The Process of Facilitating Access to Self, with Cece Sykes

<p style="font:13.0px 'Helvetica Neue';margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">In this episode, we sit with Cece Sykes, LCSW, a leadi trainer at the IFS Institute with over forty years of clinical experience in trauma and addiction recovery,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>to explore one of the most distinctive and challenging aspects of the IFS model: how therapists actually help clients find their way to Self.</p><p style="font:13.0px 'Helvetica Neue';margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;min-height:15.0px;"> </p><p style="font:13.0px 'Helvetica Neue';margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Among the topics we explore in this conversation:</p><ul style="list-style-type:disc;"><li style="font:13.0px 'Helvetica Neue';margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">What we mean when we talk about "accessing Self," and how someone might recognize that experience for themselves</li><li style="font:13.0px 'Helvetica Neue';margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Ways to access Self beyond unblending, including tools clients can use on their own</li><li style="font:13.0px 'Helvetica Neue';margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">How to introduce the concept of Self without turning it into another standard to fall short of</li><li style="font:13.0px 'Helvetica Neue';margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Why Self doesn't have to look the same in everyone, and how to avoid mistaking an unusual presentation of Self for a part</li><li style="font:13.0px 'Helvetica Neue';margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Distinguishing genuine Self-energy from a protector that's very good at appearing calm, compassionate, or wise<br> </li><li style="font:13.0px 'Helvetica Neue';margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Working with protectors whose fear of more Self-access makes complete sense given someone's history</li><li style="font:13.0px 'Helvetica Neue';margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">What to do when a client says, "I don't think I have a Self"</li><li style="font:13.0px 'Helvetica Neue';margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">How the wish to access Self can itself become a source of pressure,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and what to do about it</li><li style="font:13.0px 'Helvetica Neue';margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">The small, early signs that more Self-energy is becoming available, even amid distress</li><li style="font:13.0px 'Helvetica Neue';margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Whether Self is fixed and undamaged from birth, or whether the capacity for it can be built and strengthened over the course of treatment<br> </li><li style="font:13.0px 'Helvetica Neue';margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">What working with addiction and shame has taught Cece about helping people meet difficult parts with curiosity instead of judgment</li><li style="font:13.0px 'Helvetica Neue';margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">How the therapist's own access to Self shapes the work, and what happens when a helping part quietly takes the driver's seat</li><li style="font:13.0px 'Helvetica Neue';margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Practices for therapists to use in the moment when their own parts get activated with a client</li><li style="font:13.0px 'Helvetica Neue';margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Holding inner work alongside the outer realities of safety, relationships, and circumstance</li><li style="font:13.0px 'Helvetica Neue';margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Adapting the language of Self across different cultural and spiritual frameworks<br> </li><li style="font:13.0px 'Helvetica Neue';margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Bringing a little more Self into the ordinary, activating moments of daily life,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>conflict with a partner, a triggering child or colleague</li><li style="font:13.0px 'Helvetica Neue';margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Cece's own reflections on what she is still learning about this work<br> </li></ul><p style="font:13.0px 'Helvetica Neue';margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Whether you're new to IFS or a seasoned practitioner, this conversation offers both conceptual clarity and practical, in-the-room guidance for one of the model's most essential and elusive skills.<br>We hope you can enjoy it!<br><br>----</p><p style="font:13.0px 'Helvetica Neue';margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">We are excited to celebrate the launch of <strong>IFS Collected Wisdom: Conversations with Experienced Voices in Internal Family Systems</strong> a book that brings together voices, reflections, and lived experience from across the IFS community. <br>This book was created from a desire to honor those voices, and to acknowledge that wisdom in IFS doesn’t live in one place or one person. <br>It lives in relationship, in experience, and in the field as it evolves. Thank you for being a listener, for being part of this community, and for continuing to explore what becomes possible when Self leads. We hope that IFS Collected Wisdom can become a companion in your IFS journey. <a href="sppc.org.pt/downloads/IFS_Collected_Wisdom_CON… is a link to the IFS Collected Wisdom book contents</u></a>.</p>