The Somatic Internal Family Systems Therapy Workbook - by Susan McConnell (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A practical guide to the 5 pillars of embodied Internal Family Systems--tools and exercises for healing trauma

"McConnell is an expert guide to learning to listen to somatic stories and finding the way to Embodied Self."--Deb Dana, LCSW, author of The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy on Somatic Internal Family Systems Therapy

With body-based exercises, foundational tools, and practical guidance, The Somatic Internal Family Systems Therapy Workbook shows you how the 5 practices of Somatic IFS--somatic awareness, conscious breathing, radical resonance, mindful movement and attuned touch--work together to build embodied safety, integrate unresolved harm, and facilitate trauma healing.

The workbook opens by inviting the therapist to explore their own Internal System, offering an embodied approach to experiencing the model. Chapter 1 explores and explains foundational concepts like somatics, embodiment, Parts, Self, and the cultural influences that shape and shift our embodied experiences. Chapters 2-6 move into theoretical grounding, clinical applications, and practical exercises for each of the five practices. They offer tools to:

• Develop clients' ability to name, describe, and convey sensations
• Recognize and track for signs of overwhelm
• Work with Parts that fear body awareness
• Understand the purpose and clinical benefits of conscious breathing
• Restore the Embodied Self
• Explore therapeutic shifts from doing to to being with clients
• Heal attachment wounds
• Integrate mindful movement into healing developmental trauma
• Understand and practice attuned touch

Each practice is designed to be used whenever it will be of benefit: the tools and exercises are non-linear and adaptable, and aren't limited by a prescriptive sequence. The workbook also explores links between current psychotherapeutic practice and ancient healing modalities, grounding SIFS in a larger web of effective somatic trauma healing and embodiment approaches.

About the Author

Susan McConnell, senior trainer for the Center for Self Leadership, has taught Internal Family Systems (IFS) in the U.S. and internationally since 1997. Somatic IFS, which McConnell developed in 2004, is a synthesis of her forty years of study, teaching, and clinical practice with bodywork, psychotherapy, and spiritual practices. McConnell holds a Master's Degree with an emphasis on Somatic Psychology, and is a Certified Internal Family Systems Therapist and a Certified Hakomi Therapist. She was also instrumental in curriculum development for IFS trainings and, as a Hakomi faculty member, for a training for bodyworkers using the Hakomi Method to explore through touch the way mind, body, heart, and spirit weave together to form the client's experiential world. McConnell has had a private practice since 1983 in Chicago, where she offers bodymind integration and consultation.