Internal Family Systems Coaching
The best way to describe the work I do with clients through Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS) is to imagine your life as a movie. In this movie, there are many different actors and actresses — each with their own script, role, and way of showing up.
Some of these actors may take on the role of the people-pleaser, always putting others first. Others might be the caretaker, the overthinker, the self-saboteur, the anxious part, or even the angry part. These “parts” are like characters in the story of your life. They each have a role, a way of thinking, feeling, and behaving — and most importantly, they each have a reason for showing up the way they do.
Through Internal Family Systems Therapy, the work we do is about stepping out of the roles these actors play and instead taking your seat as the managing director (known as Self in IFS) of your own movie. From this place, you can begin to get to know these parts, understand their purpose, and communicate with them. Often, we discover that these roles are protective — they are there to keep you safe, usually created in response to past pain or fear.
By connecting with your parts from a place of curiosity and compassion, we can uncover the root cause of their behaviours or feelings. Healing then begins to take place. And as this happens, something powerful shifts: the parts no longer need to hold onto fear, and their roles naturally change.
This is how the script of your life changes. Instead of being run by anxious, self-sabotaging, or protective roles, you step into greater freedom, clarity, and confidence — living as the true director of your story, writing a new script filled with growth, healing, and self-leadership.
Read more here.
Watch a video – Intro to Internal Family Systems (IFS) by Dr. Richartz Schwartz
