EMDR/IFS Consultation - Rachel Bentley

Hello. My name is Rachel Bentley and I am a Licensed Professional Counselor in Michigan. I am also a group practice owner as well as a clinical supervisor.

I am currently offering EMDR consultation with the integration of IFS/Internal Family Systems/Parts Work. I call this EMDR Consultation with IFS elements

What qualifies me to consult with you

I am a Certified EMDR clinician and an EMDR Consultation in Training (CIT)
CIT’s are able to provide 15 of the needed 20 hours toward EMDR certification
I am a Level 1 and Level 2 trained IFS clinician
I specialize in complex trauma, working with the LGBQ/TGNB communities as well as those who have or who are considering bariatric surgery

What will this consultation will be like:

A basic overview of IFS will be included
As we examine your EMDR questions and/or cases, we will take a look at what is coming up for you as the EMDR clinicians
As we look at cases, we will examine what may be coming up for your clients (as they move through the EMDR protocol)

Below is my schedule of upcoming availability for EMDR consultation with IFS Elements:

Individual Consultation:

https://calendly.com/rachelbentleylpc/individual-emdr-consultation-with-ifs-elements

Group Consultation:

Tuesdays: https://calendly.com/rachelbentleylpc/emdr-group-consultation-with-ifs-elements-tuesdays

Fridays:

https://calendly.com/rachelbentleylpc/group-emdr-consultation-with-ifs-elements

MY EMDR/IFS story and why I chose to become trained in both models:

I am offering EMDR Consultation with an IFS twist. I began my EMDR journey several years ago when I attended basic training and started down the journey of EMDR certification.

I decided to train in and then become certified in EMDR because I wanted to have a way to work with complex trauma. EMDR provides a thorough roadmap in treating trauma and a variety of other presentations.

While attending EMDR consultation for both basic training and then for certification, I often found that I was trying to work through complex cases, while utilizing the EMDR model. In one of my EMDR group consultations, I was presenting a case and I felt very stuck. The client had a complex trauma history and the client was not responding well to the EMDR protocol. The idea of resourcing seemed impossible for the client. Talking about or thinking about difficult material was bringing extreme distress for the client. Really, any sort of intervention seemed to be met with resistance (even though that is not my favorite word to use).

As I was presenting this case and talking about this client, I did notice a sense of hopelessness and my consultant looked at me and said “you need to do parts work with this client”. She was the first to say this to me (early on in my EMDR journey) and frankly, it was upsetting to hear.

EMDR works and it can work well. But, with this client, it was not working and I did not know how to help the client. When I was told to use a whole entire other treatment (“parts work”), I was thrown off and wondered how I would be able to learn this whole other thing (whatever it was) when I was trying to learn and grow in EMDR.

This was the beginning of my journey in learning about IFS/Internal Family Systems or ‘parts work”. I started to do some research and what I found actually made sense. I then started to research how to become trained in the model and after a long and intensive journey, I can now say that I am IFS Level 1 and IFS Level 2 trained.

I started my IFS journey as a way to enhance my EMDR skills or to “get unstuck” when I felt stuck or the client seemed stuck- in the EMDR protocol. Learning how to intertwine EMDR and IFS has been transformational for my practice as a therapist.