What happens when expressing preferences isn’t safe? This article explores how early shaming around wanting leads to disconnection, resentment, and confusion about desire, and how awareness can begin to restore inner guidance.

A simple reflection on two questions that helped me clarify what I’m up to in 2026 and anticipate the challenges ahead, along with a worksheet you can use to explore the same questions for yourself.

I want to share a personal story that taught me an important lesson about healthy communication in relationships. I found myself in a situation where I needed to navigate a conversation with my wife about something I wanted to do. Initially, I felt conflicted, unsure how to bring it up without seeming selfish or inconsiderate. But as we talked, I was reminded of how important balanced, thoughtful communication is in building a strong and supportive relationship.

This meditation guides you through an unblending process, helping you notice and observe the influences of different parts within you, such as your breath, energy, thoughts, emotions, impulses, and actions. By doing so, you can build trust between your authentic Self and your parts, allowing for a more balanced response to challenging situations.

This is the story behind the True You Groups. It describes how my earliest group experiences shaped the way I understand safety, belonging, and inner leadership, and how decades of recovery, group facilitation, and IFS training led to the creation of the True You approach.

This meditation, written and narrated by Bill Tierney can be used to open group and individual explorations using the IFS model or any other method for accessing your internal world.

Choosing the right kind of support can make growth more sustainable. This article explains coaching readiness, the role of healing, where group coaching fits, and how to determine which form of IFS-informed support is the best match for you right now.

When capacity feels low, it’s often because parts of us are already working hard to manage what’s happening inside. Through the lens of Internal Family Systems (IFS), we can begin to understand how this inner management uses energy that could otherwise support presence, creativity, and connection. With compassion and Self-leadership, that energy becomes available again.

We were beginning to drift apart, though neither of us had said it out loud. A tense anniversary trip became the wake-up call we needed to start talking about what was really happening between us. From that conversation came a weekly practice built around six simple prompts that help us stay connected, honest, and compassionate — even when things get hard.

Living from the Authentic Self isn’t about perfection. It’s about learning to lead your life with compassion, curiosity, and courage. This final article in the Authentic Self Series shows how the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model turns healing into everyday living.

Healing through IFS is powerful, but you don’t have to do it alone. Learn how coaching supports the recovery of your Authentic Self and when it’s right for you.

Protectors guard us from the shame and pain carried by exiles. In IFS, healing means pausing, witnessing, and unburdening — reclaiming the Authentic Self.

We all begin life connected to the True Self, but painful experiences form layers of shame and protection that hide it. This article uses simple illustrations to show how the False and Shame Identities develop—and how the IFS model helps us return to Self.

Recovery doesn’t begin with dramatic breakthroughs - it begins in small moments of pausing, noticing, and choosing curiosity. These first steps open the door to living as your authentic Self.

What does it take to wake up fully and reclaim who you truly are? And how do we begin to release the internal “manuals” that no longer serve us, so we can respond to life from a place that is grounded, real, and self-energized?

We don’t begin life believing something is wrong with us. But over time, we fall asleep to who we truly are. This article explores what it means to wake up, remember your authenticity, and begin living from the Self you never lost.

Discover how childhood beliefs and strategies shape false identities—and how recovery means remembering and living as your authentic Self.

After 35 years in AA, I discovered that fear and shame are not the only paths to sobriety. Internal Family Systems (IFS) offers a compassionate, empowering alternative that heals the wounds driving addictive

Internal conflict can create dysfuncition and lack of clarity. It can make it difficult to make good decisions. What if you had a quick and reliable way to resolve inner conflict?

Struggling with self-esteem doesn’t mean you’re broken. It often means a part of you is carrying a painful belief like “I’m not good enough.” This article explores how to improve self-worth through a compassionate IFS-based process—by listening to and supporting those parts, not silencing them.