Direct Access: An Essential IFS Skill

Frances D. Booth and Richard C. Schwartz

Direct access is an essential IFS skill; embodied ease with direct access increases your competence as an IFS practitioner. Throughout this course, you will examine different applications of both implicit and explicit direct access. You will leave with increased confidence and clarity with direct access skills.

This learning program was held live in Spring 2023. You can now access a recorded version of the program and learn at any time, at your own pace. During each module, you’ll first watch a teaching video with Frances Booth which includes experiential exercises and video examples. Then you’ll learn from IFS Founder Dick Schwartz, either by reviewing video demos of his work with clients or by watching as he provides case consultations. Finally, at the end of each module, you’ll watch a recording of Fran’s live event in which she answered learners’ questions.

An IFSI Certificate of Completion will be available upon completion of this program. Your completion status will be tracked automatically as you progress through the program modules. Once you have completed all program modules, and watched all videos in their entirety, you will receive a Certificate that acknowledges you have received 14 IFS Credits for completing this program. Professional continuing education credits are not currently available for this learning program.

Note: Materials and methods included in this course may include interventions or practices that are beyond your scope of practice. As a professional in your given field, you are responsible for reviewing the scope of practice, including activities that are defined by applicable law as beyond the boundaries of your practice, and applying your learning in compliance with your professional standards.

Meet Your Instructors

Frances D. Booth

Frances D. Booth, LICSW, is a certified IFS therapist and trainer with over 40 years of direct clinical experience in a wide variety of settings. Fran’s clinical specialties are trauma, anxiety, depression, cancer and medical concerns, eating disorders, and attachment disorders. She has successfully integrated IFS principles into her practice, and she consults widely to clinicians on using IFS.  She brings to this course a depth of experience for integrating IFS into practice.  A dynamic, engaging speaker, Fran’s unique blend of theoretical understanding and clinical expertise will provide a solid IFS foundation.

Richard C. Schwartz

Richard C. Schwartz, PhD, is the creator of Internal Family Systems, a highly effective, therapeutic model with a growing evidence base, that de-pathologizes the multi-part personality. Richard is also the Founder of the IFS Institute that primarily offers training for professionals. He is currently a Teaching Associate in Psychiatry, at Cambridge Health Alliance, a Harvard Medical School teaching affiliate. Richard has authored or co-authored more than ten books on Internal Family Systems and related topics, including No Bad Parts and Internal Family Systems Therapy. He lives near Chicago with his wife Jeanne, Vice President of the IFS Institute, close to his three daughters and six grandchildren.