The One Inside: An Internal Family Systems (IFS) podcast

• Reimagining Healing with Ruth Culver

  On today’s podcast, I chat with Ruth Culver, a Level 3 trained and certified IFS practitioner. We look at Ruth’s Survive and Thrive Spiral, a visual map that connects the nervous system and IFS in a way that just makes sense. We also talk about her work with IFS Constellations, a group process that brings parts work into a shared, somatic experience, and Drawing into Self, a creative way to explore and externalize parts through colors, lines, and shapes. Key Takeaways: “Parts all have stories, don’t they?” Ruth explains how mapping parts onto her Survive and Thrive Spiral can help people unblend and understand their nervous system responses. How can we recognize if we’re in Flop, Fix, or Flow? Ruth introduces these simple but powerful words to track nervous system states and move toward Self Energy. We can be in multiple nervous system states at the same time.  Ruth describes how different parts may be in fixing mode, collapsing mode, or Self Energy mode—all at once. How does IFS Constellations allow for deeper healing? Ruth shares how this group process creates profound moments of witnessing, connection, and transformation. What happens when we let parts express themselves through drawing? Ruth walks us through Drawing into Self, a process that invites parts to communicate beyond words. Favorite Quote: "So, to me, the healing process is story-based, and it is imaginative. At the core of healing is a reimagining. And that’s what we can do with story." – Ruth Culver About Ruth:   Ruth Culver is a Level 3 trained & Certified IFS Practitioner based in Brighton UK, working with adolescents, adults and groups in private practice. After 25 years in charity event management, she burned out, re-trained as a hypnotherapist then found IFS in 2017. Her passion for embodiment and externalisation has led to 3 IFS integrations: 1. The Survive/Thrive Spiral: 2. IFS Constellations, and 3. Drawing into Self.    Episode Sponsor: Pisgah Coaching Institute   Check out The One Inside Self-Led merch at The One Inside store Watch video clips from select episodes on  The One Inside on YouTube Follow Tammy on Instagram @ifstammy and on Facebook at The One Inside with Tammy Sollenberger. Jeff Schrum co-produces The One Inside Podcast. He is a writer, counselor, and IFS Level 2 practitioner.   Are you new to IFS or want a simple way to get to know yourself? Tammy's book, "The One Inside: Thirty Days to your Authentic Self" is a PERFECT place to start.  Sign up for Tammy's email list and get a free "Get to know a Should part of you" meditation on her website Tammy is grateful for Jack Reardon who created music for the podcast. Jack is a graduate of Derek Scott’s IFS Stepping Stones Program.   If you are interested in sponsoring an episode or two of The One Inside Podcast please contact Tammy at [email protected]

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• The Stories We Tell Ourselves with Jodie Benveniste

  On today's episode I chat with Jodie Benveniste, an IFS-trained psychologist and author. Through her personal healing journey using IFS she discovered how fiction writing and storytelling can be a powerful path to self-understanding and emotional healing. Jodie and I talk about her debut novel, Never, Not Ever, a YA romance that integrates IFS therapy into the story. We explore how fiction can serve as a safe space for transformation, why romance novels tap into Self Energy, and how the creative process mirrors the IFS journey. This conversation is all about the power of stories—both the ones we tell ourselves and the ones we read. I think you’re going to love it! Key Takeaways: “Parts all have stories, don’t they?” Jodie shares how working with her parts allowed her to embrace fiction writing and how characters in a novel are not so different from the inner characters we meet in IFS. How does storytelling create a safe container for healing?  Story is a powerful adjunct to IFS therapy “I had a teen part who made me watch a rom-com 20 times!” -- How reconnecting with her younger parts helped shape her writing process. Teen fiction can support adult mental health, too! Why romance is the world’s most popular genre—and how it invites readers to expand their hearts and tap into Self Energy. What can we learn from the stories our parts tell us? Jodie and I reflect on how parts hold onto old narratives and how fiction can help us imagine new possibilities. How fiction can invite teens to learn about and explore mental health topics, destigmatizing therapy and showing how healing happens. Favorite Quote: "So, to me, the healing process is story-based, and it is imaginative. At the core of healing is a reimagining. And that’s what we can do with story." – Jodie Benveniste About Jodie: Jodie Benveniste is an author and psychologist who writes heart-expanding young adult contemporary romance. She writes about love and friendships, family relationships, wellbeing, and mental health healing, introducing readers to their amazing inner world and its incredible depths. She’s been a psychologist in private practice, trusted parenting expert, organizational consultant, academic researcher, and Chair of the Board of an Independent School. But, at heart, she’s always been a writer. She now writes entertaining, unputdownable and heart-expanding fiction that has healing at its heart.    Check out The One inside Self-Led merch at The One Inside store Watch video clips from select episodes on  The One Inside on YouTube Follow Tammy on Instagram @ifstammy and on Facebook at The One Inside with Tammy Sollenberger. Jeff Schrum co-produces The One Inside Podcast. He is a writer, counselor, and IFS Level 2 practitioner.   Are you new to IFS or want a simple way to get to know yourself? Tammy's book, "The One Inside: Thirty Days to your Authentic Self" is a PERFECT place to start.  Sign up for Tammy's email list and get a free "Get to know a Should part of you" meditation on her website Tammy is grateful for Jack Reardon who created music for the podcast. Jack is a graduate of Derek Scott’s IFS Stepping Stones Program.   If you are interested in sponsoring an episode or two of The One Inside Podcast please contact Tammy at [email protected]

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• The Duality of Grief with Lara Krawchuk

  On today's episode, I'm joined by Lara Krawchuk, a grief expert and IFS certifed therapist, to explore how the Internal Family Systems model helps us understand and tend to grief. We discuss continuing bonds, meaning making, ambiguous loss, grief-worthy losses, and unbraiding current loss from exiled trauma. While I have parts that avoid thinking about and discussing grief, Lara offers such a hopeful perspective on the grieving process and I'm so excited to share this episode with you.  Key Takeaways: Grief is not about severing bonds, but shifting how we relate to them. Disenfranchised grief, like the end of a relationship or loss of health, is grief-worthy too. Grief invites us to explore the deeper meaning behind our losses and what they reveal about ourselves. Grief is both/and -- we are allowed to feel both grief and joy.  Welcoming grief, rather than trying to "move on," is crucial for healing. Turn towards grieving parts and allow them the space to be heard and honored. The importance of "unbraiding" exiled pain from present losses: "Does the part know this is different from the original Exile is has always protected?"  Continued bonds with those we've lost can be a profound source of comfort. Favorite Quote: "Self is not freaked out by grief. Self is an exquisite witness to all pain." — Lara Krawchuk About Lara: Lara Krawchuk is the owner and clinical director of Healing Concepts in West Chester, Pennsylvania, and the co-founder of Healing Perspectives, a continuing education resource for helping professionals looking to heal themselves, help their clients, and heal a broken-hearted world. She is an IFS certified therapist and consultant, a speaker, adjuct professor, and author with a passion for supporting those living with grief.    Check out The One inside Self-Led merch at The One Inside store Watch video clips from select episodes on  The One Inside on YouTube Follow Tammy on Instagram @ifstammy and on Facebook at The One Inside with Tammy Sollenberger. Jeff Schrum co-produces The One Inside Podcast. He is a writer, counselor, and IFS Level 1 practitioner.   Are you new to IFS or want a simple way to get to know yourself? Tammy's book, "The One Inside: Thirty Days to your Authentic Self" is a PERFECT place to start.  Sign up for Tammy's email list and get a free "Get to know a Should part of you" meditation on her website Tammy is grateful for Jack Reardon who created music for the podcast. Jack is a graduate of Derek Scott’s IFS Stepping Stones Program.   If you are interested in sponsoring an episode or two of The One Inside Podcast please contact Tammy at [email protected]

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• Starting With Self with Ralph de la Rosa

  In this episode I chat with Ralph De La Rosa, a meditation teacher, therapist, and author of Outshining Trauma. Ralph shares his personal journey of healing from PTSD, depression, and addiction, and how IFS helped him access Self Energy beyond traditional meditation. Key Takeaways: Self Energy and Buddhist concepts like Buddha-nature share striking similarities. Meditation can be a powerful tool for parts work, offering a structured way to access Self. What happens when Self meets our most burdened parts? Self Energy as a reparenting force Instead of rejecting painful emotions or defensive parts, he encourages holding them with warmth, like placing them in the sunlight of Self. Trauma constricts and healing expands Start with Self rather than diving directly into the pain. Parts are just like people Radical self-compassion as meeting every part of ourselves—including the ones that hold fear, addiction, or pain—with love, rather than trying to suppress or fix them. Reparenting happens naturally when we turn toward our parts with compassion. Favorite Quote: "One thing I’ve learned from direct experience of Self is that it can expand to be bigger than any level of heartache, any sense of brokenness, any sense of wounding, no matter how deep, no matter how wide, no matter how big. Self-energy can expand to fill the entire room you’re sitting in. If you practice with it, if you practice with it and your parts, we could begin to trust that." – Ralph De La Rosa About Ralph De La Rosa: Ralph De La Rosa is a psychotherapist, meditation teacher, and author of Outshining Trauma: A New Vision of Radical Self-Compassion. His work integrates IFS, neuroscience, and Buddhist wisdom to help people navigate healing and transformation. Check out his upcoming online course: www.ralphdelarosa.com/breaking-cycles-course   Episode Sponsor: Sentur  Propel your healing journey forward with an IFS-inspired trauma-informed digital mental health companion designed for real transformation. Download the Sentur app here   Check out The One inside Self-Led merch at The One Inside store Watch video clips from select episodes on  The One Inside on YouTube Follow Tammy on Instagram @ifstammy and on Facebook at The One Inside with Tammy Sollenberger. Jeff Schrum co-produces The One Inside Podcast. He is a writer, counselor, and IFS Level 1 practitioner.   Are you new to IFS or want a simple way to get to know yourself? Tammy's book, "The One Inside: Thirty Days to your Authentic Self" is a PERFECT place to start.  Sign up for Tammy's email list and get a free "Get to know a Should part of you" meditation on her website Tammy is grateful for Jack Reardon who created music for the podcast. Jack is a graduate of Derek Scott’s IFS Stepping Stones Program.   If you are interested in sponsoring an episode or two of The One Inside Podcast please contact Tammy at [email protected]

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• Befriending Your Internal Financial System with Rick Kahler

  On today’s episode I chat with Rick Kahler, a pioneer in integrating financial planning and psychology and a certified IFS practitioner. We explore how Internal Family Systems can transform our relationship with money, uncovering hidden beliefs and legacy burdens that shape financial behaviors. Rick shares his journey from financial planner to financial therapist, explaining how emotions—not logic—drive most financial decisions. He introduces key concepts like money scripts, financial protectors, and the internal financial system, showing how understanding these parts can help people move from financial stuckness to greater clarity and freedom. Key Takeaways: Money isn’t just about numbers—it’s deeply tied to our emotions, beliefs, and childhood experiences. Many financial struggles come from polarized parts—a part that wants to save and a part that wants to spend. How do money scripts—unconscious beliefs about money—shape our financial decisions without us even realizing it? Financial shame is often greater than other types of shame, making finances one of the hardest topics to talk about. Legacy burdens around money are passed down through generations, influencing our financial behaviors in ways we may not recognize. Favorite Quote: "Every part has a good intention. Every money script is put in place, every burden is put in place with a good intention…it just doesn’t know things are a little different now." – Rick Kahler​ About Rick Kahler: Rick Kahler is a certified financial planner, financial therapist, and IFS practitioner. He is a founding board member and past chair of the Financial Therapy Association and the creator of IFS-Informed Financial Therapy. Rick has authored seven books and hosts The Financial Therapy Podcast. ****************************************************************************************  Episode Sponsor: Michelle Glass **************************************************************************************** Check out our new Self-Led merch at The One Inside store Watch video clips from select episodes on  The One Inside on YouTube Follow Tammy on Instagram @ifstammy and on Facebook at The One Inside with Tammy Sollenberger. Jeff Schrum co-produces The One Inside Podcast. He is a writer, counselor, and IFS Level 1 practitioner.   Are you new to IFS or want a simple way to get to know yourself? Tammy's book, "The One Inside: Thirty Days to your Authentic Self" is a PERFECT place to start.  Sign up for Tammy's email list and get a free "Get to know a Should part of you" meditation on her website Tammy is grateful for Jack Reardon who created music for the podcast. Jack is a graduate of Derek Scott’s IFS Stepping Stones Program.   If you are interested in sponsoring an episode or two of The One Inside Podcast please contact Tammy at [email protected]

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