This episode continues my conversation with Joy Slabough, who as a certified financial planner as well as a certified Internal Family Systems therapist brings amazing depth to the field of financial therapy. Our previous conversation focused on trauma, and this time we talk about IFS and its place in financial therapy.
Joy describes IFS as a collection of practices that humans have actually been using for thousands of years across all cultures. It’s a way of building relationships with ourselves and each other in ways that feel very normal and natural to humans. It’s built on the idea that humans have multiplicity of our mind. It is normal and healthy to actually feel and want different things at the same time. This doesn’t mean you’re broken.
For example, suppose you’re listening to this podcast. Part of you wants to be listening to it or you wouldn’t be doing that. Maybe another part of you really wants to get some work done and check something off your to-do list. Maybe another part of you wants to call a friend and talk with them. You may want all three of these things at the same time. And that is normal. Different parts of you want different things and feel different ways. That is how humans work.
When our parts are all in alignment with each other, we’re able to move through the world with ease. You’ve probably experienced that flow state at some point. In IFS terminology we would describe this as Self energy, where your parts are allowing your authentic Self to lead. Other practices and traditions might use other terms like chi or prana or God or universe or source or energy. The idea is that as we get to know the different parts of us that want different things and feel different ways about things, we have greater ease.
This is something that has been used across all human traditions throughout the history of humanity. It is used in multiple fields, and it was codified in the therapy field some 40 years ago as a modality called Internal Family Systems therapy.
My conversation with Joy explores some of the ways IFS is used, especially its application in financial life planning and financial therapy. We touch on one of its key differences from other modalities, which is its recognition that people are ultimately the experts on themselves. It is not the practitioner’s role to tell people what to do or fix them. Our role is to come alongside them, help them build relationships with themselves so they’re able to understand what their parts need, and give them choice. That is when people are able to spontaneously make behavior changes.
This internal relationship building and making room for Self leadership makes IFS a powerful tool for helping people change their financial behaviors. And, like other experiential tools, it is especially transformational when practitioners learn how to apply it by first doing their own internal work.
Check out The Financial Therapy Podcast by Rick Kahler concerning this topic.