About

PARTS & SELF is an online, open-access magazine published by the Foundation for Self Leadership.

We produce online, web-based releases of new material on a continual basis, without particular date of release. The magazine launched in Autumn, 2022: www.PARTSandSELF.org.

This new publication is an evolution of OUTLOOK, which was a PDF-formatted, issue-based magazine edited by Michelle Glass, from 2015–2021.

We see the IFS view of the human psyche as a way to help effectively handle the problem of “changing what is stuck,” what’s not working and destructive to personal and interpersonal well-being. We acknowledge that each person has an inner system that can be helped towards a calm and lasting success at living. We consider IFS—with its focus on the ideas of Parts and Self—to be a positive way towards answering the key question: “Am I well?” Instead of a fake reply for the sake of social pleasantry, the answer can become true, authentic, and meaningful: “Yes I am well!”

We like that.

We consider IFS to be a model that’s designed to help. Applied to the lives of individuals, it can impact society for the better one transformation at a time. One meeting with Self at a time, things can change. We are committed to equal access to these ideas, regardless of financial means or privileged cultural supports.

With PARTS & SELF we try to work out the what, why, when, how, with whom, and for what purpose? The aim of the magazine is to share news relevant to both Parts and Self, IFS, the IFS community, and to developments relating to the Foundation. We also commit to going beyond all this, as explained below, by offering a mix of interactions, from written articles, to videos, audio, music, and art.

We do not believe that Parts and Self belong to the IFS model; these concepts are captured in the model’s presentation in a useful and handy way. This configuration of who we are—being made up of Parts and a “higher” Self, who leads and assists those Parts to live well—is, we consider, the natural state of being human.

We write Parts with a capital “P,” because we value Parts a lot and consider that the road to Self (with its royal capital) is through Parts and with Parts.

Our core focus is what we call “Self leadership.” We want people to encounter, through engagement with the work we offer in PARTS & SELF, their true Self—the idea of being led by inner calm, curiosity, creativity, courageousness, clear-headedness, connectedness, confidence, and compassion.

Consult the emerging body of scientific research regarding various aspects of Self leadership here: https://www.FoundationIFS.org/research

Editor: Philip Armour, MA

Publisher: Toufic Hakim, PhD, Executive Director, Foundation for Self Leadership

Foundation for Self Leadership

Sponsored Space Manager: Cynthia Enaruna, MBA

Web Support: Josh Lisojo, MS

Site Development

Graphic design: Erin Feodore Smith

Web developer: Facade Interactive

The Foundation for Self Leadership provides guidance and resources to ensure the magazine’s success in furthering the Foundation’s mission. The Foundation also works closely with the IFS Institute, the global center for IFS training and certification, and Richard C. Schwartz, PhD, founder of Internal Family Systems.

We actively seek submissions, suggestions and involvement in PARTS & SELF. Please contact the Editor using this Contact Form.

Note: PARTS & SELF does not endorse, nor subscribe to, the views of those we publish. Rather we encourage free thought, without judgement.

From 2022, the English version used in the magazine may differ, depending on who wrote the piece, and with which version of English they write. We may include, or link to, versions of writing in PARTS & SELF translated into the mother tongue of the author, or a language relevant to the focus of the piece.