Wholeness, that’s what we need.  We need our body, mind, and soul sync together.  We need our relationship with ourselves, with our families, with our friends, with our work in a balance.  We need wholeness.

What is Internal Family Systems (IFS)?

IFS therapy is a non-pathological form of therapy, and instead, helps clients support different parts of themselves and heal the burden these parts are carrying.

Starting in the 1980s, Richard C. Schwartz, PhD conceptualized IFS therapy and introduced the model in 1987.  The main idea is that we all have different parts of us, in order to survive and develop emotions, beliefs, expectations, and responsibilities about the world.  In therapy, we are learning to listen to these parts, understand what these parts need, and help these parts heal from within.    

THE MAIN PARTS IFS SHARED

IFS started with sharing that we have managers part, firefighters, and exiles.  Managers who are responsible for our everyday tasks, to make sure that we do and do them well.  Managers work very hard to avoid situations that may later on cause us pain.  Firefighters are there to make sure when our system gets overwhelmed, they can be there to shut it down.  You might experience it like feeling numb, avoiding, and not wanting to move.  Exiles carry our trauma.  Managers and firefighters might work very hard to make sure the exiles stay hidden to avoid pain.  IFS therapists see all these parts as carrying a story and function.  In therapy, the purpose is to help these parts work together instead of having one part dominate the system. From experience, I see clients have many more parts that can surface in therapy sessions.  We welcome them and provide these parts a safe place.  

SELF Energy

Other than parts, IFS therapists see that we all have self-energy that are consist of confidence, calmness, creativity, clarity, curiosity, courage, compassion, connectedness, presence, patience, perspective, persistence, and playfulness.