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

The four attachment styles

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

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.

Article on losing a pet

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

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.

The Integral Guide to Well-being

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

Polyvagal Prompts

Exercises and practices for exploring your nervous system.

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 Tender Parts

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

Podcast on Internal Family Systems: The One Inside

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

Relax all your muscles

Talks you through intentionally relaxing your body.

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.

Articles on shame, attachment and attunement in relationships

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

How to tidy

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

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.

Guided meditation focused on addressing attachment trauma

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

Intro to chronic pain

A brief intro the difference between chronic and acute pain.

The Power of Focusing

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

A meditation technique for healing insecure attachment

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

Daily Parts Meditation Practice

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

Self-Therapy

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

Internal Family Systems demo session

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

Internal Family Systems demo session

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

Unlocking the emotional brain – book review

Explores the theory that memory reconsolidation is at the root of why therapy is effective.

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.

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

Internal Family Systems: Skills Training Manual

Introduction to Mindful Self-Compassion Workshop (free)

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

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.

Internal Family Systems online practice group

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

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.

108 Questions for Your Body

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

Free pre-recorded meditations for self compassion

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.

Loving-kindness meditation

Online Thursdays 9:15am GMT.

Applied Rationality handbook

A handbook of techniques for clearer thinking and more effective decision-making.

Low-cost relationship therapy

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

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

The wheel of consent can be helpful for thinking about different intentions that can be behind touch, whether you're respecting your own boundaries and desires during touch, and how to communicate them.

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.

Free mindfulness sessions

Twice a day online, from the Oxford Mindfulness Foundation

What are protectors in IFS?

Autistic Pride Day

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

IFS based resources

A list of IFS based resources collected by therapist Anna Vincentz

An Internal Family Systems (IFS) view of OCD

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

Polysecure & other books

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

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

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.

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.

Videos about Internal Family Systems

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

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.

Audio recordings of compassion focused meditations

Monthly NVC practice group

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

Neurodivergent insights site

Infographics and mental health resources on neurodivergence.

Tests for autism and ADHD

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

Free Five-Day Self-Compassion Challenge

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'.

Resources

The four attachment styles

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

Article on losing a pet

Free recovery resources

Can You Have a Committed Partnership With a Friend?

The Integral Guide to Well-being

Polyvagal Prompts

Podcast: Live IFS

The Tender Parts

Podcast on Internal Family Systems: The One Inside

Relax all your muscles

Introduction to Internal Family Systems

Articles on shame, attachment and attunement in relationships

How to tidy

Untangling

Guided meditation focused on addressing attachment trauma

Intro to chronic pain

The Power of Focusing

A meditation technique for healing insecure attachment

Daily Parts Meditation Practice

Self-Therapy

Internal Family Systems demo session

Internal Family Systems demo session

Unlocking the emotional brain – book review

Attachment Disturbances in Adults: Treatment for Comprehensive Repair

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

Internal Family Systems: Skills Training Manual

Introduction to Mindful Self-Compassion Workshop (free)

Personality schema: The MTG Color Wheel (& Humanity)

Internal Family Systems online practice group

Simple ways of self-regulating when you're stressed

108 Questions for Your Body

Free pre-recorded meditations for self compassion

How to smell

Loving-kindness meditation

Applied Rationality handbook

Low-cost relationship therapy

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

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

Free mindfulness sessions

What are protectors in IFS?

Autistic Pride Day

IFS based resources

An Internal Family Systems (IFS) view of OCD

Polysecure & other books

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

Personality test: The Enneagram

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

Videos about Internal Family Systems

Practice attuning to your embodied intuitions

Audio recordings of compassion focused meditations

Monthly NVC practice group

Neurodivergent insights site

Tests for autism and ADHD

Free Five-Day Self-Compassion Challenge

What maximum productvity looks like for me

Learn to listen to what your body knows about a situation

Self Therapy workbook

How to taste chocolate

Questions to ask your parts - video

Donation based weekly Non-Violent Communication practice