IFS therapy for Highly Sensitive People
As an IFS practitioner, I specialise in working with highly sensitive people (HSPs). As an HSP myself, I understand the unique experiences and challenges that comes from high sensitivity, and I enjoy supporting HSPs to navigate past trauma and current challenges.
Highly sensitive people are individuals who possess a more sensitive nervous system, making them more attuned and responsive to stimuli in their environment. HSPs often experience emotions and sensations more intensely, have deep empathy for others, and are highly perceptive to subtle details.
Common challenges faced by HSPs include:
Feeling easily overwhelmed
Struggling with boundaries and saying no
Experiencing intense emotional reactions
Difficulty adjusting to expectations and intensity of work life, burning out
Balancing the need for solitude with expectations of the outside world
Experiencing trauma due to being more sensitive to intense experiences
Feelings of alienation and disconnection; feeling different from others or that something is wrong with you
Heightened awareness of other people's emotions, leading to emotional exhaustion and difficulty in separating their own emotions from those of others.
How Can IFS Therapy Support HSPs?
Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy offers a valuable approach to help highly sensitive people navigate and embrace their sensitivity. IFS therapy focuses on understanding the different parts of ourselves and developing a compassionate relationship with each part.
Through IFS therapy, we will work together to explore and understand the various parts that make up your internal system, such as parts that get anxious or critical and parts take care of other’s needs before your own. By accessing our curiosity and self-compassion, we can help these parts feel heard, validated, and ultimately help them be in less extreme roles.
High sensitivity itself is not a part. Instead, it’s the way our nervous system is wired. Despite this, we may have parts that have had to take on extreme roles, emotions or beliefs as a result of being an HSP.
Together, we explore your inner system of parts, uncover your innate strengths, and develop strategies to navigate the world in a way that celebrates your unique gifts.
