Parts Work

The worried part of you asks, "What if we don't belong here?"

The critical part of you asks, "Why can't you figure it out, like everyone else?"

The fearful part of you asks, "Can't we just keep our head down?"

Parts come up in my client work all the time. And what do we usually do with these parts? We fight them. We suppress them. We let them take over. And they continue to show up more intensely, more disruptively.

𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘩𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨.

After seeing people be at war with themselves through conflicting "parts", and noticing how this tension was blocking people’s transformation, I began teaching myself concepts from Internal Family Systems (IFS), a modern parts-work therapy designed by Richard Schwartz.

Unlike traditional therapies, which can often cause us to “judge” our thoughts or pathologize our feelings, IFS takes a radically compassionate approach. It views the Self as a collection of "parts", guided by a wise inner leader. Each of our “parts” tries to protect us in some way - for example, by criticizing us, in order to “prepare” us for rejection - but each of these parts has the potential to heal, and become a healthy helper instead. All of it happens through the growth of the wise inner Self, and we strengthen this Self through behaviors like Curiosity, Compassion, Clarity, Connectedness, Calm, Creativity, and more.

When I've used IFS ideas in my work, clients have finally been able to sit with difficult parts of themselves that had dominated them for years. They were finally able to calm that inner battleground, as they developed Self-leadership and began moving away from avoidance, suppression, flooding, helplessness, and overwhelm.

It’s life-changing stuff.

On that note, that I've doubled down on my learning, by accepting an invitation from the IFS Institute to join their 𝐅𝐚𝐥𝐥 2025 𝐂𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐨𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭! Not only am I thrilled to be learning directly from the source, but, as someone who is a child of immigrants, I’m grateful to be learning with a diverse, international audience, through curriculum that is accredited by the ICF (International Coaching Federation). 🙌🏽 🥳 🏆

Through this training, I'll be deepening my skills in helping clients understand themselves, integrate all the parts of who they are, and achieve their dreams.

I'm so excited to keep building a world that is more compassionate, creative, and cohesive, through the lens of IFS.

Stay tuned for more learnings.