Coaching is usually goal- or future-focused. Coaching sessions are designed to help you through a specific challenge like burnout, career change, grief. Sometimes, coaching can be more ongoing as a way to positively support you through various life stages.

If therapy is like going to a doctor to improve your level of health, coaching is like seeing a physical therapist who supports you in living fully and enjoying your health, career, life, and relationships.

Specifically, Internal Family Systems coaching, or IFS coaching, is designed to help you work through your goals, challenges, and stuck places with a compassionate and courageous person who helps you understand and lead your inner world. IFS views our minds as multiple, made up of different parts that we can actually get to know. In IFS coaching, we get to know these parts of you by listening to their concerns and motivations. Sometimes, we witness their hidden pain or unconscious beliefs. In doing so, we rewire your relationship to yourself and your struggles, putting you in the driver’s seat as the one who sees all of your parts and leads your life.

IFS is different from many other therapeutic modalities in that it provides a way to get right into the heart of what might be impacting you. It also positions you as the main healer, the one who has the capacity to get to know and bring hope to your inner world. 

Topics we may work on in IFS coaching may look like:

  • Supporting you in confidence as a leader and addressing feelings of impostor syndrome or inner critique that keep you small
  • Working through common internal struggles or patterns of rumination that cause inner stress 
  • Addressing patterns of depression or anxiety
  • Supporting the mental and emotional challenges that come with ADHD or other forms or neurodivergence
  • Relieving burnout or stress 
  • Changing common triggers or trauma reactions that show up in the workplace or home
  • Supporting stress and anxiety relief and building psychological resilience in a stressful time

Sliding Scale Options

Given the significant impact the DMV is experiencing from the Federal Government shut-down, Dr. Crissa Stephens is offering a limited number of sliding scale spots this winter. Fees range from $60-$120 in order to make IFS coaching support accessible to those who need it at this time (regular rate is $240). Contact her today for more information and to get started.

Grief Coaching in IFS

A special area of IFS coaching is grief coaching. If you’ve experienced a loss of any kind or are facing a terminal diagnosis, you may be looking for someone to guide, support, or accompany you. Receiving that support through IFS does so in a way that makes space and creates safety for you to move through your process but does not pathologize your grief or view it as an illness or mental health challenge. In IFS grief coaching we learn what safety looks like for your system, and make a unique space to attend to hurting, grieving, and even raging parts of you and your experience.

Interested in getting started? Reach out to us today! We have immediate openings for IFS Coaching and Grief Coaching in Bethesda, MD, and virtually worldwide.

IFS Coaching – Frequently Asked Questions

A coaching method that helps you understand your inner world by exploring your “parts” and strengthening your ability to lead them with calm, clarity, and compassion.

IFS coaching uses the same principles of parts work as IFS therapy but does not diagnose, treat mental health conditions, or bill insurance.

Inner critic patterns, stress, burnout, anxiety tendencies, trauma triggers, perfectionism, procrastination, and emotional overwhelm.

No — your coach will guide you through the process step by step.

You’ll identify active “parts,” learn about their roles, connect with your Self energy, and develop healthier internal relationships.

No — it helps your natural Self lead more often, reducing internal conflict and increasing harmony.

Yes — virtual IFS coaching is fully effective.

More emotional clarity, reduced internal conflict, increased confidence, and improved resilience in relationships and work.

Yes — it supports grief in a compassionate, non-pathologizing way.

If you feel pulled to understand your inner patterns and want to feel more grounded and self-led, IFS coaching is likely a strong match.