⎯ Making Sense of Self™ Certification ⎯
Know What to Do in Every Coaching Session,
No Matter What Your Client Brings In.
A 4-month training for coaches who want a repeatable parts-work method so you learn how to respond when a client freezes, becomes overwhelmed, or stays stuck in their head.
Taught by Trevor Bird, Certified IFS Practitioner, Certified Executive Coach, and an Internal Family Systems facilitator to coaches and clinicians.
Starts January 2027
limited spots.
Know What to Do in Every Coaching Session,
No Matter What Your Client Brings In.
A 4-month training For coaches who want a repeatable parts-work process so you learn how to respond when a client freezes, becomes overwhelmed, or stays stuck in their head.
Taught by Trevor Bird, Certified IFS Practitioner, Certified Executive Coach, and an Internal Family Systems facilitator to coaches and clinicians.
Starts January 2027
limited spots
Most of your clients already know their patterns.
They can describe them in detail: going quiet when their partner is upset, overworking when they feel behind, knowing their typical excuses, or just snapping at someone and spending the evening ashamed of it.
Knowing doesn't support change.
You’ve explored the pattern, clarified the goal, and helped them make a plan. But when it happens again, you’re left wondering what to ask next—and how to help without pushing.
The pattern keeps running because a part of them is doing a job. It's protecting them from something it believes would be worse. Until that part is understood, it keeps making the decisions.
Most coaches were never taught how to work with that directly. You learn it by doing it, with feedback, alongside people who are learning it with you. That's how you transform your coaching, and your clients.
This course combines two immersive in-person weekends in Collingwood with four months of guided practice, feedback, and consultation. You’ll learn a clear process for working with recurring client patterns and develop confidence applying it in your own coaching.
IN TREVOR'S WORDS
"The practitioners and professionals I work with already have good instincts. What they're missing is a language for what they're already seeing. Once you have that, you stop guessing and start actually knowing what's happening in the room with your clients. Your ability to assess and support is necessary for their transformation. Making Sense of Self™ is about understanding what's driving the stuck places and adding value to your work, so your clients stop cycling through the same story and start getting somewhere new."
Trevor Bird, founder of Making Sense of Inner Conflict
Most of your clients already know their patterns.
They can describe them in detail: going quiet when their partner is upset, overworking when they feel behind, snapping at someone and spending the evening ashamed of it.
Knowing doesn't support change.
You’ve explored the pattern, clarified the goal, and helped them make a plan. But when it happens again, you’re left wondering what to ask next—and how to help without pushing.
The pattern keeps running because a part of them is doing a job. It's protecting them from something it believes would be worse. Until that part is understood, it keeps making the decisions.
Most coaches were never taught how to work with that directly. You learn it by doing it, with feedback, alongside people who are learning it with you. That's how you transform your coaching, and your clients.
This course combines two immersive in-person weekends in Collingwood with four months of guided practice, feedback, and consultation. You’ll learn a clear process for working with recurring client patterns and develop confidence applying it in your own coaching.
IN TREVOR'S WORDS
"The practitioners and professionals I work with already have good instincts. What they're missing is a language for what they're already seeing. Once you have that, you stop guessing and start actually knowing what's happening in the room with your clients. Your ability to assess and support is necessary for their transformation. Making Sense of Self™ is about understanding what's driving the stuck places and adding value to your work, so your clients stop cycling through the same story and start getting somewhere new."
Trevor Bird, founder of Making Sense of Inner Conflict
Who The Making Sense of Self™ Certification is for
For coaches ready to bring transformation into their client work.
Your clients understand their patterns and yet still repeat them.
You want to help them turn that awareness into meaningful choices and transformation.
You want a process that connects your existing skills.
Bring your questions, goal-setting, and action planning together within a framework you can use across coaching situations.
You want structure while keeping the work client-led.
Know where you are in the conversation and how to respond at the client’s pace.
You want to deepen the work within coaching scope.
Develop your judgment about what to explore, when to slow down, and when another kind of support is needed.
You want to know your coaching is making a difference.
Your clients leave with transformational insights. You want to help them translate those insights into changes in how they decide, act, and respond in everyday life.
You want feedback on how you actually coach.
Practise the process, receive direct guidance, and bring questions from your client work as you learn to apply it.
Who The Making Sense of Self™ Certification is for
For coaches ready to bring transformation into their client work.
Your clients understand their patterns and yet still repeat them.
You want to help them turn that awareness into meaningful choices and transformation.
You want a process that connects your existing skills.
Bring your questions, goal-setting, and action planning together within a framework you can use across coaching situations.
You want structure while keeping the work client-led.
Know where you are in the conversation and how to respond at the client’s pace.
You want to deepen the work within coaching scope.
Develop your judgment about what to explore, when to slow down, and when another kind of support is needed.
You want to know your coaching is making a difference.
Your clients leave with transformational insights. You want to help them translate those insights into changes in how they decide, act, and respond in everyday life.
You want feedback on how you actually coach.
Practise the process, receive direct guidance, and bring questions from your client work as you learn to apply it.
⎯ Making Sense of Self™ Certification ⎯
A process you can bring into every session
Trevor has refined this method over 10,000+ hours of coaching clients and 1,000+ hours teaching clinicians and practitioners. It's built around three layers.
Understanding creates awareness
↓
Awareness creates choice
↓
Choice builds self-trust.
Across four months, you’ll journey through these layers within the Laws of Inner Conflict and learn a five-stage process for helping clients recognize patterns, make sense of them, and live differently.
You’ll experience the work as the client, then practice as the coach. With an emphasis on demonstration, feedback, 1:1 coaching, integration, and client consultation throughout.
01
Way of seeing
The Laws of Inner Conflict
A set of principles that explain how the inner world works, so you understand what you're looking at before you support transformation. Here's the first one:
What you don't face will run you.
The rest you'll learn in the room, alongside the stories and client work that show why each one holds value to your clients.
02
A map of the client journey
Making Sense of Self™ Framework
A five-stage framework helps you recognize where the client is and respond at their pace. Here's where the journey starts, and where it leads:
Stage 01 Stage 05
"Something isn't working." "I trust myself."
Five stages to help you orient the coaching conversation, follow the client’s pace, and support their movement from awareness into meaningful action.
03
getTing unstuck
When the Session Gets Stuck
Stuck happens to clients and coaches alike. You feel the pull to push, fix, or rescue. You’ll learn to explore these moments with curiosity, check what the client needs, and agree on how to proceed.
How the Making Sense of Self™ certification Unfolds
Four modules.
Experience the process.
Apply it.
Live attendance is encouraged. All online sessions are recorded and available for you to access for continued learning or missed sessions.
Module 1
Recognizing Inner Conflict
Learn to recognize the inner conflict beneath a familiar reaction. Experience turning your attention inward, then practise helping clients move from explaining their experience to noticing it. Find a starting point when a client goes quiet, stays in their head, or doesn’t know where to begin. Learn to introduce the process clearly and decide with the client how it fits their goals.
Module 2
What Keeps Patterns in Place
Understand why a pattern keeps showing up, what it protects, and what it costs. Explore self-criticism, avoidance, and the pull between wanting change and fearing it. Practise helping clients explore how past experiences and unmet needs may influence present choices, with their permission and in service of their current coaching goals.
Module 3
Turning Awareness into Choice
Help clients clarify who they want to become and how they want to live. Practise exploring the fears and competing needs that make change difficult, without taking sides. Help clients choose a direction and meaningful next steps they can stand behind.
Module 4
Building Self-Trust Through Action
Bring the full process together in complete coaching sessions. Practise helping clients follow through, learn from setbacks, and respond when familiar patterns return. Notice your own pull to push, fix, rescue, or withdraw—and use feedback and consultation to refine how you respond.
what you'll learn
A process you can bring into every session
Trevor has refined this method over 10,000+ hours of coaching clients and 1,000+ hours teaching clinicians and practitioners. It's built around three layers.
Understanding creates awareness
↓
Awareness creates choice
↓
Choice builds self-trust.
Across four months, you’ll journey through these layers within the Laws of Inner Conflict and learn a five-stage process for helping clients recognize patterns, make sense of them, and live differently.
You’ll experience the work as the client, then practice as the coach. With an emphasis on demonstration, feedback, 1:1 coaching, integration, and client consultation throughout.
01
The Laws of Inner Conflict
Way of seeing
A set of principles that explain how the inner world works, so you understand what you're looking at before you try to support transformation. Here's the first one:
What you don't face will run you.
The rest you'll learn in the room, alongside the stories and client work that show why each one holds value to your clients.
02
Making Sense of Self™
A map of the
client journey
A five-stage framework helps you recognize where the client is and respond at their pace. Here's where the journey starts, and where it leads:
Stage 01 Stage 05
"Something isn't working." "I trust myself."
Five stages to help you orient the coaching conversation, follow the client’s pace, and support their movement from awareness into meaningful action.
03
When the Session Gets Stuck
getTing unstuck
Stuck happens to clients and coaches alike. You feel the pull to push, fix, or rescue. You’ll learn to explore these moments with curiosity, check what the client needs, and agree on how to proceed.
How the Learning Unfolds
Four modules.
Experience the process.
Apply it.
Live attendance is encouraged. All online sessions are recorded and available for you to access for continued learning or missed sessions.
Module 1
Recognizing Inner Conflict
Learn to recognize the inner conflict beneath a familiar reaction. Experience turning your attention inward, then practise helping clients move from explaining their experience to noticing it. Find a starting point when a client goes quiet, stays in their head, or doesn’t know where to begin. Learn to introduce the process clearly and decide with the client how it fits their goals.
Module 2
What Keeps Patterns in Place
Understand why a pattern keeps showing up, what it protects, and what it costs. Explore self-criticism, avoidance, and the pull between wanting change and fearing it. Practise helping clients explore how past experiences and unmet needs may influence present choices, with their permission and in service of their current coaching goals.
Module 3
Turning Awareness into Choice
Help clients clarify who they want to become and how they want to live. Practise exploring the fears and competing needs that make change difficult, without taking sides. Help clients choose a direction and meaningful next steps they can stand behind.
Module 4
Building Self-Trust Through Action
Bring the full process together in complete coaching sessions. Practise helping clients follow through, learn from setbacks, and respond when familiar patterns return. Notice your own pull to push, fix, rescue, or withdraw—and use feedback and consultation to refine how you respond.
who leads this work?
Trevor Bird
Certified IFS Practitioner, Certified Executive Coach, founder of Making Sense of Inner Conflict, and creator of Making Sense of Self™
10,000+ hours
coaching clients
1,000+ hours teaching
along with consultation and supervision
1,000+ professionals
taught through courses and live demonstrations
"Trevor is a practitioner who clearly embodies a Self lead internal system and is seamlessly able to bring this into his work with clients. His compassion and curiosity create palpable safety that allows for deep and intensely meaningful growth. Trevor's capacity to hold a loving and fiercely honest space is incredibly unique and in service to awakening greater awareness within himself and others. He is a brave guide and participant in the exploration of the human heart." — Lorri Ballard, LPCC
What's inside the Course?
Four months.
Eight coaches.
Real practice.
Outside of the two in-person intensives you can expect to spend up to 90 mins in live calls scheduled on Thursdays starting January 28. Homework and resources offered as additional learning opportunities.
In person dates
Weekend 1
January 09–10, 2027 · 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM Collingwood, ON
Weekend 2
March 27–28, 2027 · 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM · Collingwood, ON
The Sessions
Two 2-day in-person intensives
Deep, focused coaching where we will draw upon trauma-informed modalities like IFS, inner-child work, shadow work, in a unique process. These weekends are built entirely around you. You experience the process as the client and apply your experience as the coach.
Demonstration → Embodiment → Practise → Feedback → Apply it → Get Consultation. REPEAT.
Be the coach and the client
Supervised practice groups
In 90-minute online sessions, rotate through coach, client, and observer roles. Practise the process, receive direct feedback on how you use it, and identify what to refine. Bring questions from your own coaching work. If you miss an online group session, watch the replay and complete a short reflection.
Practice Calls
Thu, Jan 28 | 5:00–6:30 PM EST
Thu, Mar 4 | 5:00–6:30 PM EST
Thu, Apr 8 | 5:00–6:30 PM EDT
Thu, Apr 22 | 5:00–6:30 PM EDT
Learn and apply
Integration and consultation calls
The full cohort meets online for four 90-minute integration calls to work through what’s coming up in real sessions—the “what do I do here?” moments. Personalized feedback summaries will also be provided. If you miss an online group session, watch the replay and complete a short reflection.
Integration Calls
Thu, Feb 18 | 5:00–6:30 PM EST
Thu, Mar 11 | 5:00–6:30 PM EST
Thu, Apr 15 | 5:00–6:30 PM EDT
Thu, Apr 29 | 5:00–6:30 PM EDT
Your learning is seen
Workbook, exercises, recordings & community
Sessions are recorded outside of the in-person weekend. You'll receive a workbook, personalized supportive resources, repeated practice, and learn within a consistent group. You will grow professionally and personally alongside others and apply what you've learned in real time.
1:1 Coaching & Assessment
Two Individual Mastery Calls
Two 60-minute 1:1 sessions to support your application of Making Sense of Self™. The first focuses on your practice, questions, and development. Before the final call, you’ll submit a coaching recording for assessment. Together, you’ll review your approach, receive personalized feedback, and review your certification outcome.
Certification
Making Sense of Self™
Become a Certified Making Sense of Self™ Facilitator upon meeting the training and assessment requirements. Issued by Making Sense of Inner Conflict, this certification recognizes your ability to apply the method within a coaching scope.
40 hours of Live learning
$2,900 CAD
+ taxes
Payment plans available.
Room and board not included. Lunch will be provided.
who leads this work?
Trevor Bird
Certified IFS Practitioner, Certified Executive Coach, founder of Making Sense of Inner Conflict and creator of Making Sense of Self™
10,000+
hours
coaching clients
1,000+ hours teaching
along with consultation and supervision
1,000+ professionals
taught through courses and live demonstrations
"Trevor is a practitioner who clearly embodies a Self lead internal system and is seamlessly able to bring this into his work with clients. His compassion and curiosity create palpable safety that allows for deep and intensely meaningful growth. Trevor's capacity to hold a loving and fiercely honest space is incredibly unique and in service to awakening greater awareness within himself and others. He is a brave guide and participant in the exploration of the human heart." — Lorri Ballard LPCC
What's inside the training?
Four months. Eight coaches. Real practice.
Outside of the two in-person intensives you can expect to spend up to 90 mins in live calls scheduled on Thursdays starting January 28. Homework and resources offered as additional learning opportunities.
In person dates
Weekend 1
January 09–10, 2027 · 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM · Collingwood, ON
Weekend 2
March 27–28, 2027 · 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM · Collingwood, ON
The Sessions
Two 2-day in-person intensives
Deep, focused coaching where we will draw upon trauma-informed modalities like IFS, inner-child work, shadow work, in a unique process. These weekends are built entirely around you. You experience the process as the client and apply your experience as the coach.
Demonstration → Embodiment → Practise → Feedback → Apply it → Get Consultation.
REPEAT.
Be the coach and the client
Supervised practice groups
In 90-minute online sessions, rotate through coach, client, and observer roles. Practise the process, receive direct feedback on how you use it, and identify what to refine. Bring questions from your own coaching work. If you miss an online group session, watch the replay and complete a short reflection.
Practice Calls
Thu, Jan 28 | 5:00–6:30 PM EST
Thu, Mar 4 | 5:00–6:30 PM EST
Thu, Apr 8 | 5:00–6:30 PM EDT
Thu, Apr 22 | 5:00–6:30 PM EDT
Learn & apply
Integration with consultation
The full cohort meets online for four 90-minute integration calls to work through what’s coming up in real sessions—the “what do I do here?” moments. Personalized feedback summaries will also be provided. If you miss an online group session, watch the replay and complete a short reflection.
Integration Calls
Thu, Feb 18 | 5:00–6:30 PM EST
Thu, Mar 11 | 5:00–6:30 PM EST
Thu, Apr 15 | 5:00–6:30 PM EDT
Thu, Apr 29 | 5:00–6:30 PM EDT
Your learning is seen
Workbook, exercises, recordings & community
You'll receive a workbook, personalized supportive resources, repeated practice, access to all online recorded sessions, and learn within a supportive group dynamic. You will grow professionally and personally alongside others and apply what you've learned in real time.
1:1 Coaching & Assessment
Two Individual Mastery Calls
Two 60-minute 1:1 sessions to support your application of Making Sense of Self™. The first focuses on your practice, questions, and development. Before the final call, you’ll submit a coaching recording for assessment. Together, you’ll review your approach, receive personalized feedback, and review your certification outcome.
Certification
Making Sense of Self™
Become a Certified Making Sense of Self™ Facilitator upon meeting the training and assessment requirements. Issued by Making Sense of Inner Conflict, this certification recognizes your ability to apply the method within a coaching scope.
40+ hours of LIVE learning + Certification
$2,900 CAD
+ taxes
Payment plans available.
Room and board not included. Lunch will be provided.
Can't make these dates?
Be the first to hear about the next cohort.
If the timing doesn't work this round, leave your name and email. We'll let you know as soon as the next dates are set.
Can't make these dates?
Be the first to hear about the next cohort.
If the timing doesn't work this round, leave your name and email. We'll let you know as soon as the next dates are set.
What makes this Training different?
Built for the coach's chair.
You learn a process,
not just a model.
Understanding how the inner world works is a starting point. This course teaches you what to do with it in a session, so you have somewhere to go when a client gets stuck.
You sit in the coach's chair
and the client's.
Demonstrations with real debrief, dyad and triad work, and supervised practice with feedback. You learn by doing it, not by watching someone else do it well.
Built for coaches,
with scope built in.
Build confidence responding when a client gets stuck. Learn what to explore, when to slow down, and when a client needs support beyond coaching—while keeping their goals and pace at the centre.
Integration that
outlasts.
Across four months, bring questions from your coaching sessions, reflect on what worked, and receive guidance on where you got stuck—so you can keep refining how you use the process.
What makes this course different?
Built for the coach's chair.
You learn a process,
not just a model.
Understanding how the inner world works is a starting point. This course teaches you what to do with it in a session, so you have somewhere to go when a client gets stuck.
You sit in the coach's chair
and the client's.
Demonstrations with real debrief, dyad and triad work, and supervised practice with feedback. You learn by doing it, not by watching someone else do it well.
Built for coaches,
with scope built in.
Build confidence responding when a client gets stuck. Learn what to explore, when to slow down, and when a client needs support beyond coaching—while keeping their goals and pace at the centre.
Integration that
outlasts.
Across four months, bring questions from your coaching sessions, reflect on what worked, and receive guidance on where you got stuck—so you can keep refining how you use the process.
What becomes possible
What changes in your practice.
You see what's beneath the pattern.
You learn to recognize the inner conflict that may be keeping a familiar pattern in place, helping clients explore what’s happening with curiosity.
You'll help clients move from self-judgment toward understanding.
You'll learn through practice to help clients explore difficult reactions with curiosity and choose how they want to respond.
You know where you are in the work.
With the framework as your map, you can tell whether a client needs to see the pattern, understand it, or practise something new, and pace the work to match.
You stay steady when the room isn't.
Instead of rushing to solve, you slow things down and help the client reconnect with their own clarity. The room doesn't have to be calm for you to be steady.
Your coaching becomes client-led.
You're not expected to have every answer. You help clients reach their own direction, until they can say, and mean it, "I trust myself."
Your existing tools finally connect.
Use the process alongside the questions, goal-setting, and action planning you already know, with a clearer understanding of when and how to draw on them.
In their words - testimonials from professionals trevor has Taught
"What I connected with the most is seeing how much work Trevor has done in his own life and how honest he is about his own journey."
"Trevor brought so much vulnerability and care into each session. I appreciated his candor and approach as it helped me to understand people different from myself on a deeper level."
"Very generous with sharing his experience, expertise, knowledge and vulnerability. Understands questions and answers them well."
What becomes possible
What changes in your practice.
You see what's beneath the pattern.
You learn to recognize the inner conflict that may be keeping a familiar pattern in place, helping clients explore what’s happening with curiosity.
You'll help clients move from self-judgment toward understanding.
You'll learn through practice to help clients explore difficult reactions with curiosity and choose how they want to respond.
You know where you are in the work.
With the framework as your map, you can tell whether a client needs to see the pattern, understand it, or practise something new, and pace the work to match.
You stay steady when the room isn't.
Instead of rushing to solve, you slow things down and help the client reconnect with their own clarity. The room doesn't have to be calm for you to be steady.
Your coaching becomes client-led.
You're not expected to have every answer. You help clients reach their own direction, until they can say, and mean it, "I trust myself."
Your existing tools finally connect.
Use the process alongside the questions, goal-setting, and action planning you already know, with a clearer understanding of when and how to draw on them.
testimonials from professionals trevor has led
"What I connected with the most is seeing how much work Trevor has done in his own life and how honest he is about his own journey."
"Trevor brought so much vulnerability and care into each session. I appreciated his candor and approach as it helped me to understand people different from myself on a deeper level."
"Very generous with sharing his experience, expertise, knowledge and vulnerability. Understands questions and answers them well."
Imagine being able to say...
"I can recognize what may be happening beneath a client's patterns instead of immediately trying to fix them."
"I have a compassionate framework for navigating internal conflict."
"I can support clients in accessing their own clarity instead of feeling responsible for providing every answer."
"IFS gives me a foundation that connects the coaching tools I already use."
"I feel more grounded when strong emotions enter a coaching conversation."
"I know how to help clients approach themselves with greater curiosity and self-compassion."
Imagine being able to say...
"I can recognize what may be happening beneath a client's patterns instead of immediately trying to fix them."
"I have a compassionate framework for navigating internal conflict."
"I can support clients in accessing their own clarity instead of feeling responsible for providing every answer."
"IFS gives me a foundation that connects the coaching tools I already use."
"I feel more grounded when strong emotions enter a coaching conversation."
"I know how to help clients approach themselves with greater curiosity and self-compassion."
FAQ
Questions, answered.
Do I need to arrange my own accommodation?
Yes. Room and board aren't included, so you'll need to arrange your own stay in Collingwood for the in-person weekends. Lunch is provided on all four in-person days.
Do I need to be a coach to join?
Yes. Making Sense is built for people who are currently coaching or entering the coaching field. No previous parts work experience is required.
Can I get a recording if I miss a session?
Yes, all online group sessions are recorded. If you miss a session, watch the replay and submit a short reflection on what you learned and how you would apply it in your coaching. All in-person training days must be attended. If something comes up, a transfer to another cohort may be possible.
What are the certification requirements?
Upon completing the required training and demonstrating the assessment criteria in a submitted coaching recording, you’ll become a Certified Making Sense of Self™ Facilitator. Your final mastery call includes personalized feedback and your certification outcome. If further development is needed, you’ll receive clear guidance on what to practise before reassessment.
Is IFS part of this training?
Yes. With Making Sense of Self™ you’ll learn to integrate IFS-informed parts work within a coaching scope. You will use a trauma-informed process that draws on Internal Family Systems, shadow work, and inner child work. Trevor is a Certified IFS Practitioner trained through the IFS Institute. This course is offered by Making Sense of Inner Conflict and is not affiliated with the IFS Institute, nor does it count toward IFS certification.
Is this different from therapy?
Yes. This is a coaching course, not therapy. You'll practise as both the coach and the client, so personal material may come up for you, but the course isn't a substitute for your own therapy or mental health care. You will also learn to recognize when a client's needs go beyond coaching, and how to refer them to a mental health professional when they do.
Is there a payment plan?
Yes! You can choose a monthly payment plan at check out.
What if I join and it's not the right fit?
You have 30 days from the first scheduled training session to decide whether the program is right for you. If it isn’t, simply email us within that time and we’ll refund your payments, less the $200 deposit retained to cover committed in-person costs. Any remaining payment-plan instalments will be cancelled.
The 2027 cohort is now open.
Bring a clear process into the moments that leave you wondering what to do next.
Eight coaches. Four months.
Spots are limited and fill in the order registrations come in.
The 2027 cohort is now open.
Bring a clear process into the moments that leave you wondering what to do next.
Spots are limited and fill in the order registrations come in.
© 2026 Making Sense of Inner Conflict
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© 2026 Making Sense of Inner Conflict
Privacy Policy | Terms and Conditions | Disclaimer