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What is Internal Family Systems?

Internal Family Systems (IFS) is a powerful Evidence-Based Modality, rapidly growing in popularity for practitioners and clients worldwide. It was developed in the 1980's by Family Therapist and Clinician Dr Richard Schwartz as he began to identify the healing potential lying within even the most disorganised patients, particularly those with extreme eating disorders or the tendency for self-harm.

IFS has subsequently evolved and expanded to treat a wide-range of physical and psychological conditions and behaviours and now commands an impressive and expanding community of practitioners across the globe, specialising in everything from couples therapy, trauma and addiction, Self-led parenting, recovery from eating disorders, PTSD recovery and much more.

The training is delivered in 3 levels and a further Certification programme for practitioners and therapists who wish to become accredited beyond the base training. I am a Certified Practitioner and trained to Level 3. I took my Level 1 over 3 weeks in person with Osnat Arbal, my Level 2 in Trauma and Neuroscience with Frank Andersen, was Supervised by Cece Sykes (Compassion for Addictive Processes) for initial group supervision post my level 1, took my Level 3 with Dick Schwartz (founder), have taken the Intimacy from the Inside Out online programme as well as coming in and out of the continuity programme, a stint at Level 1 programme assisting and an ongoing commitment to the requirements of my Certification and ongoing supervision in IFS.

In 2024 the gates for Level 1 were closed to non-therapists for the practitioner route due to constraints on trainer availability vs demand and a desire by IFSI (The Internal Family Systems Institute) to both broaden and specialise the training routes available to the many types of practitioners seeking to work with clients in different ways.

I work with IFS to support all those seeking more Self-leadership or exploration of the model, the unlocking of their innate potential, more balance and harmony between their parts, improved self-esteem or relational health, personal development, the resolution of trauma through the body, integration from childhood developmental or acute adult trauma, plus recovery from sexual abuse, emotional abuse or neglect and the resolution of any perceived sexual or relational dysfunction.

IFS was instrumental to me in my personal healing and continues to be. It becomes a spiritual path for many people. It is also not right for everyone at every stage of their healing journey. It is a tool and a map. A very good one.

Even if you're new to therapy, IFS can provide a framework to support you to reconnect you to the deeper, Self-guidance system inherent in your body. 

However please manage your own expectations that not ever model is right for everyone or at every time in their healing journey. There is no one-size fits all solution to life’s traumas. This is an effective map and protocol for many people. It is still your healing work to do and no-one, including me, can do it for you. 

You will have most success when you are no longer in re-traumatising environments and you have the time, energy, money and support, to focus on yourself and your healing. Consider your readiness for therapy and your objectives.

Are you wanting to identify and heal any limiting intimacy habits, take back ownership of your body and reclaim your right to healthy, heart-warming sex?

IFS operates on the premise that the mind is multiple, that our personalities and behaviours are the result of a series of parts of our personality, vying for control of our system and body in each moment in order to best support our survival needs, be it social, physical or psychological, led by a Self that becomes wholly or partially obscured, due to past trauma, from its natural leadership role. 

Over decades of working with clients parts, Dick Schwartz developed a comprehensive understanding of how the personality operates: the survival structures we employ inside ourselves and how to release and unburden parts of our system that are operating in ways that are no longer helpful to us. This increasingly reconnects our parts into one whole, led by the Self. 

IFS supports greater balance and harmony in the internal system, and opens space for Self-leadership and the release of the energy, compassion and creativity that comes with a less pressurised and rigid personality structure. Dick has been sharing his life-long passion since the 1980's within the American therapeutic communities and the IFS Institute now manages and disseminates Dicks teachings and vision into communities Worldwide. IFS UK is an international sister organisation of the American-Based Institute.

For more information visit www.ifs-institute.com

How are session conducted:

IFS sessions will be 1 hr in duration, unless separately negotiated up to 90 mins, conducted via Zoom. In person sessions for local clients can be arranged. 

Level of Training:  

I am a Certified IFS Practitioner and trained to IFS Level 3, specialising in trauma and neuroscience at Level 2. The IFS Practitioner Certification is a more rigorous process than the standard group trainings and requires competency sign-off from an IFS lead trainer and over 200 hours of supervised clinical work. It is no longer available to new applicants as, due to limits in teaching resources at the Institute, IFS training is now available only to Qualified Psychotherapists and Health Care Professionals holding a Masters degree in Psychology, Counselling or equivalent (see the website for details). I am in ongoing supervision. I have participated as a Level 1 PA, although I have withdrawn from programme assisting for the time-being to focus on 1 to 1 client work and the development of 2-1 client work (couples work).

Who is it for?

IFS sessions are for you if any of the following apply:

  • You've reached the limits of your capacity to make changes to your life (sexual or otherwise) alone and something still isn't working for you.
  • You are serious about making changes in the quality of your intimate life.
  • You are a man, woman or non-binary person of any sexual orientation looking for a safe space to heal your own wounds. 
  • You are looking for weekly, bi-weekly or monthly support to work through your personal challenges and a space to feel your Self and re-establish the internal connection.
  • Your sexual health and enjoyment is sometimes thwarted by inner conflicts and fears, your capacity to access your vulnerability or to communicate your needs in a healthy way.
  • You struggle with subtle or less subtle addictions, relationship failures or a tendency to over-caretaking, withholding or compliancy.
  • You feel stuck in repeating patterns that are affecting your mental and relational health.
  • You've experienced objectification, sexual harassment, or unwanted attention or touch that your body holds unresolved fear around.
  • You would flourish with a safe space to explore and have your personal truth accepted.
  • You want to attract or develop a healthy relationship with a romantic partner.
  • You are open and curious to learn about the impact of dissociated child parts of yourself on your adult expression, sexual or otherwise.
  • You are looking to build resilience within yourself.
  • You desire to grow and develop your capacity to Self-heal, rather than being dependent on external resources for the long term.
  • You are curious and open to deep and profound change.

Why am I passionate about IFS?

I love the level of respect and care that IFS informs in the approach to trauma healing. There is a dignity and respect and also a healthy challenge to the protective system. It honours the clients pacing and experience. It explains the inner conflicts that we each experience most days and how to resolve them over time. It empowers the client and lessens shame. There is a strong and active community for practitioners to stay involved in and a full range of CPD which keeps the model alive and evolving for clients. IFS honours the differentiation of the individual AND the need for healthy connection with others.

Personally I found IFS at a time I was struggling with low mood, anxiety and suicidal thinking due to undiagnosed PTSD that had preceded a series of significant life changes and losses. I thank Dick Schwartz personally for supporting me on the path back to Self-connection and for introducing me to the fantastic team at IFS UK who nurtured my development as a practitioner and helped me to heal the wounds that were preventing me for thriving in my life at that time after my trauma. Thanks also to Osnat Arbal, Frank Andersen and Cece Sykes for their training and supervision, to my 2 IFS therapists (who I won’t name here), my Supervisor and also to my friend Lissa Rankin, who has helped me learn how to speak for parts in my own relationships through daily practise.

For a comprehensive list of other trained IFS Practitioners and Therapists in the UK who may also be able to support you and may be fully Certified or further Qualified please visit https://internalfamilysystemstraining.co.uk/directory/

Get Started

Book an Introductory Call

The first step starts with reaching out. Please get in touch to let me know you are interested in doing your inner work. I offer a free 20 min Zoom introductory call if I’m able to accommodate you as a new or potential new client. I look forward to hearing from you.

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"The body is our soul made visible, plus our history."

Mike Lousada, Founder of Psychosexual Somatics® Therapy

“Place yourself in the cycle of life by living like nature, letting go of the death of your winter (older or outdated versions of yourself) as you are reborn into a new shape of possibility, your spring.”

Anne Davin, PhD

"Out of difficulties grow miracles.” 

Jean De La Bruyere

"Our nervous system is built to respond to certain input in a way that gives us maximum survival.” 

Michaela Boehm

"There is a voice that doesn't use words. Listen.” 

Rumi

"Emma has a very compassionate heart and a strong sense of empathy, both of which she uses to lovingly support clients to drop more fully into their bodies. She is open-minded, non-judgmental and can safely hold space for many states and experiences and help clients ground and integrate different aspects of themselves. She is an excellent PST practitioner and I warmly recommend her."

Mike Lousada, Founder of Psychosexual Somatics Therapy

"Emma Harper's passion for transformation - both in herself and in her clients - matches her enthusiasm for life. I admire her wild feminine courage to dive head first into the cutting edges of all her lines of development, and as she does, others are inspired to do the same. The result ... Freedom. Vitality. Synchronicity. Sensuality. Magic. Miracles. Yes!"

Lissa Rankin, MD

"Experiencing with Emma as my psychosexual somatic therapist is strong feeling of being held, seen and supported in my healing process. I feel safe and supported with Emma to trully express my emotions and feelings. She has strong empathy and I adore her body intuition to help me to connect to myself and listen to my body and dont let me to escape. I can hardly explain how good it feels when she hold safe and powerful space for me to guide me to release blocks and integrate part of myself I was rejecting. It is life shifting work we do together (for each other). Thank you Emma for your great work. I look forward to more release and more integration with you."

Barbora Koblizek, (Tantric Masseuse and Fellow PST Therapist)

"Working with Emma was a wonderfully nurturing and empowering experience. I'm really grateful for what she taught me about my body and sexuality. I was amazed by the variety of techniques that Emma used to help me understand my body and mind. I've learnt things about myself that have helped me in all areas of my life, not just the bedroom!” 

Miranda Bloodworth

I really enjoyed the Unravelling Peak Performance workshop. I met a group of nice gentlemen, we shared our stories and experiences sometimes with bravery and always with open heart, learnt about each other, and most importantly made progress in being better men and better partners. I loved how Emma facilitated the workshop, bringing us where she wanted in a gentle and loving way. I highly recommend this workshop to everyone who is on his journey to be a better man.

JJ Munsch, 2020 Unravelling Peak Performance workshop participant

"Powerful and transformative - what I learned was well beyond any expectations. Emma is a brilliant facilitator who created the space and material for us to grow rapidly whilst having fun."

Anthony Kennon

Emma held a space for me which allowed me to feel safe, seen and deeply valued. Her gentle directions and guidance allowed me to access parts of myself that I had been frightened to look at on my own. Being supported by Emma has enabled me to make positive changes in my life from an embodied place. 

Grace Brown, PST Mentee

Emma, I am grateful that you were my mentor. You attuned really well to what I needed in the mentor sessions. You are very good in paraphrasing what is really important in such a way that that it sinks deeper. You have the gift of being able to really see people in their essence, in what makes them unique. You have a great intuition, and you bring that kind of safety that invites me to bring what wants to be seen, even when that is very vulnerable. And you always give choice, which feels very empowering. 

Thank you very much. Warm hugs

Karen. PST Mentee

 "The powerful yet vulnerable way Emma guided and mirrored me in my intimate process of growth has been a very insightful and remarkable journey."  

Piero Flor, Intimacycoach

"I have come out of it a changed woman. I have dropped the old stories of something being wrong with me and that I am not sexual. I am able to stand in my power and in the sexual energy without always wanting to run away from it."

“ I still want to work more on it, to uncover more of me that has been in hiding for so long. But I will be doing the work in the knowledge that I am not broken or frigid, I am not any of the labels I have been called over the years. I am a healthy, sexual woman who chooses when and with whom she wants to share that energy with. I know now that my sexuality is not always connected to someone else, that I am a sexual being in my own right and that it doesn't have to include anyone else. That is a revelation for me!" 

Louise Merrick; Mother, Writer, Women's Sexual Expression Programme 2019 Graduate

“ I felt so seen, heard and supported with Emma as my PST mentor, I cannot recommend her enough. She has a gentle and caring presence combined with intelligence that feels very unique, she helped build my confidence and empowered me to trust my instincts. “ 

Alakina Mann, Mentee

"Emma rocks!!"

...and....

Emma has a safe, grounded and beautifully heart centred presence. She welcomed all parts of me into the space; the tender, the crazy, the angry, the sexy, the sleepy, the powerful...the full spectrum of being human. She has a lot of wisdom across different modalities and her approach integrates mind, body and spirit at a pace that my psyche was ready to open to. During our sessions, I was particularly thankful that she has an understanding of sexual energy/life-force energy and an awareness of the spiritual awakening process. 

Eshana Spiers

Emma's attention and skill over the last six months as a mentor and PST therapist has allowed me to feel safely held, seen, heard and respected through the process of our work together. Her being a mentor throughout my training was a major resource to me. I experienced her energy as boldly protective. Fiery and strong, yet compassionate; she has an amazing ability to understand a variety of experiences in a very open-minded way. She helped me to slow things right down and to get me to feel what was going on for me beneath the surface. 

Emma taught me to hold my own in identifying behaviour that was not ok and to set boundaries within my life that have proved to be so transformative for me. Her creative and playful energy also assisted me in forming a deeper relationship with my body in a way that lifted some of the heaviness I had been experiencing.

I am deeply honoured to have had Emma as a support during a monumental time in my life. Thank you Emma!

Sofia Panayiotou, PST Coach and Energy Work Practitioner

“I worked quite intensively with Emma over a period of 6 months or so. I found her to be a practitioner of great depth and empathy. Her ability to find just the right gesture, the right word, the right moment to say nothing at all, allowed me to go very deep into my inner processing of trauma from my past. During the time that I was under Emma’s care, I released some of the biggest trauma wounding patterns of my life. I can honestly say, that I am a different person since I completed this work with Emma. I feel that I have my life back. You are very lucky to find this wonderful practitioner. She has a very great capacity to hold you in your process, if you are willing to do your own work”

Karin Probert

Emma has an unparalleled ability to hear the meaning behind what I say and guide me to understand it. She has helped transform my sense of myself and my relationship. Her work is life-changing. She is a gift. 

Anonymous, civil servant, 40 (but in remarkably good shape for it)