Our Esteemed Presenters

Gina Abbeduto, LCPC, has practiced as a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor since 2001 and as a Certified Internal Family Systems Therapist since 2011. She has completed Levels 1, 2, and 3 training and served as a program assistant for IFS Level 1 training. She offers introductory IFS trainings to clinicians in her hometown of Las Vegas, as well as lectures to the Couples and Family Therapy graduate program at UNLV. She has applied Internal Family Systems therapy in her work in community mental health, inpatient therapy, partial hospitalization programs, and private practice. Her current practice focuses on the healing powers of IFS in working with trauma, grief and loss, and parenting.

Priscilla Boyd, LMSW, was in the very first IFS training group in 1999. She is a licensed clinical social worker in private practice in Tinley Park and works full time consulting and providing professional development for schools in the south suburbs of Chicago. She has trained in various treatment modalities and is a mindfulness facilitator at The Center in Palos Park. She conducts quarterly retreats using SoulCollage and is a CEU provider through Awake and Free Retreats.

Beth Jerva, LCSW, is a Certified Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapist as well as a Certified Yoga Teacher. She completed Level 1 IFS training in 2013 and works with children, adolescents and adults, specializing in anxiety, trauma and addictions. She has presented on the benefits of yoga therapy in clinical settings and has developed many therapeutic yoga workshops focusing on adolescents, anxiety, mindfulness and calming techniques for children. Beth has studied alternative therapies since graduating with her MSW in 1998, having completed her Phoenix Rising Therapy training in 2003 and yoga teaching certification in 2004.

Shelly Johnson, LMHC, has practiced as a Licensed Mental Health Therapist since 2011, and a Certified Internal Family Systems Therapist since 2021. She is the author of the books “The Parts Inside of Me” and “Let’s Have a Staycation!” and opened her own private practice, Compassionate Hearts Therapy in 2019. She has completed Levels 1, 2 and 3 IFS trainings and has served several times as a PA for Level 1 trainings. She offers seminars in IFS to local clinicians interested in the model and has co-led an IFS retreat in Las Vegas, NV. She has provided mental health and addiction services in a variety of clinical settings, including emergency departments, medical detox units, inpatient and partial hospitalization programs, outpatient community behavioral health centers, schools, group practice and now private practice. Shelly’s clinical passion is working with PTSD/trauma, depression, anxiety, grief and loss, professional burnout and caregiver stress, and she uses the IFS model almost exclusively with her clients!

Tom Holmes, PhD, is a Professor Emeritus at Western Michigan University (WMU). He has been training graduate and postgraduate students in psychotherapy since 1985 and was the director of WMU’s Holistic Health Program. Tom trained in Internal Family Systems therapy with Richard Schwartz in the late 1980’s. He has been teaching, training, and using the IFS model since that time. His specialty is spirituality in the therapeutic process. Tom is the author of Parts Work: An Illustrated Guide to Your Inner Life, which has sold over 100,000 copies worldwide, and he has a new book: Parts Work: A Path of the Heart. For the past 25 years Tom has been offering trainings in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Currently his workshops focus on the integration of IFS, spirituality and burnout prevention, or “Healing the Healer,” for a wide range of healthcare professionals.

Beth Mullen-Houser, PhD, is a clinical psychologist with a passion for working with providers new to IFS. Her IFS journey includes completing a PhD in clinical psychology with an focus on psychoneuroimmunology, psychotherapy research and traumatic stress, being an IFS-trained therapist for 5 years, an IFS researcher, speaker and consultant, and serving as a PA in IFS trainings. She presented at the 2023 IFS Great Lakes Retreat, the 2023 IFS Annual Conference, and is a member of the Foundation for Self-leadership’s Research Development Team. It is her belief and experience that IFS is the most hopeful, accurate, compassionate and profoundly impactful approach to unlock our potential for personal, racial, environmental and global community healing.

Jan Mullen, LCSW, has been using the IFS model since 1990 in a variety of settings with adults, children and families. She has presented workshops at the annual IFS Conference for 12 years on the utilization of the model in child therapy and with attachment issues, at the IFS Great Lakes Retreat and in other settings. She was the creator and editor of “Self to Self,” a publication of the Internal Family Systems Association, a gathering place for the sharing of information and ideas from the IFS community in it’s early days, and also created the original IFS Mandala, which has been used to illustrate and in teaching the model for many years. She is currently in private practice in Elgin, Illinois, where she provides telehealth treatment to both children and adults, and offers consultation to IFS therapists.

Sabrina Santa-Clara, MA, LCPC, R-DMT, RYT, is an L3 IFSI Certified Therapist and Consultant who has been working with the Internal Family Systems model for about 25 years. She has extensive training in somatic psychotherapy, dance/movement therapy, mindfulness/meditation, creative and expressive arts and numerous allied modalities. which she seamlessly integrates with the IFS model. As an elder both in life and within the IFS community, she offers a variety of workshops expanding the IFS model, both privately and with Fluence Training. Sabrina is a dedicated educator, combining didactic and experiential learning in her teaching. Along with community workshops and education for healing professionals, she provides training on ethics and use of psychotherapeutic touch. Sabrina is bilingual (Spanish), culturally mixed and gender fluid. She is an artist, poet, and dancer who lives in the in-between spaces. To learn more about Sabrina and her work, please visit her website at SabrinaSantaClara.com.

Hanna Soumerai Rea, LICSW, an approved IFS clinical consultant and certified IFS therapist is the Clinical Director for the Internal Family Systems research and therapy program at Cambridge Health Alliance, where she provides IFS therapy for PTSD in individual and group therapy, develops curricula for research studies and services, and provides supervision to staff and fellows. In private practice, she also specializes in OCD and the LGBTQ+ population. Hanna’s lived experience includes being a queer-identified person, and is a mother who has personally benefitted from IFS therapy.

Tanis Allen, LMSW, ACSW, your “camp director,” is a Certified IFS Therapist and clinical consultant in private practice in Ann Arbor, specializing in work with depression and anxiety, eating disorders, grief and loss issues and mentoring other therapists learning the model. She has been training in and teaching the model for over 25 years, having completed Level 1 training in 2003, Level 2 in 2007 and Level 3 in 2019. Tanis has been a frequent presenter at the annual IFS national conference as well as other venues, has served as a PA many times, and is author of a new book being published at the end of this year by Penquin/Random House Books titled, “The Self-Led Internal Family Systems Workbook: Learn to Use IFS Skills to Understand and Love All Your Parts.” With the help of our wonderfully gifted teachers and committed supporters in the IFS Great Lakes tribe, she created the IFS Great Lakes Retreat in 2015. She is so thrilled to gather with all of you on the shores of beautiful Crystal Lake and Lake Michigan’s Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, which has been a lifelong source of healing and inspiration for her, and she is hopeful that all of you will find that here as well.....