MISSION
As an optimistic psychotherapist with over thirty years experience, I remain convinced in the human capacity for tapping into a deep source of inner wisdom. Each individual can develop the self-knowledge and self-acceptance they need to confront their challenges and to restore a compassionate perspective to their lives.
Working with both systemic and experiential approaches, we will tackle the process using a lively sense of curiosity, open hearts and regular doses of humor.
UPCOMING EVENTS
A Live Online Webinar Series
Healing: Interventions for the Trauma-Addiction Cycle
October 10,
October 24,
November 7,
November 21, 2025
11:00 AM – 1:30 PM ET
This course is designed for any IFS-informed therapists whose clients have struggled with patterns that feel stuck—something almost everyone recovering from trauma can relate to. Whether it shows up as wine, Netflix, screen time, sports betting, shopping, or other coping strategies, this course will help you bring more clarity and compassion to those dynamics.
This course offers a compassionate, empowering alternative to pathologizing models—and space for your own integration along the way.
What you’ll learn:
Introduction and System Mapping
Universal Managers and Therapist Parts; Get in Relationship not in Control
Reimagining Firefighters: Positive Intentions with Negative Behaviors
Exile Connection & Compassionate Witnessing
Register now At IFS INSTITUTE
Bridging the Gap Between Psychotherapy and Recovery
by Cece Sykes, Martha Sweezy, and Richard Schwartz
IFS offers a novel way of working with addiction, one that links the inner focus of trauma treatment with the behavioral focus of addiction treatment.
READ THE ARTICLE HERE
As a special gift, Cece’s subscribers are offered a FREE 60-day subscription to the magazine, which includes unlimited access to Psychotherapy Networker’s entire archives of stories and case studies.
Heart Lessons of the Journey:
For Therapists
October 3-5, 2025
Avon, connecticut
A Unique Workshop for Therapists – Professional/ Personal Exploration
This is a wonderful opportunity to work with IFS Institute Senior Lead Trainer, Cece Sykes, in a beautiful residential setting in the UK. Cece developed her Heart Lessons of the Journey retreat over numerous years, emerging from her own experiences, and from her work with therapists.
In this retreat, we will explore...
What led you to become a therapist?
How can new awareness of your story enrich your work?
How can a deeper understanding of your story nurture and resource your spirit?
Life as a therapist is interesting, challenging and deeply rewarding. Yet the life of a therapist is also continually evolving. What happens when we face personal struggles, andhow does it impact our professional journey?
We are so accustomed to sharing our patience and compassion with others ...Do we take enough time to open our hearts and listen to ourselves?
Limited to 28 participants who completed Level 1 IFS Training and are a LicensedTherapist or Counselor
Level 2: Compassion for Addictive Processes (Lisbon, Portugal)
October 14th-18th, 2025
This course will use lecture, demonstration, audiovisual, experiential exercises/practice and large/small group discussion. There will be a review of the IFS model, working with dangerous fire-fighters, the nature of self-energy, working with exiles, unburdening and legacy burdens. Also more teaching on using direct access and applying advanced techniques to challenging clients.
This course is full.
JOIN THE WAITLIST HERE.
IFS Level 2 Intensive: A Compassionate Approach to Addictive Processes - IFS Addictions and Eating Disorders
St. Charles, IL
November 10 - 14, 2025
IFS brings an innovative, new perspective to working with many types of addictive processes, including substance use and eating disorders. The current field is replete with treatment modalities and information that often offer conflicting ideas about how best to treat these challenging issues. IFS can move us into a new dimension of treatment with these clinical challenges and offers methods for using clear, systemic interventions and effective compassion to neutralize polarizations that can occur in the traditional treatment milieu.
This training will focus on:
• Viewing many types of addictive processes, including substance use and eating disorders through the lens of IFS;
• Practical application of IFS to treatment; and
• The importance of Self-energy in the healing process.
Participants will learn:
• How to define and view many types of addictive processes from the IFS perspective; • How to apply basic, key concepts of IFS to many types of addictive processes, including substance use and eating disorders;
• To develop an IFS skill set, including techniques such as un-blending, collaboration and negotiation, and direct access with extreme firefighters;
• Steps for healing the shame, fear, trauma and legacy burdens underneath;
• Integration of IFS with other treatment modalities and self-help groups, including the 12 Step programs
REGISTER HERE AT THE IFS INSTITUTE
Recorded Seminars & Webinars for purchase:
Use discount code “CECE" for 20% off
until the end of 2024!
A series of 3 IFS online workshops focusing on identifying and working with extreme managers
8 IFS CEs available to be applied for IFS certification for those who have completed Level 1 training
Mission Empowerment
ON DEMAND WEBINAR
Education Hours: 11
In this workshop, we will re-envision addictive processes through an IFS lens, and apply the model to intervene effectively with both high and low-risk addictive processes including substance abuse, screen addiction, disordered eating, anger, sexual preoccupation and others.
Cost: $419 CAD + GST/HST (if applicable)
**All prices are in CAD$. American Patrons - your dollar goes further!
More…
IFS Continuity Program; IFS and the Voices of Addiction, a 4-module Seminar with Cece Sykes LCSW, ACSW, Mary Kruger, MS LCPC Richard Schwartz, PhD
Life Architects: Compassion for Addictive Process, a 3-module seminar
Internal Family Systems: A Compassionate Approach to Trauma and Addictive Processes, a PESI webinar with Cece Sykes LCSW, Frank Anderson MD, and Richard Schwartz, PhD
Subscribe to Cece’s newsletter to stay updated on workshops, events, trainings, and more.
Past Events
Cece has taught IFS trainings, hosted Heart Lessons of the Journey workshops, and spoken on IFS at conferences across the globe both in person and online, including Spain, Australia, the UK, Russia, Ireland, France, and throughout the United States.
Check them out here!
More about cece
Cece saw her first client, a thirteen-year old sexually abused runaway foster child, at a community-based family services agency in 1978. Initially trained as a structural-strategic family therapist, Cece spent the next twelve years working in Chicago with families affected by abuse, neglect and addiction. Her focus included treating adult trauma survivors and eating disordered clients, providing individual, couples and group treatment.
During this time Cece provided workshops and training on family therapy and trauma treatment at the Institute for Juvenile Research, the Department of Children and Family Services, The Family Institute at Northwestern and many other mental health agencies. She co-authored a chapter on family treatment with incest-impacted families in the late 1980's.
In 1992 Cece opened her private practice, treating adults, couples and families. She also taught experiential psychology seminars for women at Governors State University for five years and for three years was adjunct faculty at the Jane Addams School of Social Work at the University of Illinois in Chicago.
Cece expanded her clinical focus to include the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model of psychotherapy in the late 1990's. She is a Senior Trainer for the Internal Family Systems Institute and beginning in 2004 led level one, two and three IFS training programs across the country and internationally. Cece contributed a chapter on IFS approaches to treating addictive processes, titled “An IFS Lens on Addiction: Compassion for Extreme Parts,” in the 2016 book Innovations and Elaborations in Internal Family Systems Therapy.
In 2023, Internal Family Systems Therapy for Addictions was published, a best-selling manual co-authored by Cece, IFS author Martha Sweezy, and IFS founder Richard Schwartz on how to use the IFS model to understand and treat addictive processes.
Another component of Cece's work is the intersection of psychotherapy with spirituality. She has worked with a wide range of spiritual practices, from Zen communities to groups with traditional religious beliefs and also twelve-step followers on how to fold their vision of the inner spirit into the practice of psychotherapy.
After decades spent in the field, Cece developed an interest in the impact of psychotherapy upon the life story of the clinician. She created and leads the Heart Lessons of the Journey workshops, exploring the personal narratives of psychotherapists across the globe.
