Is Internal Family Systems Therapy Right For Me?
Online IFS Therapy Increases Accessibility to Self-Discovery, Healing & Transformation
Are you at a crossroads in your therapy? Are you seeking support, but have uncertainty about next steps? Or perhaps you’re considering therapy for the first time and are weighing your very heavy load of options. You have landed in the right place. Internal Family SystemsSM (IFS) therapy is valued for providing effective and evidenced-based therapy that offers sustained change in areas related to anxiety, depression, chronic stress, complex trauma and so much more.
How IFS is unique:
Access to Your True Self:
IFS developer Richard Schwartz, PhD goes one step further than his family systems theory contemporaries: he views the root of our distress as our inability to live as our most intuitive Self, which is how we refer to the core of our being in IFS. Self energy is our calm, creative and compassionate inner energy and wisdom that often gets obscured by the parts of our personality that took on extreme roles in order to survive an often rejecting and dangerous world. Self is the mechanism that gives clients the strength, hope, and compassion to face parts of themselves that may be difficult or uncomfortable to acknowledge. Self is who we return to when our parts are released from their confining roles.
Healing occurs incrementally and continually. Instead of homework assignments like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, IFS gives us the opportunity to experience our Self over and over again. We are asked to view our complexity objectively and from a place of wisdom and grace. We are given the agency to be the leaders and experts in our own healing, as this is where true transformation occurs.
Offers a Holistic Approach:
In contrast to many other therapy modalities, IFS works to remove what constrains the health of the internal system instead of addressing isolated symptoms or pathologies. This is an important distinction because treating the system at large allows understanding for every part of us that has played a vital role in our survival. IFS does not want to simply eradicate anxiety or grief, for example, instead it invites us to release the painful burdens that parts of us carry from traumatic or challenging experiences, and to help those parts return to their preferred roles. Through deep understanding, genuine appreciation, and deep listening, we resolve the root cause of our suffering. When our parts are met with inclusion, unity, collaboration, flexibility, and choice -- when their voices are truly heard -- we offer them (and us) the gifts of healing and wholeness.
Allows for Appreciation of All of You:
The Model appeals and draws us in because, to many of us, it just makes sense. How often in our daily lives are we confronted with very different and often quite conflicted parts of us -- the one who shows up for work and the one who shows up for play? How often can we sense our competing sides at war? We say, “a part of me wants to exercise, but another part of me wants to curl up on the couch and watch a show” or “in many ways, I’m excited to have a child, but I’m also terrified of becoming a parent.” Both in our everyday choices, and as we step back to write the narrative of our life, we can see different sides of us yearning to be heard and vying for control. IFS invites us to see our multiplicity with compassion and understanding. We are offered a deep (but gentle) dive into our inner workings, in which we can see ourselves for all the richness of who we really are.
What to expect from IFS therapy:
When you imagine your healing, what do you see? What do you feel? Who might you become?
IFS therapy is the best choice for unlocking your inner truth and becoming the leader in your healing. IFS normalizes and celebrates that we are all naturally multiple and that we have the inherent tools to bring balance to our disharmonious inner world.
Exploration:
Our internal world often reflects the impact of relationships, attachment wounds, and traumas that we had in childhood, especially with our primary caregivers. These experiences, memories and beliefs often manifest as sensations, voices, emotional states, impulses, or images. IFS acknowledges that all of us have ongoing and complex relationships with the many different parts of us. Self energy gifts us with the ability to engage with these parts in a non-judgemental and caring way so that they can be identified, explored, and transformed.
Safety:
Since even extreme parts of us are inherently worthwhile, it makes it easier for you to explore any behavior or thought that feels troubling. Your therapist will pace the work according to each individual, with the goal of safe and lasting integration of new understanding and change.
Healing:
IFS therapy offers a chance to build a lasting and better relationship with ourselves in all our complexity. The Model invites us to look at parts of ourselves that we adore and trust and also parts of us that may feel terrifying or full of shame. We may feel new, raw, fragmented and whole all at once as we begin to understand and appreciate the brilliance of our survival. Through IFS, we learn to see parts of ourselves as a landscape to explore rather to avoid, to appreciate rather than to degrade.
The Model so powerfully and skillfully allows us to be understood exactly as we are, which in itself, is a healing force. By honoring our parts’ concerns and needs and by experiencing Self energy, clients are led toward a new orientation of the Self. As our inner world shifts, we begin to integrate new truths, our “all or nothing” thinking adapts to incorporate more nuance, and we begin to feel whole again. And even when our burdens soften, IFS leaves us with a regular practice of meeting ourselves with curiosity and celebration.
Compassion:
Our healing allows us to also view people in our lives and the world at large differently. Once we understand the mechanisms of our own survival, we often have increased compassion for other people. We may recognize ourselves in each other and see our response to wounding as part of the human experience rather than something that separates us.
Healing with IFS Telehealth Collective
Does IFS sound like the healing you have been searching for? Are you ready to embark on true and enriching self-discovery? The IFS Telehealth Collective is a convenient and uniquely qualified option to support you in your IFS therapy journey. The Collective offers IFS therapy from trained and skilled clinicians and from the comfort of your home. Even prior to the current global crisis, we’ve known that the IFS model lends itself particularly well to online therapy, also known as telehealth, since much of the focus is directed inward. Telehealth offers the relief of not having to travel home or back to the office, allowing clients extra time in their own comfortable space to integrate shifts after powerful or emotional sessions.
Foundationally, the IFS Telehealth Collective is much more than a way of connecting clinicians and clients. We are a community of healing professionals who believe in the power of this model and are dedicated to applying it faithfully and authentically. To support this aim, our clinicians receive regular consultation and education from two IFS Lead Trainers and ongoing peer support from the Collective. This is in addition to a library of exclusive client resources: meditations, worksheets and handouts designed to support you in your healing journey.
What is an IFS therapy session like?
If you would like to be matched with an IFS trained clinician and live in California, New York, Florida, Massachusetts, Oregon or Michigan, please contact our Client Care Coordinator or call 503-447-3244.
If you don’t see your state listed above, join our Interest List, and we’ll notify you as soon as we begin seeing clients in your area. Don’t forget to join our newsletter for exciting updates and follow us on social media: Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
