Sunday, June 11, 2023 Who’s in Your Internal Family? (Part 1 of 2) Like the ability of our body to heal itself, our core self also knows how to heal Blogs Newsletters National By Quentin Steen, Representative/BC Member Education Coordinator If you’ve been following the Monthly Mental Health Moments, you would have been introduced (maybe for the first time) to the language of the internal family system (IFS), especially in the context of the significant health that we can bring to our mental well-being when we acknowledge, understand, and compassionately work with the parts that make us, us. They all deserve to be heard; they all deserve to be nurtured. In this month’s Mental Heath Moment, I will set the groundwork for the themes I want to explore over the next few months by outlining the work of Dr. Richard Schwartz, a world-renowned therapist. Dr. Schwartz discovered over time that his clients unknowingly introduced him to IFS. During his sessions, he noticed a reoccurring pattern in which his clients would naturally speak about how parts of themselves would manifest feelings relative to their experience. For example, he would hear comments such as, “I have a part of me that felt and still feels hurt or angry when my father would berate me in front of strangers for something I did wrong, like spilling my milk at a restaurant.” Dr. Schwartz stumbled onto something his intuition believed was a significant shared reality with his clients. As fate would have it, he gathered this information from his clients’ stories. Over time, he developed a therapeutic model that we now know as the internal family systems model, which has transformed the work of therapy and the lives of tens of thousands of individuals like me. What does IFS refer to? According to Dr. Schwartz, IFS “is a powerfully transformative, evidence-based model of psychotherapy. We believe the mind is naturally multiple and that is a good thing. Our inner parts contain valuable qualities, and our core Self knows how to heal, allowing us to become integrated and whole. In IFS, all parts are welcome.” Why is IFS important? Three major premises shape the work of IFS: All parts belong. There are no bad parts. Like the ability of our body to heal itself (given the right conditions), each of us has the internal wisdom to heal ourselves, to bring these parts under the leadership of our wise self. There are three types of parts, or personalities, in the IFS model: Exiles – Their job is to protect the individual from experiencing difficult emotions. Managers – Their job is to control the person’s psyche and stabilize the system. Firefighters – Their job is to extinguish emotional fires. Next month, we’ll examine these parts in greater detail. In the meantime, you can explore the IFS model by visiting the IFS Institute website. Quentin Steen is a certified mental health first aid instructor for the Mental Health Commission of Canada. Get your BRAIN right and your MIND will follow! 4 Mental Health Resources to Help You If you or someone you know is struggling with a mental health issue, CLAC has a number of resources and interactive tools available to help you at My Health and Wellness. Stronger Minds features videos and quick reads from mental health experts, activities to help you gain resilience, and ask-an-expert videos in response to questions. WellCan offers free well-being resources to help Canadians develop coping strategies and build resilience to help deal with uncertainty, mental health, and substance abuse concerns. Wellness Together Canada: Mental Health and Substance Use Support provides free online resources, tools, apps, and connections to trained volunteers and qualified mental health professionals. You might be interested in Why We Work Safely 5 Jun 2026 Standing Your Ground, and Staying Steady on the Job 4 Jun 2026 CLAC Partners with Alberta Government to Advance Skilled Trades Training and Accelerate Certification 4 Jun 2026 Strathcona Mechanical Workers Ratify New Agreement Providing Wage, Scheduling Improvements 3 Jun 2026