Voice Dialogue and IFS: two paths to your inner parts
Perhaps you discovered through IFS (Internal Family Systems) the idea that we are made of several inner « parts ». This idea has an older sister: Voice Dialogue. Here is their story — and what makes each one unique.
A shared story — and a pioneer
In 1972, psychologists Hal and Sidra Stone began developing Voice Dialogue: a direct, embodied way of giving voice to our inner selves. About ten years later, family therapist Richard Schwartz independently developed IFS, after noticing that his clients spontaneously described inner « parts ». The two approaches grew separately — and converge remarkably. Voice Dialogue is the pioneer, a fact that Richard Schwartz himself acknowledged when he paid tribute to Hal Stone as a pioneer of work with inner voices.
What they share
Both approaches start from the same insight: we are not one, but many. The perfectionist, the protector, the pleaser, the vulnerable child... In both, every part deserves respect and none is an enemy. If you have experienced IFS, you will feel at home in a Voice Dialogue session — and often surprised by its depth.
What makes Voice Dialogue unique
IFS proposes to heal your parts. Voice Dialogue does not try to repair or change them: it teaches you to sit between them — between the driver and the cautious one, between the giver and the exhausted one — and to choose, consciously, instead of running on autopilot. This is called the Aware Ego process: not a state to reach, but a muscle that grows. Another distinctive feature: in Voice Dialogue you physically move and let each part speak in its own energy — a directly embodied experience.
Coming from IFS? Welcome.
The two approaches complement each other beautifully. Many practitioners draw on both. If parts work speaks to you, a Voice Dialogue session is a natural — and often revealing — next step.