
What is Internal Family Systems?
Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS) was developed by Richard Schwartz and offers a compassionate way to approach ourselves and our inner world. It acknowledges that we have parts of that may hold pain and burdens from our experiences, and that we have part of us that respond to that pain in order to protect ourselves from further pain and shame. Inherent in each of our inner worlds is Self-energy which helps deepen in the relationship with the parts of us from a compassionate, courageous, curious, and connectedness place within us.
As a Certified IFS Therapist, Kayla is deeply passionate about helping support individuals to heal and deepen in relationship with the parts of them that hold burdens of rejection and shame. She centers all individuals committed to this work, with a significant emphasis on QTBIPOC, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ communities.
There’s more happening inside us than we realize.
Shame and the Inner World
When shame meets our internal world, it has a systemic impact on all of our parts.
Shame often sounds like:
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“I'm unworthy and unlovable.”
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“I'm not enough.”
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"I don't belong.”
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“It's all my fault.”
But IFS gives us another question to ask:Who inside learned to believe this—and what happened that made that belief necessary?
Rather than simply trying to silence shame, we can become curious about the internal system that developed around it.
