Celebrating Today’s Release: IFS Informed EMDR—Creative and Collaborative Approaches

Celebrating Today’s Release: IFS Informed EMDR—Creative and Collaborative Approaches

IFS Informed EMDR: Creative and Collaborative Approaches

We’re thrilled to celebrate the release of a groundbreaking new book in the field of trauma therapy: IFS Informed EMDR: Creative and Collaborative Approaches. This eagerly anticipated volume brings together some of the most respected voices in Internal Family Systems (IFS) and EMDR therapy, offering clinicians a rich, practical, and integrative guide for combining these two powerful models.

Featuring contributions from leaders such as Bruce HerseyJoanne TwomblyJanina FisherJenn PagoneZandra BamfordClaire van den Bosch, and our very own Tina Elleman Taylor, this collaborative work represents a major milestone for therapists looking to deepen their clinical practice.

Why This Book Matters

Both IFS and EMDR have transformed the landscape of trauma therapy—each offering its own unique strengths. IFS gives clients a compassionate, non-pathologizing way of understanding their internal world, while EMDR provides an evidence-based method for reprocessing trauma and restoring emotional balance.

Until now, many clinicians have wondered: How can these two approaches work together?

IFS Informed EMDR answers this question with clarity and creativity. The book offers:

  • A clear framework for integrating IFS concepts into every phase of EMDR treatment
  • Real clinical examples that show how Parts work can support trauma processing
  • Creative strategies for staying collaborative, attuned, and client-centered
  • Practical tools and interventions that clinicians can use immediately
  • Guidance from master therapists who have been pioneering this integration for years

Whether you’re an IFS-trained clinician curious about EMDR, an EMDR practitioner eager to bring more Parts-informed awareness into your work, or a therapist who already blends models intuitively, this book offers invaluable insight.

Honoring the Contributors

It’s inspiring to see so many respected clinicians coming together with a shared vision: to promote healing that honors all parts of the internal system and supports safe, effective trauma processing.

We’re especially proud to see Tina Elleman Taylor featured among the contributors. Her thoughtful, compassionate approach and deep understanding of both models shine through in her work, making this book even more meaningful for those of us who know her and have witnessed her dedication to trauma-informed care.  Her chapter specifically addresses using these models to address physical pain.  Her insight brings a fresh, grounded perspective to an often-overlooked aspect of trauma healing, offering clinicians practical guidance for helping clients understand the parts of themselves that carry pain and gently facilitating relief through integrative work.

A Resource for the Future of Trauma Therapy

IFS Informed EMDR is more than a book—it’s a bridge.
It demonstrates what is possible when therapeutic models are honored, blended, and applied with creativity and respect. And it reflects a growing movement in the mental health field toward integration, flexibility, and truly holistic care.

Whether you’re a seasoned clinician or just beginning your journey with IFS or EMDR, this book is a must-have resource—and we couldn’t be more excited to celebrate its release today.

IFS Informed EMDR: Creative and Collaborative Approaches

Book Review by Carrie Hunter

Book Review: The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A Fuck; A Counterintuitive Approach to Living A Good Life by Mark Hanson

Book Review: The Subtle Art of Not Giving A Fuck; A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Hanson

 

I was at my favorite used-books-and-coffee shop (Yay!  Mickey’s in New Albany, Indiana) and this book was on display near the cash register:  The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A Fuck; A Counterintuitive Approach to Living A Good Life by Mark Hanson.  I rarely leave Mickey’s without a book, so I bought it.

 

I felt a delicious sensation of rebelliousness, a sneaky feeling.  Like I was doing something “frowned upon”.  In my life experience as a white middle class farm girl in the 1960s and 70s I didn’t hear the word “fuck” at all.  And then when I did hear it, ……..  There are many confused threads here about my relationship with that word.

 

So back to the book.   The main concept he’s addressing is that people (me, too) often tend to care too much about things, to get bent out of joint about things.  Sometimes so much that we make changes to our lives, have panic attacks, live with depression, get pissed. Mark weaves information from psychology, sociology, his life experiences, and more into understanding how a person got to that stance and into ways to change that stance.

 

Why should I give a fuck that I give too many fucks?  Having been a licensed mental health care provider for nearly 30 years, I’ve learned that our thoughts and emotions are intricately involved with our body processes.  Caring about anything at all is laced with many body systems: heart rate, breathing, cortisol, thyroid, and so on.  (Here, “caring” can mean empathy or anger or disgust or other strong emotions.) When I  care about something (too much?) while talking about it three years after it’s over, my body systems get activated and that happening chronically is simply not good for body function.  Don’t get me wrong, there are many things that we should care about!  There is an important balance between me being an advocate with strong emotions and me being too hypervigilant that my appearance is being judged when I’m at happy hour.  How can I find a good balance between caring and CARING, and how can I let go of things that aren’t a big deal in my life at this moment.  How did my client’s end up caring too much and how can I help them not give a fuck?

 

Back Marks nine chapters.  In Chapter 1, Don’t Try. Mark writes about feedback loops.  In Happiness Is A Problem, Chapter 2, he discusses how beliefs that we hold and sometimes don’t know that we are holding, influence our perspectives and how we feel.  For example, some believe that we should always be happy in every moment and if we’re not, then something is wrong. In Chapter 3, You Are Not So Special, Mark discusses entitlement.  Entitlement can be so subtle that we aren’t aware it’s a factor in our beliefs.  Chapter 4, The Value of Suffering, discusses our values, where we get them, how well or poorly we act in service of our values, Chapter 5, You Are Always Choosing, was a favorite of mine.  We tend to think that life happens to us, that people say mean things, and that does occur.  What is also true is that we are always choosing what we do or say in response to these experiences.  We just don’t realize that we’re always choosing!  Chapter 6 is titled, You’re Wrong About Everything (and so am I).  Read it.  Here’s a line from this chapter, “When we let go of the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves, we free ourselves up to actually act (and fail) and grow.

 

When reading Chapter 7, Failure Is The Way Forward, I was like, “Duh!” Why didn’t I think of that?  I failed at walking several times before I got good at it.  We all fail all the time!  It’s not a failure, it’s information for my learning about which I make a choice about how I perceive this information.  I wouldn’t get that information if I hadn’t tried to do the thing.   (refer back to Chapter 5.)    Chapter 8 is The Importance of Saying. “No”.  We must give a fuck about something in order to value something.  When we say, “no” to something we are valuing something else.  And, Chapter 9 is And Then You Die.  Mark is asking, What will be your legacy?.  In the long run, will it matter that I  gave a fuck about that thing back in 1972?  It might, I might have changed a moment in someone’s life.  Then again, it might not have made a difference.  Maybe it was me having a moment of giving too many fucks about something when I could have done something else.

This is a book review of Mark Hanson’s The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A Fuck; A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life 

Written by Carrie Hunter, LMFT

Carrie Hunter, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Louisville, KY - Book Review

Carrie Hunter is a therapist at New Hope Counseling. 

She is trained in EMDR, working with trauma, and more. if you are interested in setting up an appointment with Carrie, call New Hope Counseling at 502-712-9604.