Working with the Inner Critic:  An Internal Family Systems Approach for the Buddhist Practitioner

Saturday March 7, 2026 9 am to 4 pm CST

 Online, in person at 48023 San Felipe St, Houston Tx and via recording at a later date

 Tuition is offered on a sliding scale. Dawn Mountain also offers financial assistance, you can read about it here. 

We all know what it is like to feel terrible about ourselves due to self-criticism.  It sometimes occurs in our relationships, sometimes based on early events, and sometimes due to later traumatic incidents. Certainly, in spiritual traditions, where there are many suggestions for optimal behavior and practice, there is a tidal wave of opportunities for painfully feeling, “I am falling short. I am bad.” As a therapist and Buddhist teacher, I have become aware that the system of understanding human behavior called internal Family Systems (IFS), has helpful ways of explaining our internal experience and skillful ways of working to alleviate self-criticism and blame. We have found a senior IFS consultant who has agreed to share helpful perspective on working with ourselves to soften the terrible slings and arrows of self-hate.  This one-day event is not an alternative to therapy, nor is it offered as therapy, but rather as helpful guidance to Buddhist practitioners for ways of more kindly being with ourselves, in line with Buddhist values of love, compassion, mindfulness, and self-awareness. 

Presenter: Fran Booth, Clinical Social Worker, over 40 years’ experience, trainer with the iFS institute, and experience working, teaching, and supervising at numerous mental health organizations.

Moderator and Facilitator: Harvey B. Aronson, Clinical Social Worker, and Lama at Dawn Mountain, Tibetan Buddhist Center, with 40 years of clinical experience and over 50 years working with students studying Buddhism.