Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Parts Work

We all have different parts. The part of us that wants to go to the gym and the other part that is tired and wants to relax and eat comfort food. The unresolved conflicts between different parts of ourselves can get us stuck and interfere with our healing.

Together we will start to pay attention to the inner conversations, especially during moments of stress or confusion. We get curious about the different parts of you. The parts of you might hold different ways of being and beliefs about yourself and the world. We start to understand when and why they were set in place to protect – typically they have been in place since your childhood.  

Most often, the function of these parts is to protect you in some way. For instance, an inner critic part says harsh and negative things in hopes that if you’ve told yourself all these negative things, then others can’t say anything worse. Others can’t hurt you because you’ve already beaten them to the punch.

Through mindfulness, curiosity and self-compassion we learn about the different parts. We come to understand that, while it might not always feel this way, the parts have worked so hard, often for years, to protect you. As we acknowledge and appreciate these well-intended parts and how hard they’ve been working, they begin to soften and we start to have a choice rather than living in autopilot mode. 

Payal utilises a combination of different parts model, including Internal Family Systems, Ego State Therapy and Structural Dissociation.