Meeting every part of you with compassion
I accompany individuals and couples with Internal Family Systems (IFS) and systemic therapy: we get to know the inner parts behind your feelings and patterns, see them within your family system, and heal what they carry.
Nothing in you is wrong. Every part has a story.
Anxiety, a low mood, the urge to eat or not to eat, a harsh inner critic, a fight with your partner that keeps repeating: behind each of these there is usually a part of us that is trying to help.
Often these parts learned their roles long ago, in situations where they were truly needed. In my work we turn towards them with curiosity instead of fighting them. When they feel understood, they can let go of old burdens and fears, and something calmer and wiser in you can lead again. I work warmly, at your pace, and with respect for everything that has helped you survive.
“There are no bad parts.”
The central conviction of Internal Family Systems, in the words of its founder Richard Schwartz, and the spirit in which I meet the people I work with.
What is IFS?
IFS was developed by the American psychologist Richard Schwartz. It starts from an experience we all know: “a part of me wants this, another part wants something quite different.”
Our mind is not a single voice but a system of inner parts, each with its own feelings, beliefs and intentions. IFS offers a clear and loving way to get to know this inner family, and it is now used worldwide in psychotherapy, couple therapy and coaching.
Protectors
Parts that try to keep us safe: the planner, the critic, the people-pleaser, but also parts that numb pain through food, work or withdrawal. They work hard and often feel exhausted.
Exiles
Younger, vulnerable parts that still carry old pain, fear, shame or loneliness. Our protectors keep them out of sight, which is why the same reactions return again and again.
Self
The undamaged core in each of us: calm, curious, compassionate, clear and courageous. From Self, we can listen to our parts, and they can heal and take on roles that serve us now.
IFS and systemic therapy for individuals
You can come with a concrete difficulty, or with the sense that something in your life wants to change.
In our sessions we work with what is alive in you today. We notice where you feel it in your body, get to know the parts involved and, when you are ready, go to the places that need healing. I also work a lot with family constellations, and draw on somatic work and NLP where they help.
- Anxiety and phobias
- Depression and low mood
- Eating disorders
- Shame and guilt
- Trauma and abuse
- Fulfilling relationships
- Motherhood
- Life questions and transitions
- Coaching and personal growth
- Family dynamics
- Online sessions
Understanding the parts around food
Restricting, bingeing or purging are often the work of protective parts that are trying hard to manage overwhelming feelings. Instead of fighting them, we get to know them and the pain they guard, so they no longer have to do their job through food and the body. I have trained specifically in this application of IFS.
Releasing old burdens
Shame says “I am wrong”, guilt says “I did wrong”, and both can quietly shape a whole life. In IFS we meet the young parts that took on these beliefs, often for someone else, and help them put down what was never theirs to carry. At the same time, the inner critics that keep shame in place can relax.
Seeing the whole family system
Family constellations are a central part of my work. Many of the feelings and patterns we carry did not begin with us. They are part of a larger family system, with its loyalties, losses and unspoken stories, sometimes reaching back several generations.
In a constellation we make this system visible in the room, in individual sessions with figures or floor markers, in groups with representatives. Hidden dynamics come to light, and what was excluded can be acknowledged and given its place. Combined with IFS, this often shows which burdens a part has taken on from the family, and helps it give them back.
- Recurring patterns across generations
- Loss, separation and difficult family stories
- Your place in the family and in your partnership
- Burdens taken on for parents or ancestors
From the old dance to real contact
Many couples know their painful cycle by heart: one pursues, the other withdraws; one criticises, the other defends. These are protective parts meeting protective parts.
I work with Intimacy from the Inside Out (IFIO), the IFS-based couple therapy developed by Toni Herbine-Blank. Together we slow the cycle down. Each partner learns to speak for their parts instead of from them, and to hear what the other’s protectors are guarding. Where there was blame, understanding and closeness become possible again.
Time away, for deeper work
Some things move more easily in a few days away from daily life. I offer retreats for groups on request, at our chalet in Schliersee at the foot of the Bavarian Alps or at another location. Private couples retreats I offer together with my husband Jens Riese at the chalet.
Retreats for groups
On request, I facilitate retreats for inner work for small groups, at our chalet in Schliersee or at a location of your choice. We shape the program together, with IFS, family constellations, embodiment and nature: experiential sessions, time outdoors and time to rest. At the chalet, this includes walks in the mountains, healthy vegetarian food and the sauna.
See the chaletPrivate couples retreats
A few days just for the two of you, on dates that suit you: two IFS-based couples sessions a day with Jens and me, and the chalet with its spa and garden to land and reconnect in between.
About the couples retreat
A lifelong interest in body, mind and the people we love
I studied medicine and psychology for four years, and then chose to put my energy into our family and raising our three sons. Those years taught me as much about people as any lecture hall: about attachment, about crisis, about what children and couples need, and about how much love and patience a family system holds.
Over the following years I trained in many approaches to healing and growth. I became a classical homeopath, somatic coach and NLP practitioner, and found my home in systemic constellations and IFS. IFS’s respect for every part of a person matches what I have always felt: that underneath our struggles there is something whole that can be found again. Today I work as a therapist and coach with individuals and couples, and I am a state-licensed healing practitioner (Heilpraktikerin).
I live with my husband Jens in Schliersee, at the foot of the Alps.
- Heilpraktikerin (state-licensed healing practitioner)
- IFS therapist (Internal Family Systems)
- IFIO couple therapy (Intimacy from the Inside Out)
- IFS for eating disorders, shame and guilt
- Family and systemic constellations
- Somatic coaching, NLP
- Four years of studies in medicine and psychology
- Classical homeopath
- Oxytocin Practitioner
How we can start
We begin with a short conversation, by phone or video, to see whether my way of working suits you. After that we agree on a rhythm that fits your situation.
In an acute crisis, please do not wait for an appointment. Call the emergency number 112 or the Telefonseelsorge, free and around the clock, on 0800 111 0 111 or 0800 111 0 222.
Write to me, in your own words
Tell me briefly what brings you, whether you are thinking of individual sessions, couple therapy or a retreat. I read and answer every message myself.