Rupture and Repair: Centering the Impact

About this program: 

This program is designed to deepen clinicians’ understanding of rupture and repair within therapeutic relationships, emphasizing personal reflection, power dynamics, and clinical application. The series begins with inner awareness, guiding participants to recognize how their internal systems respond to rupture.  As ruptures often stem from misattunements or unmet relational needs. When left unresolved, they harm the alliance and outcomes, but when repaired, they can strengthen resilience and deepen trust. 

Power dynamics will be addressed within each session, as they are central to understanding rupture, particularly across different relational contexts—client, supervisor, partner, etc. Concepts such as the privileged and subjugated self-help clinicians recognize how social power influences therapeutic engagement. Clinicians will be encouraged to examine their own histories with rupture (ages 0–22), how protectors may show up in response to exiles that have been created in response to this history of rupture.  

Tools for presence, self-awareness, and attuned intervention are provided to enhance therapeutic effectiveness.  Through practical strategies, clinicians learn to stay embodied during rupture, support client repair, and integrate cultural sensitivity and power analysis to improve therapeutic outcomes. 

This learning program was held live in Winter 2026.

Module 1: Rupture and Repair: Tuning Inside

This module invites you to turn inward and explore how ruptures in therapy activate different parts within you as the clinician. You’ll learn to recognize protective responses, assess your capacity to stay Self-led, and understand when present-moment ruptures open trailheads to deeper healing and meaningful repair.

Module 2: Power Dynamics, Cultural Sensitivity, and Misattunements

Building on IFS’s attention to context and system, this module explores how external systems of power, such as race, class, and gender, shape internal dynamics and the client-therapist relationship. You’ll examine how your own protective parts may unintentionally reinforce power dynamics and learn culturally attuned ways to engage from Self energy that reduce reactivity and support deeper understanding.

Module 3: The Relational Field – External (Therapist–Client Dynamic)

This module explores how ruptures emerge within the relational field between therapist and client through an IFS lens. You’ll strengthen your ability to remain in Self-energy while engaging clients’ protective parts, identify your own responses that may disrupt attunement, and learn tools that support co-regulation, trust, and collaborative repair within the therapeutic alliance.

Module 4: The Relational Field – Internal (Within the Therapist and Client Systems)

This module focuses on internal relational dynamics, guiding you to map and engage both your own inner system and your clients’. You’ll learn to recognize protectors that block access to vulnerable parts, understand how internal ruptures signal the need for repair, and explore strategies that strengthen Self-to-part connection and support healing and integration.

What’s included:

This course includes approximately 4 hours of core teaching on the program’s main topic, along with around 5 hours of recorded live Q&A sessions facilitated by the instructor. 

You’ll also get approximately 4 hours of exclusive bonus content featuring Dr. Richard Schwartz, the founder of IFS. These recorded demonstrations and case consultations offer rare, behind-the-scenes access to see the model in action. While these sessions may not always align directly with the program’s primary theme, they’re designed to deepen your overall clinical understanding and help you see how IFS principles show up across different contexts. 

What are on-demand programs:

IFSI’s on-demand courses are recordings of some of our most loved advanced IFS programs led by IFS trainers and thought leaders who bring deep experience and insight. Learn anytime, at the pace your system needs. 

Who is it for: 

These offerings are ideal for those who are enrolled in or have completed IFS Level 1 Training, and those who have already participated in the IFS Online Circle. They’re designed to help you deepen specific skills, build confidence in niche areas, and feel more grounded in your work with clients. 

CE Credit & Certificate of Completion: 

Please note that these programs don’t offer professional CE, but each provides 14 IFS CE Credits to support your IFS certification or recertification path. An IFSI Certificate of Completion will also be available upon completion of this 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.