Course Description

A brief overview of the overlap of IFS and EMDR focusing on the underlying natural organic healing process, the nature of Dual Attention, how IFS and Coherence Therapy’s clinical model of memory reconsolidation align to bridge a gap in the EMDR Standard Protocol where protectors (defenses) are encountered. A Discovery process, named after a similar phase in Coherence Therapy is outlined as a useful intermediate form of EMDR processing which combines resourcing and indirect trauma processing within the Preparation Phase at the doorstep of a conventional Assessment Phase.

Learning Objectives

1. Participants will be able to recite an IFS-Informed definition of Dual Attention.
2. Participants will be able to list the two components of a Protector’s Positive Intention.
3. Participants will be able to explain the difference between Subjective Units of Disturbance (SUD) and Level of Urge to Protect (LUP).

Presenter(s)

Bruce Hersey, LCSW

Bruce Hersey is an IFS and EMDRIA Certified Therapist and Approved Consultant in the US whose practice focus has long been on complex disorders of attachment and trauma. He has taught numerous introductory IFS workshops, and presented at the IFS International Conference twice. He has been offering advanced IFS-Informed EMDR trainings over the past several years, having developed a systematic interweave of the two models over the past 17 years. It is a highly specific integration, which more recently has included ideas from Bruce Ecker’s Coherence Therapy, based on memory reconsolidation research.

Michelle Richardson, LCSW

Michelle Richardson is a group practice owner and practitioner at Mindful Soul Center for Wellbeing in NJ. She is an LCSW and highly trained women’s trauma specialist, who works with women suffering from PTSD, complex childhood trauma, dissociative disorders, anxiety, and other types of emotional conditions. Michelle is an EMDR Certified Therapist and EMDRIA Approved Consultant and has completed intensive training in Internal Family Systems (IFS). She has been assisting Bruce with IFS and EMDR workshops for the past several years.