“How did the rose ever open its heart and give to this world all of its beauty? It felt the encouragement of light against its being; otherwise we all remain too frightened”
Daniel Ladinsky, Love Poems From God
“Out of love and care for yourself, send your love and compassion to your hurt, then forgive. It is the door to your freedom.”
David McArthur and Bruce McArthur, The Intelligent Heart
Internal Family Systems Model (IFS)
Michele Lucas is a
Level Three Trained IFS TherapistWhat is the Internal Family Systems Model?
In the words of its founder, Dr. Richard Schwartz, IFS is a vehicle for personal healing and growth and for spiritual development.
The foundational belief in IFS is that each of us has a Self that is capable of leading us through daily life with wisdom and compassion, for ourselves and for others. In the IFS model, the client and therapist partner in an effort to support the client in discovering their own Self energy, and how to strengthen and hold Self energy in daily life, even when provoked to behave from a less developed part of the personality.
IFS is a systems model. It brings us into contact with our own internal system of voices who speak quietly and unremittingly to us about us. We all have them. They create internal self-criticism and self-doubt, fear, anger, sadness, and more. Most people agree that internal messages take up a lot of space. When they take up too much space, Self energy has difficulty getting through and we suffer losses of confidence, serenity, joy, all the positive thinking and emotional states. IFS creates the atmosphere for working with these inner states with creativity, understanding, and compassion; and to help them unburden from the “old business” they carry from the past and bring into the present.
One of the mottos of IFS is all parts are welcome. If you have difficulty accepting parts of yourself, this model may help you shift your perception. If you would more information, please contact Michele at 203-852-9874.
