Insightful Minds Counseling

09/06/2025

09/02/2025

A groundbreaking new book, "Internal Family Systems (IFS) Tips and Practice Skills" by Aion Farvahar, PhD, is now available. This comprehensive guide is a game-changer for practitioners seeking to master IFS. With clarity and precision, Aion breaks down complex concepts into accessible, actionable strategies, making it an invaluable resource for neurodiverse practitioners. By reading this book, you'll gain a deeper understanding of IFS and be empowered to create positive change in your practice, your clients and within your own system.
https://a.co/d/aQsBVKY

Are you an empathic Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapist or practitioner who is looking for opportunities to become more skilled and effective in IFS practice? Do you find some of your clients challenging or exhausting to work with? If so, does this make you doubt your skills or ability to he...

08/20/2025

The Four Basic Goals of IFS
1. Liberate parts from the roles they’ve been forced into, so they can be who they’re designed to be.
2. Restore trust in the Self and Self-Leadership.
3. Reharmonize the inner system.
4. Become more Self-led in our interactions with the world.

Learn more: https://hubs.ly/Q03DKN-r0
Purchase Books: https://hubs.ly/Q03DKKf90

07/25/2025

🩷Understanding the Difference Between IFS-Informed and IFS-Trained Therapists

If you’re exploring therapy and feel drawn to the Internal Family Systems (IFS) approach, it’s helpful to understand that not all therapists who use IFS are trained in the same way. As the model becomes more popular, more therapists are incorporating its language and ideas into their work. This can be wonderful, but it can also create confusion.

Some therapists describe themselves as IFS-informed. Others have completed official IFS training through the IFS Institute, which offers a structured path known as Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 certification.

Here’s the difference:

A Level-trained IFS therapist has completed a formal training program taught by certified IFS trainers. These programs involve extensive learning, practice, and supervision. They are designed to prepare therapists to use the model in a way that honors its depth and complexity. Trained therapists learn how to recognize and safely work with protective parts, connect with exiled parts of the system, and help clients access their Self energy in a steady and sustainable way.

An IFS-informed therapist may have read about the model, taken a short workshop, or heard about IFS from peers or books. They may draw from its ideas in a general way, such as talking about “parts” or “self-energy,” but they have not gone through the structured training that supports deep, safe, and nuanced use of the model. Some are very skilled in other modalities and may use IFS ideas thoughtfully and respectfully, but their use of the model might not follow the full IFS process.

This difference becomes especially important if you are working with complex trauma, dissociation, or deeply entrenched protective systems. These cases often require a higher level of sensitivity, skill, and containment. Without sufficient training, there is a risk that parts may be misunderstood or that deep emotional material could be accessed without enough support. This is never about blaming or discrediting, but about protecting your system and ensuring that your healing work happens in a safe and attuned space.

It’s okay to ask a therapist directly about their IFS training and experience. A grounded therapist will welcome your curiosity and answer with transparency. If someone is calling themselves IFS-informed, it is fair to ask what that means to them and how they use the model in their work. You deserve to understand the framework your therapist is using and to feel confident in the care you’re receiving.

Ultimately, all parts of you deserve to be met with presence, patience, and skill. Whether you choose an IFS-informed or IFS-trained therapist, the most important thing is that you feel safe, seen, and supported in your healing.

07/21/2025

🌿 Ever feel like you’re overwhelmed by one strong emotion or reaction?
In IFS, we call that being blended — when a part of you merges with your Self and takes over your thoughts, feelings, or actions.

It’s not who you are, it’s a part of you trying to help in its own way.

💡 Healing begins when we get curious about that part without judgment.
You are more than your parts. Let’s work together to help you reconnect with your calm, clear, compassionate Self.

📅 Ready to explore your inner world? Reach out to schedule a session or learn more about IFS therapy.

In IFS, we use the term blended to describe the phenomenon in which a part merges its perspective, emotion, beliefs, and impulses with your Self.

Learn more: https://hubs.ly/Q03y1vRj0
Purchase Books: https://hubs.ly/Q03y1v7B0

07/07/2025

Looking for an IFS Therapist? Here’s What You Need to Know 🤍

IFS (Internal Family Systems) therapy is a powerful, evidence-based approach to healing trauma, anxiety, depression, and more by helping you connect with the different “parts” of yourself, and, most importantly, your inner Self.

But not every therapist who uses parts language is trained in the IFS model.

Many clinicians describe themselves as “IFS-informed” after reading books or taking short courses. While they may have good intentions, they have not received the depth of training needed to safely and effectively guide true IFS therapy.

✨ To make sure you’re getting IFS therapy from a trained professional, ask:
• Have you completed Level 1 training through the IFS Institute?
• How do you use IFS in your work?
• Do you do your own parts work or have an IFS supervisor?

✅ A therapist trained through the IFS Institute has:
• Completed months of intensive, supervised training
• Practiced the model experientially, not just conceptually
• Learned how to stay grounded in Self energy so your system feels safe, not analyzed

⚠️ When someone without formal training uses parts language:
• It can feel like your parts are being labeled or managed, not truly heard
• The healing process may stall or feel confusing
• Deeper wounds can be missed or retraumatized

IFS is not just a technique. It is a process that requires care, presence, and real skill. You deserve to work with someone who can hold that space for you.

If you’re looking for an IFS therapist and you live in Florida, Idaho or South Carolina, connect with me at: InsightfulMindsOnline.com for more information.

Or, check the IFS Institute directory or ask about their official training.

Your healing deserves that level of support. 💗

Insightful Minds Counseling, IFS, EMDR, Trauma Therapy, Narcissistic Abuse Recovery, Anxiety, Depression, Pensacola, Florida, Idaho, South Carolina, Internal Family Systems, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, Military, Narcissist, Adult Child of an Alcoholic, Attachment, Divorce, Spiritu...

06/21/2025

Emotional Immaturity 101: When Feelings = Reality

One of the hardest truths to grasp, especially if you’re self-aware and value personal growth, is that some people truly believe reality is optional.

For emotionally immature individuals, facts are negotiable, and truth bends to how they feel in the moment.
If something makes them uncomfortable, they deny it, distort it, or dismiss it entirely.

They don’t seek objectivity, they seek emotional comfort.
So when confronted with inconvenient truths? They rewrite the script to suit their narrative.

If you’re someone who self-reflects, takes accountability, and wants to understand yourself and others… it can be mind-bending to realize that not everyone plays by those rules.

📌 You can’t reason someone out of a mindset they were never reasoned into. Or, what i always tell clients is: “You can’t rationalize (with) an irrational person.”

Protect your peace. Stay grounded in your truth. And know that not everyone is willing, or ready, to meet you in reality.

06/15/2025

💊🧠 For many with ADHD, starting medication can feel, well, different.

For some minds (especially imaginative, divergent, or intuitive ones) it can feel like:

“I used to swim in the cosmos. Now I’m in a clean, bright room with one chair and one desk.”

It can feel like trading creative chaos for structure, or narrowing down a world that once felt infinite.
There can be focus and also a sense of loss.

But you’re not broken.
And you’re not losing your essence.

IFS reminds us: all thoughts, feelings, and inner experiences deserve compassion.
You can honor the parts of you that miss the wildness, creativity, and uniqueness even as you embrace the support that meds offer.

This is not about choosing one version of you over another.
It’s about learning how to be in relationship with all of it.

06/08/2025

How do you feel towards this part? 🤔
⠀⠀
When I assisted at IFS Level 1 training in Copenhagen, I learned an important thing about this question from Osnat Arbel, Ph.D.

She said that this question is both an assessment of Self energy and intervention that helps access more Self-energy.
⠀⠀
What does it mean?

In order to answer this question, you obviously need to assess your feelings towards the part you want to work with. This helps you to see how much Self-energy you hold.

But it’s so much more than the assessment.

In order to answer this question, you also need to look at yourself as something separate from the part that may be blended with you. The question holds two subjects at the same time: you and the part. Trying to find an answer helps you differentiate yourself from the part.
⠀⠀
That’s why we ask this question even if it’s obvious that the person you are working with (or yourself if you’re doing self-therapy) is blended with a concerned part.

Also, please remember that this question is our friend through the whole process, not only during the “Feel” stage of the 6 F’s.
⠀⠀
You never know what can trigger other parts of us during a dialogue with a target part and so it’s crucial to ask yourself (or your client) this question now and then. Especially when you notice a shift in the client’s voice or body language.

06/05/2025

🌿 Why the IFS 8 Cs of Self-Leadership Matter for Healing 🧠💛

In Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy, healing starts when we lead ourselves from a place of compassion and clarity. That’s where the 8 Cs of Self-Leadership come in:

✨ Curiosity
✨ Calm
✨ Clarity
✨ Compassion
✨ Confidence
✨ Courage
✨ Creativity
✨ Connectedness

These qualities help us tune into our inner world, the parts of us that carry pain, fear, or shame, without judgment. Instead of pushing those parts away, we begin to understand them, soothe them, and heal.

✅ When you’re curious, you explore your emotions instead of avoiding them.
✅ When you’re calm, you make space for healing to happen.
✅ When you’re compassionate, you stop fighting yourself and start nurturing the parts that hurt.

True healing isn’t about fixing what’s “broken” — it’s about befriending yourself, leading your inner world with love and understanding.

💬 Healing takes time, but these 8 Cs are like an internal compass — guiding you back to your Self.

You already have what you need inside you. ❤️

8 C’s of Self; Curiosity, Calm, Clarity, Connectedness, Confidence, Courage, Creativity, Compassion.

Learn more: https://hubs.ly/Q03qZ0sj0
Purchase Books: https://hubs.ly/Q03qZ2V40

06/04/2025

988 and 911: Know which number to use to get the right support at the right time. If you need support for your mental health, text or call 988 or chat online at 988lifeline.org.

05/24/2025

From an Internal Family Systems (IFS) perspective, this reflects how protective parts in parents may work hard to avoid shame, guilt, or feelings of inadequacy. These protectors often block accountability, because doing so would mean facing deeply exiled parts burdened with pain or failure.

But here’s the important truth: when a parent continues harmful behavior and refuses to acknowledge its impact, it is an act of Self-leadership for the adult child to walk away. That choice is not rejection… it is protection, guided by clarity, courage, and compassion for one’s own system.

We are not responsible for doing our parents’ healing for them. Sometimes, the most loving thing we can do for ourselves is to step away from what continues to hurt.

If you are ready to meet your parts and help them heal reach out to us at: InsightfulMindsOnline.com