What Is “Parts Work” And Why Is Everybody Suddenly Talking About It?
Discover the magic of your inner ecosystem with the revolutionary Parts Work approach.
The controversial psychological modality of “Parts Work” is taking modern psychology by storm, and is being pioneered primarily through the Internal Family Systems modality.
I’m seeing the IFS founder, Dr. Richard Schwartz, showing up on a variety of podcasts from the Tim Ferris Show to Gabby Bernstein. I even saw he was teaming up with Jonathan Van Ness to talk about the healing power of Parts Work in this video.
As a Parts Work coach, I have more people than ever saying, “Oh, Parts Work! I’ve heard of that!” (Usually I get “Parts work? What’s that?”)
The buzz around Parts Work is definitely growing. But it’s still a mystery to most people. And that simply will not do for me.
Because it’s my own Parts Work practice that took me from sobbing uncontrollably on my old guest bed in a friend’s loft after my divorce, to building a successful business, getting in the best shape of my life, living and working abroad (my ultimate dream!), and in the healthiest and most fun relationship I’ve ever been in.
I’ve written loads of articles about Parts Work that will take you down the rabbit hole as far as you want to go (links at the end of this article), but in this article I want to give you just a brief overview of what Parts Work is and why it is bringing about such powerful healing and transformation.
What is “Parts Work?”
Parts Work describes the overall ideology of our inner world (or our psyche) being made up of multiple parts as opposed to one solitary “you” in there.
It’s a common misconception that your inner world is made up of just one solitary “you.” That there should only be one voice in your head, only one feeling you’re feeling, only one thought you are thinking.
But this is just not the case.
In reality, you have a whole bunch of different parts of you that live in your inner world, and all of these different parts of you have different roles and responsibilities. But all of them are trying to help you get your needs met.
Let’s make this practical: How many times have you said something like, “Well, a part of me wants this, but another part of me wants something else?”
Or how many times have you felt multiple feelings at the same time? That’s because at least two different parts of you are experiencing two different feelings.
Parts Work is the work of getting to know the different parts of yourself, helping them heal, and learn to work with each other instead of against each other.
Your experience of life can change dramatically when your parts start working together. Its the difference between the voices in your head being a bunch of screaming 10-year-olds vs a group of capable adults working together toward the same goal.
In reality, this isn’t a new way of exploring the psyche — ancient shamanic traditions have been doing this since the beginning of time.
You could say the Empty Chair technique in the Gestalt Therapy modality is a form of Parts Work, because it involves bringing an empty chair so the client can personify a part of themselves sitting in it and have a conversation with them.
IFS is a Parts Work modality that focuses on facilitating these conversations with your parts, but skips the empty chair.
Even though IFS is the modality that is currently pioneering the Parts Work conversation in modern psychology, it is just one modality within the umbrella of Parts Work. There are all sorts of different modalities that can help you categorize your parts and explore the multiplicity of your inner world, such as Structural Dissociation and Transactional Analysis.
As a Parts Work coach, I synthesize many different modalities to help facilitate effective conversations between my client’s parts, but the backbone of my Parts Work coaching comes from the IFS modality because I find it to be the most relational, which always produces the most results when it comes to the inner world.
While I can’t speak for the IFS Institute or any other parts work modalities, I want to share with you the three core tenants of effective Parts Work and the 3 primary goals of Parts Work when it comes to my Parts Work coaching practice so you can get a feel for how Parts Work can help transform your life from the inside out.
3 Core Tenants of Effective Parts Work
Your inner world consists of an ecosystem of different parts.
There isn’t just one solitary “you” in your inner world. There is an entire ecosystem of many different parts of you that play different roles and are focused on getting different needs met.
Because we are humans and have many different needs, we have different parts of us focused on meeting different needs. And even deeper, there are different parts of us that have different opinions about the best way to get different needs met.
So parts of us can be fighting against one another over which needs take greater priority, and our parts can be fighting against one another about the best way to get each need met. It can sometimes feel like a bunch of ten year olds screaming at each other in there, can’t it?
Parts Work is about helping all the different parts of you learn to work together instead of fighting against each other. This creates an inner dialogue of encouragement and nurturing, which allows you to be much more effective in getting all your needs met in the outer world.
You are the sum of all your parts plus your Essence.
It’s not just your parts in your inner world. You also have your Essence. Or as the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model calls it, your capital S “Self.”
There are lots of great words to describe your Essence. Some people call it their “center.” Your “Inner Leader” is also a great name for it. You might even call it your “soul” or the Holy Spirit or source energy or your higher self, depending on what your spirituality is.
You’ll also hear me refer to your Essence as The Love Inside of You, because that is what your Essence feels like. Your Essence feels like love to your parts, and when you are in your Essence (as in, seeing through the eyes of your Essence) it’s the absolute best feeling in the world. It’s such a good feeling.
So your inner world is made up of a whole bunch of different parts of you that are trying to help you get your needs met as well as your Essence that is there to support your parts with love and with wisdom.
Parts work is about building a stronger relationship between your parts and your Essence in your inner world, which allows you to have more influence over your behaviors in the outer world.
When we can learn how to navigate our inner world effectively and have effective conversations between our parts, we are able to show up in the outer world more powerfully and intentionally.
You Have No Bad Parts
Every single part of you has the intention to protect you and help you. This doesn’t mean that the outcome and their behavior is always helpful, but their intention is to help.
Every single part of you is doing their very, very best to help you get a need met.
You have no bad parts.
This is an important foundation to build upon because it is only when we are able to understand what core need a part is trying to meet for us, can we access more creativity about more effective ways your parts can work together to meet that need.
3 Primary Goals of Parts Work
The three primary goals of my Parts Work coaching practice (as well as my personal Parts Work practice) are:
- Resolve the past by helping our parts release their emotional pain at the root.
- Bring more safety and belonging to the present through cultivating a more trusting relationship between our Parts and Essence.
- Create a compelling future that allows persistent, forward movement that is in courageous alignment with Essence.
Unlike other modalities that are only focused on healing past trauma or only focused on helping you move forward through obstacles, Parts Work really affords us the flexibility to move forward as we resolve the past and upgrade our experience of the present moment as we do it!
Meet Your First Part Today!
I created a free Meet A Part of You Worksheet that walks you step-by-step through identifying your first part, to actually “meeting” them and having a conversation with them. Yes, you can have actual conversations with your parts — and it is an incredibly insightful experience!
With this worksheet, you can meet as many different parts of you as you want. The self-discovery and inner-clarity inside this free worksheet is truly endless.
Download the Meet A Part Of You Worksheet for free right here and experience the magic of Parts Work for yourself!
Get More Out Of Parts Work
Parts Work Academy is the course I needed when I was lost in my own overwhelming emotions and trauma responses (more on that in this article).
I don’t want anyone to have to navigate their overwhelming inner landscape alone and without the proper tools to actually transform their inner turmoil into lasting inner peace — that’s why I created Parts Work Academy.
In this online course, I’ll walk you through your inner world step by step, and give you all the tools you need to resolve your emotional overwhelm and confusing behavior at the root.
You can learn more about Parts Work Academy (and join us!) right here.
