The Internal Family Systems Workbook

This is such an informative and helpful text! IFS is something my supervisor has trained in and we frequently use as an approach to working with teen boys in a group home setting. This book will absolutely end up on professional bookshelf full of notes and sticky notes!

This workbook is really incredible and I highly recommend. While I don't think background knowledge in IFS is necessary because there is a lot of explanation throughout the book, I feel like this workbook is best suited alongside therapy or with some previous experience in IFS therapy sessions. As a workbook, it feels very dense, in a good way but also in a way that it feels like a life-long workbook, rather than one you could complete in a few months. I really love IFS and how it conceptualizes the psyche. It's very warm and expansive.

Thank you Sounds True Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC!

"The Internal Family Systems Workbook" has been a great find as I’m just starting counselling and trying to get back on track. I hadn't heard of IFS before, but this workbook offers a clear and helpful introduction. The exercises really encourage you to explore and understand the different parts of yourself, which can be challenging but so rewarding. The deep questions force you to pause and think, making it a powerful tool for self-reflection and healing. Highly recommended for anyone wanting to do some serious inner work.

Note: Although I’m a provisional psychologist with some knowledge of IFS, I’m not a licensed IFS therapist. That said, there are common threads across therapeutic orientations. While models may differ in name or structure, they often share foundational elements. This is the stance I will review this from.

I often work with neurodivergent individuals and those with processing differences, so making experiential work like this accessible is incredibly valuable. While IFS is structured around internal parts, I see a lot of overlap with other modalities, such as Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT), particularly in how we engage with emotions and internal conflicts. Reframing aspects also cross over with Schema and other experiential approaches for me.

The workbook offers a clear and flexible approach to exploring parts work (like Managers, Firefighters, and Exiles), which can be easily integrated into therapeutic work even outside of a strict IFS framework. The distinction between Self and parts is particularly well explained, and the exercises are adaptable enough to use with clients who may have varying levels of emotional awareness or cognitive processing capacities. The meditations and reflection prompts are especially useful for guiding clients through internal dialogues in a structured but compassionate way. Understanding of IFS is not required as it is well explained, however this is dense and obviously deals with heavy work. So, I think it is something that would best be accompanied by other therapy support or done slowly, over time.

Even though IFS isn’t my primary modality, I could easily see how these concepts might be applied within other frameworks, like EFT or general emotional deepening work—even if that wasn’t the intended purpose. In EFT, for instance, the two-chair technique helps clients dialogue between conflicting emotions, much like how IFS facilitates conversations between parts. The IFS idea of "speaking for, not from" parts could also be useful in the schema realm, allowing clients to observe their schema-driven reactions with more distance and mindfulness.

The workbook’s body-based awareness exercises, like "Find It in the Body," are particularly helpful for general emotion-deepening, and they resonate with clients who are neurodivergent or have heightened sensory sensitivities. Much like EFT’s focus on the felt sense, these exercises encourage clients to locate and explore emotions as they manifest in the body. This makes emotional work more accessible, especially for those who find cognitive approaches more challenging or who benefit from a more somatic or embodied exploration of feelings.

The section on Managers was a standout, reframing these parts as protectors rather than obstacles. This mirrors the kind of compassionate reparenting work we do in schema therapy, where we help clients integrate and heal vulnerable parts.

While IFS is not my primary modality, this workbook would be highly effective for self-guided work or in therapy sessions, offering a useful structure for clients and therapists alike. It serves as a bridge to exploring internal conflicts and fostering self-compassion, whether you’re using IFS explicitly or adapting its principles to other therapeutic models.

Ultimately, this workbook offers a valuable resource for those looking to make experiential work more flexible and accessible across different therapeutic contexts. It’s a great tool for promoting self-compassion and emotional exploration, no matter the framework you’re working within.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author Dr Richard Schwartz, and the publisher for providing this ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is an amazing resource. I have had a passing familiarity with the Internal Family System model and this book is a clear and comprehensive description with a plethora of exercises and meditations. The overview of the content described in the synopsis is so accurate and all-encompassing that it bears no repeating in a review.

As the author notes IFS is an embodied practice going beyond simply intellectual understanding and fostering a lifelong commitment to greater self-awareness and wholeness. While the content stays primarily in the psychological realm, the acknowledgement of the Self and its 8 characteristics leans into a more expansive perspective with a spiritual component. The meditations linked to the Sounds True website are a bonus.

While this may become a welcome addition to therapists’ bookshelves, I think that a lay person with some exposure to therapy or to psychological theories and practices would benefit from working with the material as well. The author does advise those readers with deep issues to seek out an IFS therapist for support and guidance with the process.

My thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the privilege of reviewing this book. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This review is being posted immediately to my GoodReads account and will be posted on Amazon upon publication.

The IFS Workbook offers a comprehensive, in-depth look at the Internal Family Systems modality. Highly recommend for anyone in the mental health field - or even those looking to deepen their understanding of their own family makeup. This will be a resource I will look back to frequently in my practice. Thank you to NetGalley and Sounds True Publishing | Sounds True for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The Internal Family Systems Workbook by Richard C. Schwartz, PhD, is an excellent resource for those interested in doing parts work for themselves.

I do recommend a background in IFS knowledge of some kind, particularly other books written by Richard C. Schwartz, PhD.

This book gently leads the user deeper into getting to know themselves and their parts and learning to accept them all as valid. There are QR codes included, which lead to meditations on the Sounds True website.

I will most likely purchase a physical copy of this workbook so that I can fill it in as I go and take part in the whole experience. As a believer in parts work, I will recommend this book to others as well.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you Netgalley for the chance to read this book for a fair and honest review!
IFS is *the* hot thing in psychotherapy. I found the book helpful... for me, but I'm a therapist with a beginner's level of knowledge of IFS. But I was confused about who this book was written for – the education seemed a little too simple for a layperson unless they've already read about IFS or is using it in therapy. The "beginner-friendly overview" is VERY brief, especially when concepts behind IFS can be confusing or complicated at times. I would have liked to seen more small bits of explanation or walk-through throughout the book. I agree with another reviewer that this would be best used with a therapist in session.

WOW. I'm so glad I was given the opportunity to preview this workbook! I first heard of Internal Family Systems from a therapist about a year ago, and have had a sticky note on my desk to look into it more ever since. With only the general idea of how the IFS therapeutic model works, I was able to readily navigate the system, understand how this approach can help work to heal pieces of traumatic backgrounds, and how to help "family members" of the human core begin to work together rather than in conflict. As someone with an abusive parent and conflict-filled formative years, I can honestly say I see how this approach is very therapeutic and have pre-ordered my own copy (to mark up and work through more deeply) for its release on December 3rd. Highly recommend for anyone whose "parts" (family members in the IFS system) might need some intrapersonal work, which then naturally flows to the interpersonal relationships.

My thanks to NetGalley and Sounds True Publishing for the opportunity to preview this title in exchange for my honest opinion.