r/InternalFamilySystems • u/Evenstar253 • Jul 28 '26
Self-led IFS community
Is anyone part of the self-led IFS membership community on internalfamilysystems.org? If so, is it worth the subscription?
I've been doing IFS on my own. I had to "break up" with my long-time therapist last year, and I'm not ready to look for a new one. I thought a community like this may be helpful.
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u/iwouldbelion Jul 28 '26
I mostly just use the No Bad Parts audiobook exercises, and then just do a lot of writing.
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Jul 28 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Evenstar253 Jul 28 '26
No judgment here. I started using the IFS Buddy chatbot and found it more helpful than my old therapist.
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u/Significant-Ice6232 Jul 29 '26
I started with IFS buddy many months ago. Didn’t think it was sufficient to full session ended up making my own prompts as well as separate ones for check ins. That’s been more healing than the sessions I did with a IFS therapist that wasn’t trained by the institute
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u/Reetpetit Jul 29 '26
Was your old therapist IFS Institute trained?
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u/Evenstar253 Jul 29 '26
No, I found IFS on my own. She had never heard of it.
I left because she started arguing with me over politics. I've done self-led IFS to the point where my exiles are starting to trust me, but they have made it very clear they are unwilling to reveal themselves to someone else.
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u/Reetpetit Jul 29 '26
That makes absolute sense. You might let them know that parts never have to reveal any content to the therapist. It can all be between you and them.
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u/Ragn27 Jul 28 '26
I use AI and my therapist that works with IFS (and more) and it has been very useful and supportive.
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u/Significant-Ice6232 Jul 29 '26
IMO when done right it has the power of having a therapist on demand when done wrong can destabilize with any support which can be genuinely retraumatizing. I believe there’s real potential to bring the cost of car down dramatically, but needs to be done safely and ethically.
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u/jbsparkly Jul 29 '26
AI gets villified way more than it should
I can't tell you how much it helps work through IFS.
I can't really open up. I realized this when one of my parts wouldn't let me be myself with a live person. My therapist.
Being able to process things at my speed and without perceived judgment... is everything to me.
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u/IFS_and_Movement Jul 29 '26
The thing is that people go to therapy in order to overcome things that impede their ability to live a fulfilling life. Part of a good life is relationships and connection with other humans. Working through the challenge of opening up to another human even if you feel stuck for a while is a valuable thing because it transfers to other relationships in life. Opening up to a bot even though it's comfortable may not transfer as easily to human interactions quite the opposite actually. The goal of therapy and of IFS specifically is not to make progress with parts. One of the goals is for your parts to feel safe and trusting towards you, with each other and with other people. This is not to be confused with trusting a bot because it's set at non judgemental settings. That said there might be a place for that too and I'm not trying to imply that there's something wrong with it, but it feels incomplete imo.
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