Internal Family Systems (IFS) is a therapeutic approach developed by Richard C. Schwartz, Ph.D., which views a person as made up of multiple sub-personalities or "parts," each with its distinct viewpoint and qualities.

🗝️ Key Concepts

• Self: “That ‘part’ of you which is not a part”
  • Awareness. Wholeness. Characterized by qualities like compassion, curiosity, calmness, and clarity.
• Parts: Sub-personalities or aspects of the psyche, each with its own perspective, feelings, memories, and agenda.
  • Exiles: Often carry burdens of painful experiences.
  • Protectors: Strive to keep the exiles suppressed and maintain a functional level of consciousness.

🪞 Stance

• Open, Curious, Compassionate
• Observe your parts like a loving mother would a child or a friend to a friend
• Don’t try to change the part
• There are no bad parts! They are all trying to serve in some way (even if they are doing so unskillfully)

🎯 Goals

1. Free the parts from their extreme roles
   • For example
2. Restore trust in the Self
3. Coordinate and harmonize the Self and the parts so they can work together as a team with the Self in charge

💬 A Session with Thyself

1. Ground yourself
   • Begin by pausing in and settling into the space you are in. Take some deep breaths. Notice the room around you. Ground your awareness in the present and access spaciousness if possible.
2. Share Content
   • Let Thyself know what challenge is coming up for you.
3. Explore the situation:
   • Speak about the challenge in terms of story, thoughts, and feelings coming up around it. This helps you tune in further to the situation.