Intro To IFS, Catholic Christian Integration, And Therapy Sessions
Firstly, you do not have to know what Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy is before you can allow yourself to be healed by the model. However, parts of you may want to know more information about IFS. They may wonder if IFS is compatible with the Catholic faith. I hope to shed some light on the IFS process and how it can be compatible with the faith.
IFS is a form of psychotherapy that is evidence-based, can foster inner harmony, and can unburden the parts of us that feel heavy-laden. It is the process of getting to know and getting to healing parts. We all have parts; God made us and all of our parts good. When unburdened, our parts function in the way God intended. The goal of faith-integrated IFS is just that, to unburden parts so that we can live as God wills.
You may be curious about what an IFS session looks like. I normally have clients engage in “insight,” which involves inviting clients to close their eyes and notice what is occurring interiorly. However, some clients are better interior observers with their eyes open. Whether you have your eyes closed or opened, the key is observing the interior world. As you pay attention interiorly, you may notice different parts come up. You can notice parts in different forms, such as emotions, thoughts, physical sensations, memories, and urges.
Once you are in contact with a part, I will then guide you in getting to know a part. Your job is to notice what is going on in your interior world, let me know, and allow yourself to be guided by me. Whatever you notice lets me know how to guide you. I will then give you prompts that are flexible and easy to follow, and you can follow them in whatever way makes sense to you. If the prompt is not making sense, let me know. IFS is meant to feel natural and intuitive. If you are feeling like you are trying really hard, or thinking of how to do something, then that lets me know that certain parts feel like they need to help. Although well-intentioned, those parts do not actually have to work hard or figure anything out, but rather trust in the process enough to relax.
Many clients have parts that worry about “doing IFS wrong.” Let me speak about that now. There is no way for you to do IFS wrong in session since I am the one guiding you. If someone is doing something wrong, it would be a part of me. As for you, you are relieved from the burden of performing or doing something correctly. Your job is simply to notice what happens in your interior word and let me know so that I can guide you. If you were to look around where you are right now, you will notice different things about your environment and you would be able to easily communicate that to someone else. As an IFS client, you are mainly observing and reporting. With practice, you will then begin relating to part. So, sit back, relax, and let me take care of your inner world. At least in the beginning. I am confident that you will learn how to take care of your own interior world more quickly than you think.
In the end, you will not know what IFS really is until you experience it. Similarly, we can read all we want about God, but without an encounter with Him we will not know Him in a deeper, experiential way. We can read about Truth. However, experiencing Truth deepens the knowledge. IFS is highly experiential. The more you experience IFS, the more you can understand it, live it, and allow the process to heal you and make you into a better disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ.
