SEAN CUTHBERT 

Grief is one of the most profound and universal experiences of being human. Yes, if you're reading this you have either grieved or you will grieve. Yet, particularly in Western cultures, grief is often met with discomfort, avoidance, or an urgency to “move on.” Western culture values productivity, achievement, and emotional control, which leaves little room for the slow, unpredictable, and sacred process of grieving. From an Internal Family Systems (IFS) perspective, our d

Forgiveness is one of those words that sounds great, but can hide a mess of complexity underneath. Sometimes, clients often talk about wanting to forgive or be forgiven. Whether it be a parent to child, child to parent, partner to partner, or protective part to Self, forgiveness is sometimes the final step in healing. Sometimes, it is. But in Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy, what looks like forgiveness can sometimes be a protective maneuver, or in IFS language, a ma

Using the IFS model to work with procrastinating parts can transform how you see parts that seem like they are trying to hurt, into adaptive strategies that are trying to prevent pain.

Working with shame requires working with the somatic experience of shame. In IFS protective parts generate body constriction, tension and tightness to keep younger parts holding shame hidden and small. This post explores this polarisation in some detail through the IFS Therapy Lens.

Many new to IFS Therapy think parts must be classified as Managers, Firefighters, or Exiles. Yet true freedom comes from seeing that parts aren’t fixed types and they simply take on roles that evolve, revealing the deeper flexibility and healing potential within our inner system.

Protective parts in IFS Therapy are driven by fear. Find out what the 10 most common protective fears are, and how to negotiate effectively with protective parts so they will relax and trust.

This post examines people pleasing through the lens of Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy. Learn how people pleasers come to be prominent parts of the psyche and how you can befriend and help them transform through the IFS Therapy process.

In Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy, distinguishing between parts and their burdens is essential in understanding the change process. Here I write about this important difference.

The Inner Critic protects against a range of Exiles in IFS. Learn about the specific types of Exiles that Inner Critics Protect in Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy

Proactive manager parts are extremely active in shame-prone systems. Find out what they look like here and start to notice them.

How is the parts model of Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy so instrumental in client's recovery from complex trauma, and why is likened to "soul retrieval"? Learn more in this post.

Many people don't know that their chronic mental health issues are related to unprocessed childhood trauma. This post lays out why non-realisation from childhood trauma happens and how to start working with your personal history to metabolise past adverse childhood experiences.

In Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy, shame is a two-part problem: critics that shame, and exiles that hold that shame. In this post found out more about how we can help the parts involved in the shame process, and transform them back into their original state.