IFS

Internal Family Systems (or IFS) is best represented by the film Inside Out, where we meet and get to know some emotions, or parts, of a little girl named Riley. The film was partly inspired by IFS. In the therapy room, this approach looks like welcoming all aspects of ourselves, getting to know parts that we may not particularly like or find helpful in our life, easing conflict that we feel within ourselves and developing a loving relationship with ourself.

Christina is level two trained in IFS by the IFS Institute, having done their level two in “A Compassionate Approach to Addictive Processes and Eating Disorders.” Internal family systems is both a modality of therapy and way of life for Christina that operates in conjunction to their advocacy for abolition.

Therapy Style

Feminist Therapy

While feminist therapy was originally developed as a way clients and therapists could better examine the impact of gender on women’s mental health, it also values how we can examine other cultural influences and identity in the same way for everyone’s mental health.

Some common themes addressed within this medium are mother wounds, personal exploration of sexuality and gender, late diagnosed Autistic and ADHD women, and the mental load within heteronormative relationships.

Feminist therapy is for everybody, not just women.

Narrative Therapy

In narrative therapy, the client is the expert and the therapy process is collaborative. There is an emphasis on our stories and how we understand them. Through these stories we have the freedom to explore personal growth and the meaning in our life.

Narrative therapy can have a lot of overlap with person-centered therapy, which is non-directive and also sees the client as the expert in the therapy room. Person-centered therapy is another core of Little Bird Psychotherapy.