Cascadia Training for Professional Development

Reaching the Inner Child: Using Integrated, Brain-based Internal Family Systems Therapy to Treat Trauma and Personality Disorders
2025-10-20 09:00 - 16:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Zoom
Reaching the Inner Child: Using Integrated, Brain-based Internal Family Systems Therapy to Treat Trauma and Personality Disorders
Presented by: Hannah Smith, MA, LMHC, CGP (she/her)
When: Monday, October 20th, 2025 | 9am – 4:30pm Pacific Time
Where: Live on Zoom or In-Person in Mount Vernon at the Union Block Building Conference Room at 325 Pine St., Mount Vernon, WA (Google Maps Link). If GPS is a problem, put “Lincoln Theater; 712 S 1st St in and park anywhere near there. Look for the Bail Bonds and the door is behind it in the Square. You will receive workshop details the week of the workshop.
Continuing Education Credit Hours: 6 CEs | Cost: $190.00
Modern neuroscience has provided us with valuable and targeted information to help in understanding and healing the traumatized brain, including those with severe developmental trauma who later end up with “personality disorder” diagnoses.
Unfortunately, much of this valuable information remains abstract and out-of-reach to those doing the actual work of trauma treatment.
This workshop will address these issues by combining insights from neuroscience with an evidence-based treatment approach known as Internal Family Systems.
Internal Family Systems is a treatment modality created in the 1980s by Dr. Richard C. Schwartz. Trained as a couples and family therapist, Dr. Schwartz realized the same dynamics he found in family systems also presented within individuals. His work reveals the brain’s natural ability to create different parts, known as Managers, Firefighters, and Exiles, in order to protect the core, undamaged self. His theory is non-pathologizing, allowing us to see “diagnoses” as “strategies” and recognizes the protective nature of the “Internal Family.” Using modern brain science along with these well-established concepts, we can isolate and treat the “Inner Child” – those parts that carry traumatic memory – in more effective ways.
In this dynamic and experiential session, you will learn the underlying framework of Internal Family Systems both from traditional and neuroscience-informed perspectives, allowing for greater understanding of yourself and your client and providing for higher precision in therapeutic work. By applying narrative and imagery-based techniques in real time, you will incorporate what is known about brain processing into your work, thus enabling you to more efficiently and safely reach “the Inner Child.” Attendees will grow in their practical understanding and application of neuroscience to aid in reducing shame, increasing client engagement, improving outcomes, and – as an added bonus – reducing clinician burnout!
OBJECTIVES:
• Consider Internal Family Systems (IFS) structure and techniques from both traditional and neuroscience-informed perspectives
• Apply a non-pathologizing model of treatment to reduce shame and increase client ability to grow and change.
• Use “Externalization of Parts” and other somatic, imagery- and analogy-based techniques to develop the concept of the “Inner Child” to promote experiences that create new neural connections that lead to lasting change and healing
• Learn techniques to teach internal communication, self-compassion, and define and measure success in more effective ways
• Communicate modern neuroscience principles of neuroplasticity, mentalization, and somatic responding as it relates to IFS and the “Inner Child,” in a user-friendly manner
• Apply newly learned skills in real-time to build competency and confidence as practitioner
REGISTER HERE

SPECIAL SALE! The Science of Gender & Resistance: Empowering Ourselves and Our Clients with Practical Neuroscience
2025-10-23 09:00 - 12:15
LAST-MINUTE DEAL! $45 OFF!
🆕BRAND-NEW!🆕
Healthy Equity or Cultural Competence CEs
The Science of Gender & Resistance: Empowering Ourselves and Our Clients with Practical Neuroscience
Presented by: Hannah Smith, MA, LMHC, CGP
When: Thursday, October 23rd, 2025 | 9:00 am – 12:15 pm Pacific Time
Where: Live on Zoom or In-Person in Mount Vernon at the Union Block Building Conference Room at 325 Pine St., Mount Vernon, WA (Google Maps Link). If GPS is a problem, put “Lincoln Theater; 712 S 1st St in and park anywhere near there. Look for the Bail Bonds and the door is behind it in the Square. You will receive workshop details the week of the workshop.
Continuing Education Credit Hours: 3 Health Equity or Cultural Competence CEs | $95.00 NOW ONLY $50.00
There is no doubt that one of the most polarizing and difficult topics today is the idea of gender. For those of us who work with the LGBTQIA+ community, the result is devastating and heartbreaking for our clients – and for those of us who work with them. It can feel daunting and overwhelming.
We may find ourselves asking lots of questions, from what even is gender to why is it so controversial? And why on earth is there so much push-back on it?
This is a complex issue with multi-faceted causes and reasons – however, at the base of it all lies the body. Applying practical applications of neuroscience and Interpersonal Neurobiology, we can look under the surface to what lies beneath – and in so doing, improve our client’s self-image and empower ourselves and them to reduce our stress as we move through difficult interactions.
This course will teach you not only the proper language of gender, but the science behind the terms so you can speak confidently on the topic. In addition, we will explore and identify the biological source that feeds much of the resistance to listening. Most of all, the attendee will be given techniques to help more accurately frame what is happening and maintain their body regulation during difficult interactions.
Objectives:

List and describe the science of gender, including up-to-date associated vocabulary
Identify reasons for resistance in others
Apply Principles of Neuroscience and Interpersonal Neurobiology to Regulate Your Own Nervous System to Reduce Shame & Activation During Difficult Interactions
Apply New Learning to Case Studies

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