Dipping my Toes into Evidence-Based Practices

I am intrigued and pulled to an integrative approach using Evidence-Based Practices. To name a few of some I’ve been learning and figuring out how to incorporate into client sessions:

1. CBT- find more information here
2. DBT- find more information here
3. MI- find more information here
4. Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy: a branch of Cognitive Therapy that has successfully treated depression and anxiety and received clinical and research-based support (Canadian Psychological Association, 2012). MBCT was developed as a targeted approach for individuals with a history of depression, making them vulnerable to future episodes (Crane, 2009, p. 3). Practicing mindfulness helps clients bring body sensations, emotions, and thoughts to their attention, enabling them to respond more effectively to early indicators of relapse (Crane, 2009; Canadian Psychological Association, 2012).

• Body scan practice- Clients are guided to attend to all regions of the body, starting with the toes and then moving up to the head. The individual is encouraged to connect with the direct experience of physical sensations of the body and breathing.

“The body scan helps us learn to aim and sustain the attention where we want it, and to deliberately engage and disengage as we move attention through the body” (Crane, 2009, p. 112).

• Mindful movement- Mindfulness doesn’t always mean remaining still. In mindful movement, the client is prompted to become more present with bodily experience in motion.

5. Genogram: Mapping the relationships between family members has proven helpful in identifying behavioral patterns within both the past and present, and in encouraging the resolution of emotional issues (Goldenberg, 2017).
6. Internal Family Systems

Internal Family Systems: Skills Training Manual

Book by Frank G. Anderson, Martha Sweezy, Richard C. Schwartz

Find the book here

Because I have not received extensive training in any EBP, integrating all of these bits has been exciting and challenging. I started focusing on Internal Family Systems a couple of months ago, working on learning the theory, language, and process by reading books, listening to podcasts (Huberman & Schwartz, 2025), and watching training videos. After first hearing about IFS during a podcast, I got excited about the approach of doing parts work with the voices inside of you. This resonated with me, as I have experienced and witnessed conflicting inner dialogue and drives. I believe I’ve brought up IFS concepts with a few of my clients as parts work came up, and I felt compelled to share information. Having explained what IFS is to these individuals, each time was just as challenging as the first. I think I get the heart of IFS, but I find the language and communication around it difficult. 

The first time I brought it up, I pulled out the book I had been reading. There, we discussed the differences between the proactive protectors or Managers and the reactive protectors or Firefighters and how those typically appear in people. The client and I both found it hard to conceptualize that we would liken a firefighter (Anderson et al., 2017) to the extreme measures of alcohol and drug abuse, binge eating, excessive shopping, promiscuity, cutting, suicide,  etc. When we are young, we think of firefighters as heroes, brave people who show up to extinguish flames. These extreme measures could include using fire extinguisher foam, coating the fire, and all of the surfaces. It puts the fire out but leaves a big mess to clean up. So the alcohol or binge eating is trying to dampen the flames, stop the spread, and hide the damage that has been done. We could better understand and conceptualize the Managers—that part of yourself who is determined, relentless, criticizing, and sometimes shaming—to keep us task-oriented and ignore our hurt feelings. 

The concept of IFS arose when we were discussing shame, specifically when one's emotions bubble up uncontrollably, resulting in crying and getting mad at oneself for crying and not having control over one's feelings. I could see that inner child Manager (Anderson et al., 2017) telling the client that they don’t have any reason to cry, to shut it, be quiet, and not get noticed. This was as far as I got with this client regarding IFS, having not practiced with a peer how to talk with parts. I also felt that this client wasn’t showing signs of being ready to delve into deeper trauma work, as they weren't exactly connecting with the model and were curious about exploring their parts and why those may have started to emerge in childhood. 

With another client, my incorporation of IFS was talking to them about evidence based practices for trauma, again with this one being psychoeducational, explaining about parts and integrating those parts along using brain spotting to help make some connections, healing the inner child to start building up self confidence, power, and love to have a strong foundation for ones adult self. I felt a little more confident talking about IFS, with more explaining it in parts and not getting into the weeds of the terms and definitions, due to our therapeutic relationship ending soon, and just wanting to spark some interest for them to do the work with their next therapist. While having this conversation, I noticed the client glancing up to their upper right-hand corner, and that inspired me to further explore brain-gazing as a tool to help integrate these parts. With never having practiced with anyone before and only having done a little bit of brain-spotting once myself, it wasn’t appropriate for me to try to start that work with this client. I was excited to have noticed the gaze and look forward to utilizing it in my future therapeutic sessions. 

What I find more challenging is not having enough experience with modalities or time with clients during my clinical practicum placement to thoroughly implement these tools and techniques to help them make change. I know that I’m planting seeds and empowering them with knowledge to seek out trauma work from experienced practitioners. 

For my future clinical self, I'd like to dive deeper into learning IFS trauma work and how to better integrate it into my work with clients. Another passion of mine that you may or may not know is that I love to create art and instill that creativity in others. I'm curious about art therapy and what that will look like. While looking for research articles on IFS, I came across an article on integrating art therapy with IFS through a series of case studies. In particular, case #1: Polarized (Sabados, 2024) stood out to me. The client had been ambivalent about starting therapy but was open to exploring through art. About a month into their work, the client described feeling ashamed because even though a part of her was motivated to "get better," another part wasn't. The clinician noticed the polarization and the two parts of the client showing up and encouraged them to depict these two parts through images, then used the drawings to talk with each of the parts, getting curious and working through some of the shame and trauma the client was processing (Sabados, 2024).

Using art to create visualizations of different parts, and then being able to look at and talk to them, seems like an accessible way that some people might not have had access to otherwise. Over time, this client's parts slowly and mutually lessened the extremity of their positions, and the client's ambivalence decreased, along with her other protective parts becoming more connected to aid in her hope and healing (Sabados, 2024).