Queering Internal Family Systems (IFS) Podcast
A conversation between two queer, neurodivergent IFS therapists who wanted to talk about the things that don't always make it into the training room.
Hosted by Jude Carn and Alessio Rizzo, Queering IFS explores what happens when you bring a queer and neurodivergent lens to Internal Family Systems therapy. Each episode is a genuine conversation: about identity, parts, self-energy, shame, joy, nature, and the places where the model needs to stretch a little further.
Whether you're an IFS therapist, in IFS therapy yourself, or just curious about what it means to do this work in a body and a life like yours, you're welcome here.
New episodes drop fortnightly. Find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.
Episode 15 - Queering Internal Family Systems (IFS) - Ecotherapy meets IFS
IFS has a lot to say about the internal landscape. This episode asks what happens when you bring the external one in too.
Jude and Alessio explore the relationship between IFS, ecotherapy, and ecopsychology: why mainstream psychotherapy has been slow to look outward toward nature, and what gets missed as a result. They talk about how the natural world can offer something distinct to parts work, not as a backdrop but as an active presence, and why nature connection might be one of the less obvious routes into self-energy.
Episode 14 - Queering Internal Family Systems (IFS) - Decolonising Internal Family Systems (IFS)
In this episode, Jude and Alessio explore what it might mean to decolonise therapy, with a particular focus on Internal Family Systems (IFS). They reflect on how Western psychotherapy has been shaped by white, Eurocentric frameworks that influence what is considered knowledge, health and healing.
Positioning themselves as white European therapists working within these systems, they discuss how therapy models often locate distress within the individual while overlooking the wider social, political and economic systems that shape people’s lives.
Episode 13 - Queering IFS - Access Fatigue
In this episode, Jude and Alessio explore the concept of access fatigue, the exhaustion that comes from repeatedly having to ask for, explain, or negotiate your needs in spaces that were not designed with you in mind.
Episode 12 - Queering Internal Family Systems (IFS) - Bringing Compassion to the Complexity around Pronouns for Everybody with Phil de la Haye
In the first episode of 2026, Jude and Alessio are joined by Phil for a thoughtful conversation about pronouns, privilege, and complexity.
Rather than treating pronouns as a simple checkbox, this episode explores how they operate across different layers: inside our systems, in relationship, and within wider cultural and organisational contexts. The conversation stays with the reality that pronouns can be affirming, exposing, political, tender, and sometimes activating, often all at once.
Episode 11 - Queering IFS (Internal Family Systems) - Is the Self Neurodivergent?
This week, Alessio and Jude explore the intersection of Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy and neurodivergence, as they ponder intriguing questions about the Self and neurodivergence.
Episode 10 - Queering IFS - Keys to Neurodivergent Affirming Internal Family Systems Practice
In this episode, Jude Carn and Alessio Rizzo explore the keys to neurodivergent-affirming practices in IFS (Internal Family Systems) therapy, and psychotherapy and counselling more broadly, exploring how therapists can better accommodate clients’ diverse needs.
Episode 9 - Queering IFS - Queering the Social Model of Disability in IFS (Internal Family Systems)
Ever wondered about the difference between the medical and social models of disability? Join Jude, Alessio, and Isabelle, as they explore how society creates barriers, the impact of cultural backgrounds, and practical applications within IFS therapy.
Episode 8 - Queering IFS- Queering Shame in IFS - Are We Missing Anything Out?
In this podcast, Alessio Rizzo and Jude Carn discuss the complex process of shame, which we all have experienced. Queering how we might understand and see this through and IFS lens.
Many books have been written about shame, but, perhaps, there is something that we have missed out about the various layers of shame. Listen up to find out what it is!
Episode 6 - Queering IFS - Queering the Self in IFS (Part 2) - is the Self Queer?
In this episode Jude (She/They) and Alessio (He/They) continue their conversation on the Self, which is such a central concept in IFS Therapy.
Jude and Alessio dive further into questions of Self or Self-Energy in IFS through a queering lens. They ask, is the Self queer? Where is queerness in the system? And where does the question of the qualities of Self even come from?
Episode 7 - Queering IFS - Exploring the Burden of the Gender Binary with Anna Thomas (They / Them) (Copy)
In this podcast Jude (She / They) and Alessio (He / They) discuss with their guest Anna Thomas (They / Them) about the importance of bringing awareness to the impact of the gender binary on all our lives.
Episode 5 - Queering IFS - Queering Sexuality in Internal Family Systems (IFS) - The P of Passion
In this episode, Jude (she/they) and Alessio (he/they) with their guest speaker, Ali Bushell (he/him), talk about sexuality and reflect on how we speak about sexuality within the IFS and therapeutic communities.
Episode 4 - Queering IFS - Queering the Self in Internal Family Systems (IFS): Where to Begin (Part 1)
In this episode, they unpack the challenges of defining Self and Self-Energy in IFS, wrestling with the limits of language and why clear definitions matter to some parts of us. They explore self-energy within parts, the Self as energy, and its role as the system’s anchor, leader, or central organiser.
Episode 3 - Queering IFS - IFS and Pronouns - Why They Matter Inside and Out!
Join Alessio and Jude this week as they talk about pronouns. Something they are both passionate about in supporting clients to have an inclusive and affirmative experience in their therapy. Not just the importance of checking out and using the client's pronouns, but also doing this with their parts.
Episode 2 - Queering IFS - Neurodiversity is not Parts!
Today, Jude Carn and Alessio Rizzo discuss neurodiversity. Join them in conversation. Neurodiversity does not originate in parts, through the IFS lens. It is natural and innate to humans and includes the mind and the body.
Episode 1 - Queering IFS - Introducing Queering IFS
In today's episode, we have an introduction to Jude and Alessio and why they wanted to start this IFS (internal family systems) podcast for the queer and neurodivergent IFS community.
Episode 16 - Queering Internal Family Systems (IFS) - Discrimination Burnout
Not all discrimination announces itself. Sometimes it's the thing that didn't happen: the job that went to someone else, the room that went quiet, the invitation that never came. In this episode Jude and Alessio look at discrimination burnout, and specifically at how the weight of these non-events accumulates in neurodivergent and queer systems.