IFS for OCD: An Integrated Approach to Treatment - 6 CEs

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When & Where:

• Date: Friday, February 13th, 2026
  • If you cannot attend this workshop on 2/13, you can register for the on-demand version here: https://www.theknowledgetree.org/p/ifs-for-ocd-onl...
• Time: 10:30am - 5:30pm Eastern Time
• CE Hours Included: 6 Core (see below for more information)
• Location: Live Interactive Webinar (“Synchronous”) on Zoom
• Investment: $140 before Friday, January 30th at 5:00pm Eastern Time, $160 after
• Presented by: Melissa Mose, LMFT (see bio below)
• Workshop Recording: A recording of this workshop is available to review for 60 days after the presentation. However, participants must attend live to receive the "Synchronous" CE Certificate.
  
• Instruction Level: Intermediate
• Target Audience: Psychologists, Counselors, Social Workers, Marriage & Family Therapists, Psychotherapists, Other Mental Health Professionals

Learning Objectives:

In this workshop, you will learn how to:

• Compare and differentiate OCD with other anxiety, trauma, addiction, and impulse-control disorders through comprehensive assessment criteria
• Assess the obsessive-compulsive cycle using IFS language, including the roles of obsessional managers, compulsive firefighters, and exiles
• Apply techniques to help clients unblend from OC protectors and access Self-leadership
• Demonstrate how to facilitate a Self-led exposure through encounters with exiled parts while maintaining the willing cooperation of protective parts
• Evaluate when and how to work with protector burdens that perpetuate OCD symptoms even after exile unburdening
• Utilize the three-stage “Self-led Encounter and Relate to Parts” framework to integrate IFS principles with exposure and response prevention (ERP) methodology

Workshop Description:

Did you know that OCD affects 2-3% of the population, yet it often goes unrecognized or undertreated—sometimes for decades? While evidence-based treatments exist, many clients plateau, disengage, or struggle with traditional exposure approaches. What if there were a way to make OCD treatment both more effective and more compassionate?

This comprehensive 6-hour workshop bridges two powerful therapeutic approaches: Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy and evidence-based OCD treatment. Whether you're an IFS practitioner seeking to work more effectively with OCD or an OCD specialist interested in relational, parts-based approaches, this course offers an integrated framework that preserves the efficacy of proven treatments while enhancing client engagement and sustainable recovery.

Participants will gain a thorough understanding of both OCD phenomenology and IFS principles, learning how obsessional managers and compulsive firefighters form unique alliances that distinguish OCD from other conditions. Through detailed case examples and practical demonstrations, you'll discover how to assess OC subsystems, facilitate Self-led encounters with exiled parts, and help protective parts transform their extreme roles. The three-stage treatment approach presented—grounded in exposure principles yet deeply relational—offers hope for clients who haven't fully responded to traditional interventions while maintaining the therapeutic mechanisms proven effective for OCD.

Workshop Agenda:

I. Understanding OCD: Fundamentals and Assessment (45 minutes)

• Overview of OCD phenomenology and diagnostic criteria
  • Core features: obsessions and compulsions
  • Common subtypes and presentations
  • How OCD differs from other anxiety and trauma-related disorders
• The neurobiological basis of OCD
  • Brain circuitry and the "sticky brain"
  • Low threshold for alarm signaling
  • Implications for treatment
• Cultural considerations and diverse presentations
  • How OCD manifests across different backgrounds (i.e., just as prevalent, these may differ according to cultural context)

II. Introduction to Internal Family Systems Therapy (45 minutes)

• Core principles of the IFS model
• How IFS differs from other therapeutic approaches
  • Experiential versus cognitive focus
  • Befriending versus battling symptoms
  • The wisdom of the system
• Basic IFS techniques
  • Unblending and differentiation
  • The 6 F's for working with protectors
  • Accessing Self-leadership
  • The two-phased approach of IFS: Working with protectors and then exiles
• Why IFS offers unique value for OCD treatment
  • Building trust versus forcing change
  • Addressing both precipitating and perpetuating factors
  • Creating sustainable transformation

III. The OC Subsystem: An IFS Conceptualization (60 minutes)

• Assessment framework for OCD through an IFS lens
• What makes OCD different in IFS terms
  • The alliance between obsessive managers and compulsive firefighters
  • How this differs from typical polarizations
  • The role of neurobiological vulnerability: it's not all parts!
• Obsessional managers: functions and characteristics
  • Obsessions, by definition, stir up anxiety, and Managers are proactive protectors
  • Hypervigilant parts, scanning parts, alarm bell parts, and doubt creation
  • Story-telling parts making "scary meaning" of brain signals
  • The three cognitive errors of obsessions
• Compulsive firefighters: roles and patterns
  • Firefighters are emergency responders
  • Immediate relief versus long-term consequences
  • Physical and mental rituals
  • Safety behaviors and reassurance seeking
• Exiles in OCD
  • Themes/burdens of uncertainty, shame, and guilt
  • The "feared possible self" concept
  • How protector activity traumatizes exiles
• The Dynamic OC Cycle
  • Understanding systemic interactions
  • Multiple entry points into the cycle
  • Alliances and polarizations within and outside the OC subsystem

Q&A (20 min)

IV. Stage One: Relating to Protectors and Accessing Self (60 minutes)

• Preparing for Self-led ERP
• Unblending from OC protectors
  • Recognizing when clients are blended
  • Facilitating differentiation without reinforcing obsessions
  • OCD-specific adaptations of IFS techniques
• Befriending without engaging content
  • Understanding protector motivations versus validating fears
  • The art of acknowledging without reassuring
  • Building trust for "response prevention"
• Finding protector fears and identifying exiles
  • What OC protectors are truly afraid of
  • Navigating multiple obsessional concerns
  • Getting "enough" permission to encounter exiles
• Case demonstrations: Working with system-wide and OC protectors
  • Video examples or detailed transcripts
  • Common pitfalls and how to address them

V. Stage Two: Encountering Exiles (50 minutes)

• The encounter as exposure
• Witnessing and the "do over"
  • Being with exiles' distress and uncertainty in a new way
  • Offering corrective emotional experiences as expectancy violation. Integrating the concepts of prediction error and neuroceptive mismatch with the principles of inhibitory learning
• Updating parts about current resources
  • Bringing exiles into the present reality
  • Addressing protector concerns about contamination
  • Retrieving parts from a stuck place or “OCD bubble”
• Unburdening identity-based fears
  • Releasing shame, guilt, and uncertainty
  • The difference between exile burdens and protector burdens
  • Inviting back lost qualities
• Case examples: Self-led encounters with exiles
  • Examples across OCD subtypes

VI. Stage Three: Reconnecting with Protectors (50 minutes)

• Why OCD requires a third stage – beyond just the two phases of pure IFS
• Updating protectors about the encounter with exiles/exposure
  • Assessing whether protectors have relaxed
  • Exploring continued resistance
  • Addressing protector burdens and beliefs
  • Establishing Self-leadership with obsessions and compulsive parts
• Engaging with life: Taking Self-leadership outside
  • Choosing valued activities as experiments
  • Building courage and confidence through experience
  • Practicing Self-to-part relationships in triggering situations
• Integration and ongoing practice
  • Helping OC protectors find new roles when appropriate
  • Generalizing safety learning / practicing to update prediction errors
  • Preventing relapse through sustained Self-leadership
• Case demonstrations: Stage Three in action
  • In vivo exposures with IFS awareness
  • Working with protectors on "autopilot"
  • Long-term maintenance and growth

VII. Integration, Special Considerations, and Q&A (30 minutes)

• Mapping IFS processes onto evidence-based OCD mechanisms
• When to use Self-led ERP
  • Appropriate client selection
  • Integration with other treatments
  • Ethical considerations
• Common challenges and clinical decision-making
  • Working with severe or treatment-resistant OCD
  • Co-occurring conditions (trauma, addiction, eating disorders)
  • Managing therapist burnout and parallel process
• Resources for continued learning
• Open Q&A with participants

Presented by: Melissa Mose, LMFT

Melissa Mose, LMFT, has 30 years of experience working with individuals and families living with anxiety, and she has specialized in OCD treatment for over a decade. She is a graduate of the IOCDF’s general, pediatric, and advanced Behavior Therapy Training Institutes (BTTI) as well as the Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE) program and Cognitive-Behavioral Intervention for Tics training (CBIT). Melissa is also a Level 3 trained and Certified Internal Family Systems therapist and an IFSI Approved Clinical Consultant. Her new book, Internal Family Systems for OCD: A Clinician’s Guide integrates the two approaches. In addition to her group practice, Melissa is serving as the president of OCD Southern California, an affiliate of the IOCDF, where it is her mission to extend resources, education, and support to families and individuals in need.

Workshop Schedule (Eastern Time):

• 10:00am - 10:30am | Sign-In and Welcome
• 10:30am - 12:00pm | Session
• 12:00pm - 12:10pm | Break
• 12:10pm - 1:40pm | Session
• 1:40pm - 2:20pm | Lunch Break
• 2:20pm - 3:50pm | Session
• 3:50pm - 4:00pm | Break
• 4:00pm - 5:30pm | Session
• 5:30pm | Continuing Education Certificates Available

6 Core CEs Included - Details by License Type Below:

• PSYCHOLOGISTS: The Knowledge Tree, A Summit Professional Education Company is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The Knowledge Tree, A Summit Professional Education Company maintains responsibility for this program and its content. For more detailed information on the current CE ruling in Georgia, or if you are licensed in another state or country, please click here.
• COUNSELORS: The Knowledge Tree, A Summit Professional Education Company has been approved by the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) as an Approved Continuing Education Provider (ACEP), ACEP No. 7153. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. The Knowledge Tree, A Summit Professional Education Company is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs. Please click here for more detailed information.
• SOCIAL WORKERS: TKT has applied for approval for this workshop through the Georgia Society for Clinical Social Work (GSCSW). If you are licensed in another state or country, please click here for more detailed information.
• MARRIAGE & FAMILY THERAPISTS: TKT has applied for approval for this workshop through the Georgia Association for Marriage & Family Therapy (GAMFT). If you are licensed in another state or country, please click here for more detailed information.

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We are an approved vendor for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for easy reimbursement of educational expenses for VA employees.

Neither the Knowledge Tree nor its speakers have received any commercial support for this program or its contents and will not receive any commercial support prior to or during this program.