Internal Family Systems Therapy with Children

by Lisa Spiegel

Internal Family Systems Therapy with Children details the application of IFS in child psychotherapy. The weaving together of theory, step-by-step instruction, and case material gives child therapists a clear roadmap for understanding and utilizing the healing power of this modality. In addition, any IFS therapist will deepen their understanding of the theory and practice of Internal Family Systems by reading how it is practiced with children. This book also covers the use of IFS in parent guidance, an important aspect of any therapeutic work with families or adult individuals with children. The poignant and humorous vignettes of children’s therapy along with their IFS artwork make it an enjoyable and informative read.

Genres: Counselling, Parenting, Psychology, Nonfiction, Childrens

134 pages, Paperback

First published September 19, 2017

Reviews

[Pyroclastic Ash]

IFS is just awesome.

[ali wynn]

Live laugh love IFS

[Rachel Morris]

Loooved all the examples this book gave and how there was a variety of them.

[Catherine Ottley]

10/10 I love this application to kids and just makes me love IFS more and more

[Brit (britlovestoread)]

I really appreciated this. Very clear and concise with helpful real-life examples.

[Jennifer Lee]

A great primer on IFS concepts and implementing IFS protocol in a developmentally appropriate way with children. I found that Spiegel's case examples were a bit too perfect/convenient/linear and did not address the challenges of using IFS concepts or dive further into treatment complications or challenges. I also found that Spiegel often infantilized her description of her child clients which made me a bit uncomfortable. Overall a great and clear read, would have liked more content beyond the 120 pages.

[Dannie]

I listened to this entire book on my drive home from family christmas visits - I REALLY wanted to like it, and I found parts of it to be helpful and useful, but I found the majority of it to feel out of touch with what I feel like providing mental health therapy to children is really like. I can think of maybe 2-3 kids out of the 60+ i’ve provided therapy for over the years that would have been able to access parts work in the way the author claims to be “easy” for kids to do.
I also found the “unburdening” to be… odd? idk.
I was already feeling annoyed and then got to the chapter where the author is discussing her first IFS child client and shares that she put the child in a hold. The situation did not sound like one that should have ended in a hold and anyone who is trained properly would know that. So that left a bad taste in my mouth.

[Gabriel Desjardins]

The clinical insights are wonderful and the IFS was well adapted to classical play therapy with children. There is nuance and flexibility in the IFS model so it is more suitable with children and families. There clinical cases were touching, and I loved the self-revelations of the author. Can’t wait to practice parts work with children

[Rachael]

Mostly a collection of case studies which are interesting to hear. Not much objective direction in utilizing IFS with children as the steps in case studies are mostly vague, such as saying the child identified parts within, but no elaboration on how the therapist guided to this point or how they approached this differently than adult IFS. Some good examples of externalization.

[Deanna Kluesner]

Who knew parts were so important

Different approach to therapy and eye opening for anyone who is trying to get know themselves better. I can visualize my parts like in the moving inside out. Thank you for the insight.

[Elena Vitkin]

written for a psychotherapist, but easy enough to read and highly applicable (and useful) for any parent

[Casey]

Very clear, easy to understand, with personal practices and real life examples.

[Jenny Mauro]

Good reference for IFS

[Claire]

reading books for school can be so fun 🫶🏻👏🏻 a helpful and practical guide!