Internal Family Systems (IFS) & Money: An interview with IFS therapist, Derek Scott

The Internal Family Systems Model is an integrative approach to individual psychotherapy developed by Richard C. Schwartz in the 1980s. It combines systems thinking with the view that the mind is made up of relatively discrete subpersonalities, each with its own unique viewpoint and qualities. If you prefer to watch the video, head over to YouTube via the link below. The interview is timestamped and captioned for your ease. If you prefer to read, I have a transcript below.

This interview explains the links between IFS and how to locate parts with beliefs around money, work, worth that may be getting in the way of our fulfilment, wholeness and happiness.

Derek Scott is the founder of IFSCA, a certified IFS therapist and registered social worker with over 35 years of experience.

This is a rough transcript of the video. Due to time pressures, I haven’t carefully edited it to make it very concise. I hope you enjoy reading it if that is your preferred method.

Cleona Hi, Derek. Lovely to see you again. I got to meet you and spend quite a bit of time with you when I did the stepping stones, IFS course which was about a whole new world for me. I’d never heard about internal family systems. And, I was wondering if maybe we could start with just a little bit of introduction of who you are and where you’re based, and then a little bit about IFS.

Derek Sure. Thanks, Cleona. I’m just outside of Toronto, Canada, and I’m up in the country looking at the trees. And I head up an organization called IFSCA (https://ifsca.ca/) and that’s based on the internal family systems model. It’s a model of therapy, but it’s really based on an understanding of the personality.

We now know that the personality operates as a system and we’ve got a whole bunch of different parts of us and that has revolutionized our understanding of both psychology and therapy as you know, from taking the [00:01:00] course. So I am very excited to be teaching that and came across it 17 years ago.

And I’ve been in love with that understanding ever since.