Internal Family Systems (IFS) approach to healing has been endorsed by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, a prominent global expert in trauma, as “the treatment method that all clinicians should know to treat clients effectively.” Dr. Gabor Maté, another well-known trauma expert, has even incorporated IFS into his own training program.

The basis of the IFS Model is that people are naturally comprised of different ‘Parts’. For instance, when deciding whether to attend a party, you might have a part that is excited about meeting new people, another part that is concerned about what to wear, one that would prefer an early night.

Everyone also has an inner wisdom, or ‘Self’, in addition to parts.

Self Energy is Characterised by the 7 C’s and 5 P’s.

The 5 P’s

• Patience
• Presence
• Perspective
• Perseverance
• Playfulness

In an effort to block these painful beliefs, protective parts adopt behaviours like perfectionism, hypervigilence, depression, dissociation, chronic self-criticism, relationship issues, addictive behaviours, obsessive behaviours, self-harm and suicidal ideation.

These Protectors stick around from our past experiences, even when the threats they protected us from are long gone. They mean well, but they can make us feel like we’re not good enough or that bad things will happen to us, jostling for power within the system, which leads to internal conflicts and an unbalanced system lacking harmony.

Using Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy, we aim to counteract this dynamic by nurturing Self-energy. From this place of strength, we engage in a compassionate dialogue with protective and exiled parts, gradually releasing their burdens, restoring equilibrium to the system.