Parts Work for Adult Children Workshop

Tuesday, May 21, 2024

3:30 to 5:00 PM Pacific Time

In the IFS model, we recognize that often our thoughts, emotions, body sensations, impulses, reactions, (apparent) choices, and behaviors are influenced by remnants of the past.

In this workshop, we will explore

the problems adult children experience in adulthood
the strategies we use to manage these problems
the true cause of these problems
how the IFS model addresses these problems for lasting change
how to get help so you can have the life you want

You know the past has passed.

But you continue to live as if you have no choice and no power.

If you have been involved in therapy and/or the ACA program (AdultChildren.org) you already understand this. The challenge, of course, is what to do about it now that the circumstances of the past have passed.

As adults, we unconsciously re-create circumstances similar to those that formed the strategies we devised as children to survive painful, scary, and sometimes traumatic experiences. We live in automatic patterns that play out predictably and painfully. Although the past has passed, our adult lives can feel very much like it did when we were children.

For those of us who have found healing by using the Internal Family Systems model (IFS), what was once unconscious and automatic is made conscious and healed. Patterns are broken and new possibilities emerge.

In this workshop, you will travel a few steps further down the path of recovery by looking at what you are recovering from through a different lens. And you may get a glimpse of what there is to recover – your true self (referred to as Self in the IFS model).

Register

Price: $29

Growing up, I often heard, “You should be ashamed of yourself” when something I had done was judged as wrong or unacceptable. When this message came from my parents and teachers, I believed them. Being told I should be ashamed was so painful that I scrambled to understand what I had done so I never again had to feel the pain of being shamed.

Shaming is a powerful tool because shame is a painful emotion. If one person can shame another into modifying their behavior, they have found an efficient strategy for control. My parents had 7 children. They were often overwhelmed by the responsibility of feeding, sheltering, and clothing all of us.

They too, were shamed as children. They too, learned that shaming someone is an effective tool for control.

Martha Sweezy, an Internal Family Systems author and trainer wrote, “Children can bear bad things happening, but they don’t know how to bear the idea that they are bad.” Read More