Integrating Internal Family Systems (IFS) into Voice Work

This blog post is for you if you believe there is a deep connection between voice work and healing. Voice lessons and public speaking coaching are not therapy, but they can absolutely have a therapeutic effect!

In the very first voice lesson I taught, 23 years ago, I already felt deeply honored to do this work. Because working with a voice means working with someone’s soul. And a soul can be wounded…

It is no coincidence that the foundation of my studio is: Because your Voice Deserves to be Heard!

I hope you can feel that I am not just talking about your physiological voice. I am talking about your message, your identity, your truest self. Your physiological voice is a beautiful pathway to express and deeply connect with all of them.

When I work with you, I ask you to step into vulnerability. And you do! Also if your soul is wounded, you show up for it. I feel deeply blessed when I witness you taking those courageous steps toward your goals, your willingness, your tenacity. I get to guide you on that path and celebrate your growth in a way that fills me with immense gratitude. What an honor it is to be a voice teacher!

With all of this comes great responsibility.

For many years, I have pursued training to become trauma-informed and to learn how to integrate nervous system regulation into my work. Yes, I have CPTSD myself. But having been in therapy for over 20 years does not automatically mean I know how to provide safety for you when you take those courageous steps.

A few years ago, I trained in Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT) as well as Compassion Focused Training (CFT). Both frameworks have been proven to be extremely valuable in my work with you, especially when dealing with performance anxiety and struggles with the learning process.

I notice that, very organically, I have started integrating parts language into my application of ACT and CFT, the idea that the human mind is composed of distinct “parts” or subpersonalities rather than a single unified self.

There is a long history of parts work, including Gestalt Therapy and Transactional Analysis, but I came to know it through Internal Family Systems (IFS), developed by Richard Schwartz in the 1980s.

IFS therapy is one of the fastest growing treatment approaches in the therapeutic field. It’s a non-pathologizing, evidence-based method uniquely designed to work directly with the client’s internal world – accessing protective mechanisms, healing deeply held wounds, and creating transformational change that lasts.

I found it very reassuring that when I attended a two day ACT training with Steven Hayes Phd, the primary co-founder of ACT himself, he also spoke about IFS. So my intuition can be trusted.

I notice how much stronger the ACT and CFT concepts work when I combine them with parts language. Your progress shows me that they are a powerful team.

I continue to respect the boundary that I am not a therapist and that you do not come to me for therapy.

AND I feel the pull to go further, to work more deeply, and to offer you the next steps.

So I’ve enrolled in a 2 four-month Intensives:

• Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy In-Depth Program with senior-level IFS Therapy Expert Elizabeth Taeubert.
• Internal Family Systems (IFS) Trauma Treatment Program
  with IFS trauma expert and Harvard-trained psychiatrist, Dr. Frank Anderson MD.

For eight months in total, I will be training in how to apply IFS principles within my lessons and coaching.

No, I am not planning to become a therapist. But I do plan to ensure that the aspects of my work with you that touch upon therapeutic principles are applied ethically.

Because your growth can only happen when I provide safety. Because your Voice Deserves to be Heard!

I would love to read your feedback on this via sarah@singsing.be. Here are some questions that can help you form your thoughts. Feel free to reply just one or all of them, whatever you prefer.

• How do you feel about me enrolling in an in depth IFS training alongside my voice work?
• Does this development feel aligned with how you experience our work together?
• Does it strengthen your trust in my guidance, or does it raise questions for you?
• How do you feel about me integrating parts language more explicitly into lessons and coaching?
• Would this feel supportive to you, neutral, or unnecessary?
• Are there specific boundaries you would want to see clearly held if I integrate more therapeutic frameworks into my work?
• Does knowing I invest in trauma informed training increase your sense of safety?
• Is there anything about this direction that concerns you or feels unclear?
• Would you prefer this dimension to remain subtle, or to be named and worked with explicitly?
• How do you distinguish, for yourself, between lessons / coaching and therapy in this context?

P.S. If you are already taking lessons or coaching with me, I may ask for your consent to anonymously share aspects of our journey together during the live supervision and Q&A sessions of my training. You are always completely free to say no.