What is IFS?
That we each, as humans, house within us an abundant source of resilience, hope, courage, goodness, compassion, and all else it takes to effectively navigate whatever comes our way (maybe it's a descriptor of the Human Spirit);
That each of us is much more than our dominant emotions, thoughts, sensations, and beliefs, and that, especially when they are extreme, they are there to protect us from pain and trauma experienced in our development and across life;
That paying attention to them, instead of dismissing them or suppressing them, could loosen their grip on us and allow us to bring healing to our inner system and become better versions of ourselves—our ideal being;
That this dynamic of multiple aspects of us and of our innate wisdom, when accessed, shifts our view of ourselves and others, allowing us to listen and care for others genuinely and without judgment, be open to life's changes, and facilitate our evolution toward greater inner peace and fulfillment;
That when the latter happens, we'll expand our capacity to resolve and transform conflict around us constructively and humanely;
… This is, in essence, the model of Self leadership. Whether imagined or real, it represents a serious shift in perspective and has been experientially seen as intuitive, promising to foster deeper healing and wellbeing.
And empirical evidence around the model's efficacy, as a paradigm and practice, is growing within psychotherapy and across daily activities in various settings.
[This model is rooted in the principles of IFS psychotherapy (Internal Family Systems) developed in the early eighties by Richard C. Schwartz, PhD, and written about in dozens of books and articles to date.]
The Foundation is the nonprofit arm of a growing IFS community of practice, focused on advancing independent research and applying the Self leadership philosophy, in conjunction with related human-development models, to foster individual, relational and collective healing in our world. The IFS Institute is the home of an expansive suite of IFS trainings. [Link to IFS Institute]
“Your ‘internal family’ is populated with a whole busload of inner children, and if you’re reasonably healthy, your [Self] is driving the bus, keeping the lovely, sometimes naughty, often unruly, scared, overprotective, and sometimes reckless, addicted, dissociative, sociopathic, or even suicidal parts from grabbing the wheel and hijacking the bus.”
—Lissa Rankin, MD
Lissa Rankin, MD, is a mind-body medicine physician, founder of the Whole Health Medicine Institute training program for physicians and other health care providers, and the New York Times bestselling author of Mind Over Medicine: Scientific Proof That You Can Heal Yourself.