As has been the tradition since the Foundation’s reactivation in 2013, our Board of Directors met during the 2017 IFS Conference in Providence, Rhode Island, USA, for two long sessions. All board members were present, traveling from near Seattle, Washington; Atlanta, Georgia; Northern New Jersey; the New England area; and Geneva, Switzerland.

Thanks to the generosity of the Center for Self Leadership, the official home of IFS trainings, and to its commitment to advancing healing for all throughout the world, the Foundation had the opportunity to engage with the community at two special periods during the Conference: the morning plenary and an evening reception.

This video was produced by Michael Thompson, TnT Video Services

During the Friday morning plenary session, the Foundation’s vision was presented by Toufic Hakim, PhD, Executive Director for Operations & Communications. In his 15-minute message seen in the video above, Toufic invited attendees to “sail with us” as he introduced an expansive vision for the Foundation around broadened empirical evidence for IFS, bringing IFS to schools, and advocating for the model in various settings and locales. He urged conferees to imagine the stories of a school teacher, a Veterans Affairs executive and a psychology professor, each of whom finding through notions of Self and parts a hopeful path to emotional healing and well-being for them or the people they serve. He called for deeper and continued community engagement: “We are your Foundation, your stewards. We cannot do this alone. We need your generous hearts, your generous spirit, and your generous giving.”

A Reception and Gallery Walk were hosted by the Foundation on Friday evening. Frank Anderson, MD, Executive Director for Development & Research, was the master of ceremony. He shared with attendees a set of recent developments and achievements and gave a context for the work of the Foundation, as an extension of the community—under the rubric of “This is Us,” borrowing from the popular TV drama series. Attendees then walked through four stations, staffed by members of the Board and community around the topics of Research, Education, Advocacy, and Community Connections—for which printed resources were shared—see more through the banners below.

     

As a gift to attendees, a special bracelet was produced to each with a personalized word that represents a dream, a challenge, a value. (Tools to produce the bracelets were acquired through Myintent.org)

The Foundation is grateful to Conference attendees who provided financial support during the Conference, amounting to $6,186 USD. Thank you.