Workshop for Therapists: Addictions and Eating Disorders – A New Perspective
Learn the IFS approach – an effective tool to work with addictions and eating disorders.
đź“… Date: 2 days of intensive work on September 29-30 in Poznan, Poland
🎯 For whom: psychotherapists and therapists of different modalities, social workers and everyone working with humans enmeshed with the addictive process
This two-day training is designed for practitioners who want to:
- expand their competence in working with addiction and eating disorders,
- learn key aspects of the IFS (Internal Family Systems) approach, considered groundbreaking and effective,
- experience tools and strategies that realistically support clients in change,
- look at the therapeutic relationship from a new, systemic perspective.
Why a new perspective?
The IFS approach brings a paradigm shift in the treatment of addiction and eating disorders.
Instead of pathologizing or fighting symptoms, we approach them with curiosity and compassion.
Johann Hari said “The opposite of addiction is connection”
IFS doesn’t demonise destructive behaviours. We learn to understand, befriend, and support the client in transcending their limitations.
It’s an approach that restores dignity, inner connection, balance and hope for real change.
Why do we connect the topic of addiction and eating disorders?
The IFS approach views both addictions and eating disorders as defense strategies – the activity of extreme parts, or “firefighters.” Impulsive mechanisms are activated to protect the most wounded, repressed parts of our psyche – the so-called “exiles.” Their actions, often labelled self-destructive and perceived solely from this perspective, have one purpose: to distract from emotional pain and soothe suffering.
The method doesn’t count – food, alcohol, drugs or other compulsive behaviours – anything that works goes. The mechanism remains the same: quick relief at the price of long-term consequences.
Studies show that as many as 50% of people with eating disorders simultaneously use psychoactive substances, and many patients develop more than one addictive habit. These strategies have a common denominator – they cause the release of dopamine, which brings temporary relief.
During the workshop you will learn:
- to recognise the structure of addiction and follow the inner “voices” (parts),
- to understand the complex dynamics of various addictions and eating disorders,
- to apply compassion-based interventions,
- to better cope with one’s own sense of helplessness when dealing with so-called “difficult clients.
- to effectively work with polarisation by reducing conflict between parts of the client (e.g., the part reaching for alcohol and the critic of this behaviour),
- to redirect attention inwards and pay attention to one’s own (therapeutic) parts that may interfere with the client’sÂ
- redirect attention inward and pay attention to their (therapeutic) parts that may interfere with the client’s/client’s process,
- to “befriend” the dangerous firefighter, i.e. the part, the protective part of the system, that chooses the destructive behaviour,
- to apply techniques for releasing the firefighter from constraints by unburdening the exile (the injured part)
- to use techniques for stabilisation and therapeutic prioritisation,
- to recognise intergenerational (inherited) burdens that can contribute to addictions and learn several ways to deal with them,
- to recognise obstacles to successful treatment of addictions and eating disorders,
- to combine IFS with other approaches and therapy models,
- to work with limitations in both the internal and external systems.
The Workshop Format:
lectures and presentations,
clinical examples,
experiential exercises e.g:
- drawing – possible to use in individual work, with group or family participation
- the use of props (figures, puppets, scarves, cards) – works well both in working with individual clients and groups)
- sculpture – ideal for families and groups
- work in pairs and small groups,
- guided meditation,
- demonstration of therapeutic work in the IFS approach.
Why take part?
You will gain modern therapeutic tools, responding to the needs of the changing clinical reality and recent research.
The workshop creates a space to exchange ideas and experiences and build a community of professionals working with addictive processes and eating disorders.
We will end the first day with a team-building meeting – an opportunity to talk, network and get to know each other in a relaxed atmosphere.
Each participant will receive a certificate confirming their participation in the training.
Meet the presenter:
Mary Kruger
A psychologist, a Licensed Couples and Family Therapist (LMFT), supervisor at IFS Institute. Founder of Rimmon Pond Counseling New Haven, Connecticut. She specialises in working with addiction, trauma and eating disorders. She has over 35 years of experience in individual and group therapy. She has visited Poland twice conducting workshops on working with groups focussed between others on releasing intergenerational burdens.
Mary is a radiant soul, in love with life and cats. The temperament inherited from her Italian ancestors can be seen in her energy and openness to people.
Logistics:
Date: 29-30.09.2025
Place: CK Zamek
Schedule:
8.30-9.00 – registration
9.00 -10.30 – classes
10.30 -10.45 – coffee break
10.45 – 12.15 a.m. – classes
12.15 – 12.30 – coffee break
12.30 – 14.00 – classes
14.00 – 15.30 – lunch break
15.30 – 17.30 – classes
Certificate: Each participant will receive a certificate of completion of the training
Price: Early bird: 1600 PLN until August 1st, 2025; standard: 2000 PLN
Number of places: 50
Organiser:
Mindfulnvc Foundation http://www.mindfulnvc.pl/
đź”— Sign up today and open yourself to a new perspective in therapy!