Internal Family Systems Catholic Story Groups

NOTE: only those who are in Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy OR an IFS group may participate in this Catholic Story Group offering. 

Within a Catholic Story Group, we explore the stories of our parts, seeing how God, our co-Author, is calling us to greater healing, integration, and holiness. Here’s what it entails:

• Curiosity: With the Holy Spirit, Story work begins with a deep exploration of our parts and the stories that they hold from our childhood. We are particularly interested in parts whose stories we don’t really know at this time but may be significantly impacting us in the present. Alternatively, we may be aware of a difficult childhood story that has not been linked to a particular part but may give us clues into a part’s experience even if we are not specifically aware of the connection.  In this case, the childhood story is a trailhead, and we want to explore that story to better to discover a an unaccounted for Exile part.  
• Crafting: In this phase, we begin to write the story that the Holy Spirit or a specific part is prompting us to write. Without much thought to spelling or grammar, we simply put words and texture to our past. If we are starting from a part, we can ask that part for the story. If starting from a childhood event, we can describe in great detail what happened. Sometimes writing with our non-dominant hand can give us more access to the emotional power of the story. When we write our story, we don’t pay attention to spelling and grammar as it doesn’t really matter for the purposes of story group.  
• Telling: With the courage of the Holy Spirit, we read our story aloud within one of our Catholic Story Group sessions. Through the active engagement of the group members, our story is witnessed and further illuminated by the ways that we have been wounded and how God wants to redeem our parts and their stories to bring about greater goodness, wholeness, and holiness.  
• Blessing: At the end of our 8-Week Catholic Story Group experience, blessings spring from our story and our engagement with others. We will have grown in our capacity to tenderly attune well to others, God, and ourselves. We will begin to experience more joy in our relationships rather than tension, conflict, and strife. Our ability to more clearly see reality and love others in our families and communities will expand.

Current Story Group 

Weekly Story Group (8 Weeks, beginning Tuesday, January 9, 2024)

Facilitator: Kathryn Wessling, PhD

Day & Time: Tuesdays, 7-8:30pm EST

Dates: Begins the Week of January 9, 2024 and runs for 8 weeks

This Story Group is FULL – please add your name to our WAITLIST to be notified when the next group will be offered.  

Notice: Participating in a Catholic Story Group is not therapy or counseling. Each session is designed to help attendees own and process their story more fully so they may more deeply understand the story that God is writing in their lives. During the 8-week time period, each participant is asked to write a story from their early childhood or adolescent experience and share it with the group. The writing and sharing of our story can involve emotional, psychological, and physical discomfort. This is normal. It is one of the purposes of the group: to provide a supportive context that invites each attendee to identify and begin to explore difficult issues that may have inhibited their ability to connect with God, others, and their own Self. The purpose of the facilitator is to create an environment of psychological safety, authenticity, and guidelines for strict confidentiality (nothing is shared or published outside of the group). The facilitator will also model how to attune and respond to one another’s stories and provide guidance for how to relational repair when misattunement occurs.