What is ‘IFS’?
IFS stands for Internal Family Systems. The premise of IFS is that, we have a core Self and multiple internal parts of ourselves interacting together, like a family.
In my coaching practice, I use IFS to help you compassionately explore the parts of yourself that may be holding you back from living your best life. This process will provide you with deeper insight and mastery of your inner landscape, empowering you to show up fully and make meaningful changes that support your well-being.
The more we can be open minded to ourselves the more we can learn and grow
Richard Schwartz
Who created IFS?
Internal Family Systems was create Richard Schwartz, a family therapist. His discovery after working with numerous clients over many years was that all people speak about parts of themselves. Some of these parts are angry, fierce and controlling, there are problem solvers, playful parts, spiritual gurus and vulnerable children.
Richard found that when experiences happen in life, that cause parts of ourselves to feel unsafe there can be a disturbance in the system, that impacts our inner Witness or Compassionate Self which is the part of us that supports the resolution of healing our inner conflicts and wounds.
Parts work is nothing new, they are referred in various therapeutic modalities as the sub personalities we posses, the internalised, parent, child, adult, chooser, educator, critic etc and can be representative as archetypes.
IFS supports us to get to know these parts of ourselves in a unique way, from a compassionate perspective, helping them to choose more effective ways of supporting wellbeing in our lives.
My journey with IFS – parts work!
I was first introduced to the concept of parts (submodalities) during a Psychosynthesis Essentials course in the 1980s. I encountered the idea again in my NLP Mastery training and later through my work with Jungian concepts and Nonviolent Communication (NVC). In 2020, a friend introduced me to Internal Family Systems (IFS), and I immediately saw how well this approach aligned with my existing practices. I was delighted to discover a two-day introductory course with Ruud Baanders that combined IFS and NVC.
During a painful relationship breakup in 2023, I decided to work with an IFS therapist myself, experiencing first hand the benefit of this approach and decided to enrolled in a 6 month IFS Circle with IFS learning hub to deepen my personal professional understanding and skill. This means officially, I can state that I am IFS informed.
I utilize IFS processes in my coaching practice, supporting clients to strengthen Self and understand the parts of themselves with compassion.
Until you make the unconscious, conscious it will direct your life and you will call it fate
Carl Jung
IFS informed Coaching
I offer a compassionate embodied approach to coaching using: Nonviolent Communication (NVC) and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) processes, Internal Family Systems (IFS) informed practice and Authentic Movement.
We can work face to face, over the telephone, and online. This flexibility means that wherever you live, it is possible for us to achieve what you want.