Live Training (Online and in-person)

Integrating IFS + EMDR with Dissociative Clients

This presentation examines structural dissociation through a clinical lens, integrating phase-oriented trauma treatment, Internal Family Systems (IFS), and the SAFE interweave of EMDR.
  • Teacher
    Dr. Athena Phillips
  • Date
    December 4, 2026
  • Time
    12:30PM - 3:30PM PT
  • Format
    Online / In-person
  • CE Hours
    3 CE Hours
  • Cost
    $129
About This Live Training
Target Audience
Instructor

About This Live Training

Structural dissociation is widely understood as a developmental adaptation to chronic childhood trauma, often beginning before age five and occurring within attachment relationships where caregivers are both a source of safety and harm. In these environments, children face the paradox of maintaining connection for survival while enduring abuse. Dissociation functions as a protective strategy, leading to the formation of distinct self-states that hold conflicting experiences, emotions, and roles. While this preserves attachment, it often disrupts integrated identity development.

This presentation examines structural dissociation through a clinical lens, integrating phase-oriented trauma treatment, Internal Family Systems (IFS), and the SAFE interweave of EMDR. It explores how internal systems organize around protection, the presence of phobias between parts, and the internal distrust that can complicate treatment. Practical considerations for using EMDR to support skill-building and safely engage internal systems will also be introduced.

Grounded in established standards of care, including ISST-D guidelines, this session outlines a stage-based treatment model emphasizing safety, stabilization, trauma processing, and the development of co-consciousness. Participants will learn key precautions, including pacing, maintaining the window of tolerance, and avoiding premature trauma exposure. The role of a strong therapeutic alliance, clear boundaries, and respectful engagement with all parts of the internal system will be highlighted as essential to effective and ethical care.

Target Audience

Therapists currently working with structural dissociation, are trained in EMDR with a basic understanding of IFS (these modalities will not be taught as part of the course). For those WITHOUT training in EMDR, the concepts of this course CAN be applied without utilizing this modality.  Minimum of a Master's Degree in a mental health or related field; or be a student in social work, psychology, counseling, or a related field. In Low- and Middle-Income Countries, a minimum of a Bachelor's degree in social work, psychology, counseling, or a related field is required.

Instructor

Athena Phillips
LCSW - Licensed Clinical Social Worker
I completed my master's in social work from Portland State University, where I was the recipient of the Laurels Scholarship and graduated Magna Cum Laude. Following graduation, I worked as a medical social worker in the emergency department, medical floors and on an inpatient geriatric psychiatry unit. I started my private practice in 2007, which specialized in trauma and dissociative disorders. After five years of serving this population, the need for more holistic approaches to trauma that were safe and accessible to survivors became increasingly clear. In 2012 I started Integrative Trauma Treatment Center (ITTC), an outpatient mental health clinic housed in Portland, OR. ITTC offers continuing education which offers specialized trainings with a mission to include and elevate clinical voices from all over the world. My most recent endeavor was the launch of an online Trauma Coach Certification course that is designed to be globally accessible and culturally adaptable. This project was designed following trainings I facilitated in Rwanda that were an effort to provide a multicultural platform for clinicians to learn about other cultural lenses through which they could approach their work. My contribution in Rwanda extended to the development of mHub Rwanda, which is an outpatient mental health clinic that is run by Rwandans, for Rwandans. I continue to volunteer my services as a trauma consultant within the mHub community.