You asked…I delivered!
A downloadable, on-demand IFS demonstration:
Working with a Highly Activated Firefighter!
Curious about how to work with firefighters?
This IFS Demonstration is for you!
This IFS + Finger Puppets Demonstration is for everyone — beginner to advanced!
You do NOT need IFS training to join in — demonstrations are an entryway to IFS learning, on both a beginner and advanced level, making it perfect for anyone, a starting place and a deepening place.
A Q & A session from the Oct. 20 Watch Party of this demonstration is included in the course fee. (The flyer for the original watch party is below).
If you’re looking for a deeper understanding of addictive firefighters, in the creative format of using finger puppets to externalize parts, this IFS demonstration course is for you!
The video starts with an exile who expresses distress about a currently unfolding watermelon-eating binge. Then a firefighter, Rhino, weighs in on the subject. Finally, the watermelon-bingeing part is revealed to be Koala, a highly activated firefighter (with a previous history of binge eating) who does NOT trust the Self and would like to go eat sugar. Its primary job is dissociating. It discusses a desire to use marijuana to do its job as well.
In a jocular mood, Koala has a confrontation with another firefighter, Sharky, over the issue of marijuana. Koala makes the mistake of assuming that because they're both firefighters, Sharky will agree with their interest in smoking weed. Sharky is offended, not flattered, and demands an apology. This is a shocking moment for Koala, who never expected to meet a firefighter who has no interest in drugs, and is actually offended by someone assuming that they would! Due to Sharky’s assertive stance, Koala backs down and apologizes for stereotyping Sharky as a typical ‘drug-loving firefighter.’ This confrontation, while intense, ends up deeply impacting Koala, ultimately forcing them to confront a deeper reality: it IS possible for firefighters to heal, to give up their dissociative habits, and to find new ways of being. Sharky is living proof.
As a result of this confrontation with Sharky, the final section of the video is a moving testimony to the power of IFS to help even the most aggressive, distrustful parts transform. Koala softens and opens up to their own fears and vulnerabilities, and new possibilities lie ahead for them as a result.
To check back in with Koala and see how far they’ve come, this course also includes two other pieces of written IFS work with Koala, which they did in preparation for watching this video during the IFS Demo Watch Party in October, 2024. One was written a few days before, and the other one, about half an hour before the Watch Party. They’re also great testimonials to how much parts can shift over time.
The video is an advanced illustration of IFS work: both the client and practitioner are the same person, 13x Level 3 trained IFS Certified Practitioner Melissa Sandfort. It is shows how it is possible to be both the client and IFS coach simultaneously.
This course is full of IFS learning, including:
How to talk to firefighters — casually without coercion
How to engage a firefighter who isn’t particularly trusting
How to stay in Self when parts are activated
How to handle parts who want to go eat sugar NOW!
How to facilitate repair between parts
How to use finger puppets to externalize parts in IFS
How to work with yourself as both client and practitioner
And much more!
Finger puppets help you unblend from and externalize your parts, so you can turn inner work into inner play. And they make IFS very easy to learn and follow along with parts as they come up!
