Intimacy with Grief and Shame: Using Internal Family Systems to Befriend the Inescapable Vulnerabilities of Motherhood

Presented by Jessica Sorci, LMFT and Rebecca Geshuri, LMFT

Includes 3 CE credits for LMFTs, LPCCs, LEPs and LCSWs.
This event will be online only. A recording will be made available to all registrants for 3 months. For those who can't attend live, CE credit is available by watching the recording and passing a test.

More info coming soon!

Motherhood is loaded with fantasies and expectations of how our children will fulfill our dreams and meet our own emotional needs. As mothers’ systems encounter the inevitable disappointments and losses inherent to the role, they often attribute those losses to their own failures and shortcomings: there’s something wrong with me, I’m not good enough, this is so embarrassing, etc. In our culture of perfectionistic mothering, moms’ Protector parts choose to exile and silence their losses and shame, out of fear of humiliation and rejection. When grief and shame are exiled, moms experience themselves as disordered. Protective parts band together to try to create a “good mom” facade, paradoxically confirming “bad mom” feelings. Maternal losses and grief re-kindle and stoke the flames of old shame fires. Grief and shame are Inescapable Vulnerabilities in motherhood.

In this workshop we will teach participants how to implement aspects of our unique adaptation of Internal Family Systems, called “The Mom Parts Method.” Mom Parts guides mothers through a process of identifying and naming both grief and shame in ways that open up self-compassion and inner trust. Ways of understanding and being with grief and shame will be explored, enabling participants to confidently escort clients closer to the root of their pain. It may be cliche to say “we need to feel to heal,” but the truth is that all moms experience these Inescapable Vulnerabilities and most moms don’t know how to metabolize them. Participants will have an experiential opportunity to explore their own Inescapable Vulnerabilities and how their own parts may prevent them from being with their clients’ grief and shame in session.

About the Presenters

Rebecca Geshuri (left) and Jessica Sorci are both Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists, Certified Internal Family Systems Therapists and also Perinatal Mental Health Certified. As Co-Founders of Family Tree Wellness in Silicon Valley, California, Rebecca and Jessica lead their one-of-a-kind IFS-informed group psychotherapy practice that provides counseling, education and support for people who are in the family building phase of life. They are wildly enthusiastic about supporting other therapists who want to deepen their knowledge and skill with using IFS and working in Reproductive Mental Health. Their comprehensive Mothercentric Approach is being integrated into a book called MOM PARTS, and is currently being offered annually, alongside Mom Parts Salons and a Mothercentric Continuum consultation group. Most importantly, Rebecca and Jessica are mothers who bring their own personal experiences with grief and growing, mixed with creative expression and spirituality to their work. Their goal is nothing short of healing humanity's intergenerational burdens.

This is an intermediate level course.
TARGET AUDIENCE: LCSWs, LMFTs, LPCCs, LEPs

If you miss any of the presentation, you will not be eligible for the CEUs. This course meets the qualifications of 3 continuing education credits for LMFTs, LPCCs, LEPs and/or LCSWs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. SCV-CAMFT is a CAMFT-approved continuing education provider (CEPA 052466).

The views expressed in presentations made at SCV-CAMFT meetings or events are those of the speaker and not, necessarily, of SCV-CAMFT. Presentations at SCV-CAMFT events do not constitute an endorsement of the vendor or speaker's views, products or services.

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