Starting Fall 2026
IFS for Social Transformation
A certified course in partnership with the IFS Institute. Join the waitlist and be the first to know when it goes live.
IFS Institute & The Centre for Climate Psychology present
Internal Family Systems for Social Transformation
a 6-week immersive training to learn parts work and cultivate profound transformation in yourself, others, and your organisation or projects, with guest teachings from IFS creator Richard Schwartz.
IFS provides a structured approach to explore and address psychological dynamics, transforming both personal and professional relationships in the process.
WHY IFS?
Developed by Dr. Richard Schwartz, Internal Family Systems (IFS) frames the psyche as an ecosystem of “parts,” each representing unique motivations, emotions, beliefs, values, and protective mechanisms.
Through the lens of IFS, we can explore how even those committed to postive action and social change carry parts shaped by the very systems they strive to transform.
For example, parts that have absorbed capitalist, neo-liberal messages or colonial ways of thinking may unintentionally shape how we engage, making us blind to our own collusion with the system we try to change and bringing tensions that affect individual well-being and collective outcomes.
Who is this training for?
This course is designed for those who sense that the inner work of parts and the outer work of transformation are not separate.
It will resonate most deeply with people who are ready to:
Sit with the complexity of what it means to be human in a time of unraveling, including the harm that arises within social transformation work itself.
Explore the full spectrum of our parts, the generous and the grasping, the compassionate and the complicit. We will not judge or exile these parts, but meet them with curiosity and compassionate accountability.
Turn toward parts shaped by Modernity’s unsustainable culture. This includes noticing how these patterns shape our relationships to ourselves and human and non-human others, even with the best intentions.
Engage with compassion rather than judgement, witness without fixing, take a long-term perspective and decentre the human as the sole subject of transformation.
Reimagine community in non-transactional terms (beyond roles, agreements, and performance) as a space where complexity, discomfort, and relationality are not just allowed but essential components of engagement with the material.
Who this course may not be right for at this time:
Please consider whether this course is a good fit for you at this moment if:
You are currently in need of a strong sense of certainty, predictability, or control in group spaces.
You are actively working through acute trauma, grief or require a high level of therapeutic holding or personal support.
You are seeking a space where the facilitators can offer ongoing personalised attention and affirmation.
This is not a course of fixes or strategies, but a space of compassionate inquiry and unlearning of patterns. We will encounter not only our strength, power and confidence, but also our pain, defences, and dilemmas.
We ask that you take a moment to pause and reflect: Is this the right space for me now?
It can help to reflect on your current capacity for self- and co-regulation.
If you have additional needs for personal exploration, we welcome you to reach out or to arrange individual support from friends, your community or a professional therapist.
Facilitators
Steffi Bednarek is the founder and director of the Centre for Climate Psychology. She is a trained and accredited trauma therapist, Gestalt therapist and IFS therapist. Her book “Climate, Psychology and Change” has been called ‘a work of wisdom and radical ideas’ and has been endorsed by major systems thinkers. Steffi applies her training to the collective culture and guides change makers to include psychologically informed perspectives into their approaches.
David Kitchings is a certified IFS therapist, workshop leader, and clinical consultant with a private online practice. He has lived in Singapore and Switzerland, working with the international IFS community. He is also a couples therapist specializing in the IFIO (Intimacy from the Inside Out) approach. David is an artist and musician, the father of three children, and a lifelong spiritual explorer.
Guest Teacher
Richard C. Schwartz, PhD, is the creator of Internal Family Systems, a highly effective, therapeutic model with a growing evidence base, that de-pathologizes the multi-part personality. Richard is also the Founder of the IFS Institute that primarily offers training for professionals. He is currently a Teaching Associate in Psychiatry, at Cambridge Health Alliance, a Harvard Medical School teaching affiliate. Richard has authored or co-authored more than ten books on Internal Family Systems and related topics, including No Bad Parts and Internal Family Systems Therapy. He lives near Chicago with his wife Jeanne, Vice President of the IFS Institute, close to his three daughters and six grandchildren.
A featured speaker for national professional organizations, Dr. Schwartz has published many books and over fifty articles about IFS.
Testimonials