Internal Family Systems Model

Episode 44: Why Anger is a Surprising Friend, What Happens When You Avoid It, and How to Create Space for Healthy Expression of Anger in Your Family

By Alison Cook | March 9, 2023

Today’s episode is all about how to befriend anger. It’s an emotion that can do great harm and one that also has great benefits. Whether you thrive on anger or try your best to bury it, one thing’s for sure-we all have to reckon with it. When you learn to work with your anger, it...

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Episode 43: How to Tame Your Inner Critic, Why All Parts are Welcome, and How to Resolve Conflict in Your Relationships

By Alison Cook | March 2, 2023

Today, I am joined by my friend and co-author of Boundaries for Your Soul, Kimberly Miller, to discuss the almighty inner critic, how to get space from it, and how to bring this work into your relationships. Kim describes how she first encountered Internal Family Systems (IFS) and how combining it with Christian faith and...

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Episode 42: How to Honor Sadness, Set Boundaries with Loneliness, and What to Do When You Don’t Have Time for this Work

By Alison Cook | February 23, 2023

You need your pain. Grief makes you real, and disappointment can inspire creativity, change, and growth. Sadness brings texture to the joys we experience. And yet, it’s also not wise to let sadness take us over. In today’s episode, we discuss how to set healthy boundaries with emotions like sadness and loneliness. Here’s what we...

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Episode 41: Boundaries With Fear And Anxiety—How to Calm the Chaos Within and the Joy of Internal Boundaries

By Alison Cook | February 16, 2023

So many of us live at war with ourselves. We hate our anxiety or battle with fear. We beat ourselves up or try to get rid of these parts of us. But this approach only makes things worse. One of the most surprising ways to calm your anxiety is to stop waging war against it....

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Episode 40: 5 Steps to Healing Painful Emotions & Why Parts of Us Get Stuck in the Past

By Alison Cook | February 9, 2023

Do you ever feel like a part of your soul is trapped in the past, holding you back from fully embracing the present and moving forward? Pain, fear, worry, or even bitterness can weigh heavy on our hearts and minds. This is a common experience for all of us at times. In today’s episode, I...

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Episode 39: Boundaries for Your Soul—How to Navigate Your Overwhelming Thoughts & Feelings

By Alison Cook | February 2, 2023

We all need a map to our soul. A way to understand the emotions, the wounds, the areas that feel broken. That’s what I love about the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model of therapy-it provides a map that everybody can incorporate into their daily spiritual practice. It’s your guide to navigating overwhelming thoughts and feelings....

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Episode 6: Do I Really Have an Inner Child? What It Means to Reparent Yourself

By Alison Cook | June 9, 2022

What is this “inner child” we see everywhere? Do I really have one? Is this just woo-woo psychology or is there science behind it? In today’s podcast episode we’ll discuss this buzzword “inner child” and why it matters. We’ll get into what it means to have an internal family, and the power of memory in...

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loving-your-inner-enemies

Loving Your Inner Enemies

By Alison Cook | May 13, 2021

“Put away your sword,” Jesus told a disciple poised to defend him from armed forces sent by political leaders in the Garden of Gethsemane. The king of heaven and earth could have commanded the angels to destroy his enemies and prevent his arrest and execution (Matt. 26:53). Instead, motivated by love, he hung on the...

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emotional healing process

An Emotional Healing Process Everyone Should Know

By Alison Cook | May 27, 2020

Everyone deals with painful emotions from time to time. You might struggle with anger, envy, fear, or guilt. These emotions might be related to a current experience, or they might be emotions you have struggled with for a very long time. Regardless, it’s possible to engage an emotional healing process on your journey toward wholeness....

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roadmap-to-you

A Roadmap to You

By Alison Cook | December 26, 2019

Wouldn’t it be nice if you reached a point in life when you could hit cruise and coast along in all of your relationships? You could just sit back, listen to the music and trust that everything will work out fine. Most relationships don’t work that way—not the ones we have with our loved ones,...

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The 7 most common protectors that keep you from connection with others

By Alison Cook | September 12, 2018

You know the feeling. . .You’re at the dinner table with the people you love most, but you’re not really present. Your mind is a million miles away. Maybe you’re mentally scanning your to-do list or replaying the tape of that hard conversation you had with a friend earlier that day. Maybe you’re berating yourself...

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heal painful emotions

3 Steps to Heal Painful Emotions

By Alison Cook | June 15, 2018

Everyone deals with painful emotions from time to time. You might struggle with anger, envy, fear, or guilt. These emotions might be related to a current experience, or they might be emotions you have struggled with for a very long time. Regardless, it’s possible to heal painful emotions. Learning how to heal painful emotions is...

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While Dr. Cook is a counselor, the content of this website and any of the products provided by Dr. Cook are not specific counseling advice nor are they a substitute for individual counseling. The content and products provided on this website are for informational purposes only.

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