On April 24, 2026 (10 AM-3 PM EST), Dr. Lauren Bartolomew and I are thrilled to offer a revised and expanded version of our workshop on using IFS to Heal from Narcissistic Abuse online through Acerca de Psicoterapia in Madrid. We will present our material in English and it will be simultaneously translated into Spanish for participants who choose that option. We always break up the information we share with experiential activities to keep you engaged and to allow you to connect around this isolating experience. Break out rooms and pair shares will be organized by language preference.
Click here to register.
Using IFS to Heal from Narcissistic Abuse
Although popular culture abounds with discourse on narcissism, practitioners of IFS tend to avoid the pathologizing language of “personality disorders.” Yet, many of our clients use the concept of narcissism to make sense of deeply painful experiences with problematic individuals. Our workshop integrates the literature on narcissistic abuse within the IFS framework, adapting useful terminology and strategies while proposing an IFS-informed path of healing.
We focus on the protective and exiled parts that form when children lack adequate emotional attunement, validation, and secure attachment. Participants will learn to recognize and work with the burdens, roles, and reenactments that characterize these systems. In the process, we will share our five-step protocol for healing from narcissistic abuse.
1. Naming the Problem: Understanding the impact of emotionally immature parenting on development and the key role of shame.
2. Retelling the Story: How to safely witness emotionally abused and neglected parts.
3. Reparenting from Self-Energy: Practical tools for providing what was missing in childhood.
4. Grieving the Loss: How to hold the space to mourn the absence of emotionally attuned parenting.
5. Spiritual Connection: Accessing spiritual resources to anchor and integrate healing.
This workshop interweaves didactic segments with experiential activities, inviting participants to self-reflect, journal, share in breakout rooms and with the whole group. Participants should have a basic understanding of IFS and be comfortable exploring their own systems. In particular, we will invite you to focus on the “therapist parts” that these clients may activate in you, such as those that hold empathy, a desire to rescue, or even irritation and frustration.
The premises of IFS can make it difficult to talk about narcissistic abuse. Meanwhile, narcissistic abuse literature can be vague about how to recover healing from this common form of relational damage. We’ve drawn on our personal and professional experiences with narcissistic abuse to create a healing protocol that combines the best of both bodies of work.
Visit Acerca de Psicoterapia to register.
