Learning the Lens: Reflections from a Clinical Intern-How IFS Has Shaped Me as a Therapist

One of the biggest things that has shaped me personally and professionally during my counseling journey has been learning Internal Family Systems (IFS). When I first learned about IFS, I liked the idea of looking at people as having different “parts” of themselves. The more I learned about it and experienced it personally, though, the more it started changing the way I understood myself and my clients.

IFS helped me realize that there are parts of me that respond to situations for a reason. There may be a part that becomes anxious, a part that wants to fix everything, or even a part that wants to shut down. Before learning IFS, it was easier to look at those reactions as something I needed to change. IFS helped me become more curious about them instead. Being more curious has helped me have a lot more compassion and love for myself.

That same concept has carried over into the way I work with my clients. I have clients who struggle with anger, anxiety, guilt, people-pleasing, avoidance, and the need to constantly fix things. Instead of immediately trying to get rid of those behaviors, I have learned to slow down and become curious about what purpose they serve. 

IFS has also taught me that healing does not always come from fighting the parts of ourselves that we do not like. Sometimes those are the parts that need the most compassion. When clients are able to understand why a part of them exists, I have watched them become less judgmental toward themselves. I have also seen how powerful it can be for someone to realize that a behavior they dislike about themselves may have originally developed as a way to survive or protect themselves.

Personally, IFS has challenged me to do the same work that I ask my clients to do. I have had to become curious about my own reactions, recognize the parts of myself that still need healing, and learn that every feeling does not have to take control of me. IFS started as just a theory to learn and turned into a life changing intervention for me and my clients