Current neuroscience supports that the natural state of the human brain is multiplicity. It’s often the conflict between our inner states or “parts” that drives us to seek therapy. One part of us hopes that if we can change or get rid of some other part, we’ll finally be able to fix what’s wrong with our lives. In reality, human beings need multiplicity of mind for optimal mental health. All complex systems — families, communities, even ecosystems — are most adaptive and stable when they support differences.  Diverse roles and perspectives allow systems to be flexible and responsive in the face of challenges, as well as move back into coherent states of wellbeing when at rest.

Unfortunately, when our circumstances are challenging, some parts of us become walled off, while others get stuck in extreme roles to protect us from ever again experiencing the pain of the past. Each part longs to be heard, appreciated, and understood. When we learn to experience our whole selves with courage and compassion, our minds naturally move toward the connection and creativity that we’re searching for.

Each moment of awareness arises from predictions our brains make based on previous experiences.  
These non-conscious predictions occur several times per second and operate from billions of threads 
of implicit, embodied memory. If we’re living with a legacy of trauma, chronic health issues, loss, 
social isolation or a painful childhood, it's natural to feel stuck in states of anxiety, depression or 
low self-worth. Experiential psychotherapy informed by interpersonal neurobiology (IPNB) calls upon 
our whole, embodied brain to understand the past, process our history and connect us to our 
natural resourcefulness. 

When therapy stays at the level of verbal processing, we might gain insight, but insight alone won't change the way our brains hold the memories of experiences that caused us to become stuck. By contrast, experiential therapy invites us to pay attention to the physical and emotional processes that accompany the content of our therapeutic work.

IFS helps us learn how to relate to our own experience from an open, nonjudgmental stance. From there, our system naturally guides us toward the experiences that led to the patterns and cycles that bring us to therapy. Internal relationship moves us beyond insight into healing states that open up new possibilities for integration and aliveness.