it evolves. Thank you for being a listener, for being part of this community, and for continuing to explore what becomes possible when Self leads. We hope that IFS Collected Wisdom can become a companion in your IFS journey. Here is a link to the IFS Collected Wisdom book contents.
In this episode, we explore the nature of grief through the lens of Internal Family Systems (IFS) with senior trainer Einat Bronstein. Drawing on the work of Francis Weller and other key grief theorists, we reflect on grief not as a problem to solve, but as a deeply human experience that calls for presence, witnessing, and integration.