Resources and reading - IFS and Gestalt Therapy

Resources

Below are some of the resources I’ve found helpful in my own life and in my work with clients.

There’s a whole mix of things here, from theories about why therapy works to concrete life-improvement advice.

All
ADHD
Anger
Anxiety
Attachment
Autism
Books
Books (written for therapists)
Chronic pain
Connecting activities
Free online support
How therapy works
Low cost therapy
Meditation
OCD
Parts work
Pets
Podcasts
Polyamory
Relationships
Self compassion
Sensory activities
Sexuality
Somatic practices

Internal Family Systems: Skills Training Manual

Practice attuning to your embodied intuitions

A donation-based Focusing gathering, meeting for 90 minutes twice monthly on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Schedule via the link.

Untangling

Untangling/Inner Relationship Focusing is a somatic approach to parts work that can be very compatible with IFS. Like IFS, self-compassion and the idea of inner multiplicity are central.

Polyvagal Prompts

Exercises and practices for exploring your nervous system.

A story about the things we do to survive childhood trauma and unpicking those coping mechanisms later

A story read by IFS therapist Derek Scott on surviving childhood trauma by hiding our pain from ourselves until we're able to bear it.

Podcast: Live IFS

If you want to learn more about how IFS works and sounds in practice, here are 100s of sessions recorded by an IFS practitioner.

The Power of Focusing

An introductory guide to Focusing, an approach to listening to your embodied awareness.

Internal Family Systems demo session

An example of how IFS can unburden a young part who's in pain.

108 Questions for Your Body

Prompts to increase your awareness of your body and embodied emotional experience.

Personality schema: The MTG Color Wheel (& Humanity)

A schema for thinking about the different mindsets with which people approach the world based on the game Magic: The Gathering.

Daily Parts Meditation Practice

Daily Parts Meditation Practice: A Journey of Embodied Integration for Clients and Therapists

Free mindfulness sessions

Twice a day online, from the Oxford Mindfulness Foundation

The four attachment styles

A primer on attachment styles, for understanding how your nervous system works in intimate relationships.

Monthly NVC practice group

2nd Sunday of each month at 7pm ET/12am GMT.

The Integral Guide to Well-being

An online guide to IFS (and lots of other mental wellbeing related topics).

Videos about Internal Family Systems

A video series from the IFS therapist Derek Scott, recording his thoughts on practicing IFS.

Neurodivergent insights site

Infographics and mental health resources on neurodivergence.

Can You Have a Committed Partnership With a Friend?

Interview with the author of The Other Significant Others, looking at the lives of people who have formed platonic life partnerships.

Audio recordings of compassion focused meditations

Articles on shame, attachment and attunement in relationships

Articles focused on attachment in relationships. Topics include unintentional gaslighting, nurturance, apologies and narcissism.

The 5-Day Self-Compassion Challenge (free online course)

How to tidy

How to tidy in a way that works for you rather than to fit other people's ideas.

Learn to listen to what your body knows about a situation

An introduction to Focusing, a way of accessing your embodied or intuitive experience of the whole of a situation.

Personality test: The Enneagram

An introduction to the Enneagram. Can be helpful for pointing the way towards IFS parts, if you read it through this lens.

How to taste chocolate

A guide to having a rich, more nuanced experience.

Introduction to Mindful Self-Compassion Workshop (free)

Pre-recorded 2.5 hour Foundations of Mindful Self-Compassion Workshop

Guided meditation focused on addressing attachment trauma

Free online meditation with a lecture beforehand focused on an attachment theme. Fridays 1PM in UK.

Autistic Pride Day

Sex educator Emily Nagoski talking about her experience of being autistic.

What maximum productvity looks like for me

From writer Sasha Chapin (who has ADHD). Most people don't have the freedom to create the lifestyle he describes, but I think these principles might be valuable to think about all the same, particularly for people who resonate with having an 'interest-based nervous system'.

Donation based weekly Non-Violent Communication practice

NVC is a way of expressing ourselves in terms of observations, feelings, needs and requests. Can be a valuable tool both during conflict with others and also for translating our inner criticism into something more compassionate.

How to smell

I think being highly present with sensory experience can be healing, and also a fun and connecting thing to try with others.

Feeding your demons – embracing 'scary' or 'difficult' parts of ourselves

A Buddhist practice which involves transforming your relationship with a scary or hated part of you by 'feeding' it with compassion.

Low-cost relationship therapy

If you're looking for low-cost couples therapy, trainees at this agency offer sessions beginning from £20/session.

Introduction to Internal Family Systems

A short manual outlining the basic assumptions and steps of Internal Family Systems. A good place to start if you're new to the model and want to try it for yourself.

Tests for autism and ADHD

Empirically validated tests that can give an indication of whether you're autistic or have ADHD.

The Tender Parts

The Tender Parts: A Guide to Healing from Trauma through Internal Family Systems Therapy

Free pre-recorded meditations for self compassion

Internal Family Systems online practice group

Free online IFS practice group, 90 minutes once a month.

Free Five-Day Self-Compassion Challenge

Relax all your muscles

Talks you through intentionally relaxing your body.

An Internal Family Systems (IFS) view of OCD

An episode from the podcast OCD Stories on OCD through an IFS lens.

Self-Therapy

Self-Therapy: A Step-By-Step Guide to Creating Inner Wholeness Using Ifs, a New, Cutting-Edge Therapy

IFS based resources

A list of IFS based resources collected by therapist Anna Vincentz

Daily temperature reading - questions to bring you and your partner closer

Article on losing a pet

"A life without my dogs seems imponderable. Yet we do keep going after losing the animals we adore"

Self Therapy workbook

The workbook that accompanies Jay Earley's book Self Therapy. Available online.

Internal Family Systems demo session

A part with burdens around sexual arousal being helped using IFS.

A meditation technique for healing insecure attachment

A list of resources on the Ideal Parent Figure Protocol, a meditation technique for healing insecure attachment.

Attachment Disturbances in Adults: Treatment for Comprehensive Repair

A therapeutic model and set of methods for treating adult patients with dismissing, anxious-preoccupied, or disorganized attachment.

Polysecure & other books

Jessica Fern is a psychotherapist whose writing looks at polyamory through an attachment-focused lens.

Podcast on Internal Family Systems: The One Inside

Episodes on different themes (e.g. adoption, grief, sexuality, chronic pain) through an IFS lens.

Mapping out the different parts of us that get triggered in a situation

A brief guide to mapping out the different parts of you that come up in response to a particular topic or context.

Simple ways of self-regulating when you're stressed

A series of nervous system regulating activities from Polyvagal therapy. If it feels okay for you to pay attention to your body, I think there's potentially a high return to exploring simple ways you can use your breath or touch to calm your nervous system.

Resources

Internal Family Systems: Skills Training Manual

Practice attuning to your embodied intuitions

Untangling

Polyvagal Prompts

A story about the things we do to survive childhood trauma and unpicking those coping mechanisms later

Podcast: Live IFS

The Power of Focusing

Internal Family Systems demo session

108 Questions for Your Body

Personality schema: The MTG Color Wheel (& Humanity)

Daily Parts Meditation Practice

Free mindfulness sessions

The four attachment styles

Monthly NVC practice group

The Integral Guide to Well-being

Videos about Internal Family Systems

Neurodivergent insights site

Can You Have a Committed Partnership With a Friend?

Audio recordings of compassion focused meditations

Articles on shame, attachment and attunement in relationships

The 5-Day Self-Compassion Challenge (free online course)

How to tidy

Learn to listen to what your body knows about a situation

Personality test: The Enneagram

How to taste chocolate

Introduction to Mindful Self-Compassion Workshop (free)

Guided meditation focused on addressing attachment trauma

Autistic Pride Day

What maximum productvity looks like for me

Donation based weekly Non-Violent Communication practice

How to smell

Feeding your demons – embracing 'scary' or 'difficult' parts of ourselves

Low-cost relationship therapy

Introduction to Internal Family Systems

Tests for autism and ADHD

The Tender Parts

Free pre-recorded meditations for self compassion

Internal Family Systems online practice group

Free Five-Day Self-Compassion Challenge

Relax all your muscles

An Internal Family Systems (IFS) view of OCD

Self-Therapy

IFS based resources

Daily temperature reading - questions to bring you and your partner closer

Article on losing a pet

Self Therapy workbook

Internal Family Systems demo session

A meditation technique for healing insecure attachment

Attachment Disturbances in Adults: Treatment for Comprehensive Repair

Polysecure & other books

Podcast on Internal Family Systems: The One Inside

Mapping out the different parts of us that get triggered in a situation

Simple ways of self-regulating when you're stressed

Unlocking the emotional brain – book review

Wheel of consent - A framework for noticing your desires and boundaries during intimacy

Intro to chronic pain

Applied Rationality handbook

Loving-kindness meditation