About IFS

IFS is mindfulness based modality developed by Richard Schwartz, PhD 40 years ago when he started listening to how his clinical clients were talking about the different parts of themselves being conflicted.

​

The IFS model gives us a way to relate to different parts of ourselves that may take on pretty extreme roles to try to protect us from feeling pain. For example, over analyzing, perfectionism, self-criticism, caretaking, manipulation, dissociation, procrastination, addictions, to name a few.

Getting curious about and showing appreciation for those parts of us opens up the possibility to liberate ourselves from past pains that drive extreme behaviors. From there we can reintegrate our systems in a way that celebrates our strengths and resilience and live in integrity from a place of Self-leadership.

IFS is used in therapy rooms, classrooms, jails, businesses and more. It is a paradigm that has brought peace to many and is backed by research. While it can be practiced alone with at-home meditations or workbooks, doing the work with a trained practitioner can help with perspective, connection.​ and deeper healing.

​

​

​

"IFS has morphed over time from being exclusively about psychotherapy to becoming a kind of spiritual practice, although you don’t have to define yourself as spiritual to practice it. At its core, IFS is a loving way of relating internally (to your parts) and externally (to the people in your life), so in that sense, IFS is a life practice, as well. It’s something you can do on a daily, moment-to-moment basis—at any time, by yourself or with others."

- Richard Schwartz "No Bad Parts"