IFS Coaching 101: Firefighter Parts
If you’re new to IFS, I recommend going back to this post before diving in here!
Quick recap: IFS (Internal Family Systems) teaches us that all of us have parts, or sub-personalities. Each part has it’s own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. The model loosely organizes parts into three different categories: managers, firefighters, and exiles. Managers and firefighters also fall into a broader umbrella of “protectors”. Today, I want to get to know some common firefighter parts that I see in IFS coaching work with clients. These parts may also be recognizable in your own system.
What is the role or purpose of a firefighter part within a human system?
Although managers and firefighters are both protective parts, managers tend to protect by being proactive whereas firefighters protect by being reactive. For example, a managing part might try to anxiously “pre-plan” out scenarios -such as exactly what you’re going to say during a big, important meeting. A firefighting part might come up if you feel the meeting doesn’t go well and distract you from that feeling somehow (like with binge-watching tv, having a glass of wine, or going for a run). Both have the job of protecting you from “bad” & overwhelming feelings that are held by exiles.
Firefighters are typically triggered when they believe an exiled part is about to surface. They are activated in response to stress, emotional pain, and trauma triggers. Like a human firefighter, their primary objective is to put out the fire as quickly as possible. They are not going to stop to worry about property damage. Similarly, a firefighting part can activate behaviors that are quite destructive to our lives, because that part is fixated on “putting out the fire” above all else. They can be very damaging in the long-term.
In systems that have experienced trauma, the methods that firefighting parts use to keep exiles from flooding a system tend to be more and more extreme. As we covered before, exiled parts are exiled because their beliefs are overwhelming and scary to the system. Like managers, firefighters are using the strategies they know to try to keep exiled parts and their beliefs from flooding your system. Frequently, these are strategies that were developed at a young age that no longer make sense for the current age you’re at/situation you’re in.
What are some common firefighter parts we might encounter in IFS Coaching?
Saviors: A savior part is usually in at least one, if not several codependent relationships (maybe even with other parts in your system). Savior parts need to be needed. They protect us by distracting us with someone else’s problem(s), and by helping us to feel strong and capable. Interestingly, savior parts can be protector-managers or protector-firefighters. At their best, these parts can help us to drive change for people. They can be incredible in emergencies. At their worst, these parts are inherently oppressive. Being a savior means assuming that another human requires saving - and inherently takes away their agency by assuming we know best what is right for someone else. As I mentioned earlier, these parts can also keep us from ever doing our own work (because we’re constantly focused on others). Savior parts might come into action to cover up exiles holding beliefs like “I am incapable” or “I need to earn worth”.
Rebels: A rebellious part likely does not have much trust in or tolerance for authority. These parts pride themselves on being in opposition. It can be very protective, especially in reaction, to say in an upsetting situation “well I don’t want or need any of that anyway!”. These parts may become active in response to feelings of oppression or injustice. At their best, these parts are incredible at helping us to drive needed systemic change. They can provide the passion and fire to shift long-entrenched ways of doing things and help us better our world and the world of others. At their worst, these parts can isolate us and get us into trouble, potentially legally. Rebels might be protecting exiles that hold beliefs like “I am not safe anywhere” or “I cannot trust anyone”.
Dissociators:Parts that protect us with dissociation often work by numbing our emotions and awareness of what’s going on, both internally and externally. These parts are often triggered when what’s going on with our feelings or our external world feels like too much to cope with. Dissociative behaviors can show up in lots of different places - everything from playing video games, scrolling online, exercising, using substances, and staring into space. At their best, they help us to get through situations that might otherwise be impossible - dissociation is a very critical and needed protective aspect of the human nervous system. At their worst, they keep us from being connected to ourselves, our bodies, other humans, and the world - barring out anything joyful or lovely right along with everything “negative”. Dissociative parts might be working to protect an exile that holds a belief of “I cannot survive this”.
How do we work with firefighter parts in IFS Coaching?
In IFS coaching work in general, we approach parts with curiosity and compassion. Parts, like people, tend to shut down and ignore you if you try to tell them what to do or assume you know best about their work/environment. Firefighters are especially delicate and vulnerable, because they can be highly reactive and explosive. They can trigger extreme behaviors if a IFS coach or therapist is not careful - and sometimes even when they are. Firefighters often control behaviors like self-harm, binge eating, addiction, and violence. I consider some firefighting behaviors to be beyond my scope as an IFS coach (such as those that hold suicidality).
With those caveats, in general, the process of working with a firefighter part might look like this:
Identify a firefighter part: This may be obvious (you may already know you react to stress by binge-playing video games or eating packs of cookies). If it is not, we can start with a trailhead (something that happened in your life that is flagging you or bothering you).
Focus more on that part: We ask questions about the part. Where do you feel it in a body? Do you hear it? Do you see it? What does it sound or look like? When does it come up most frequently?
Talk directly with the part: If it is willing, we engage with the part directly to learn more about its role and motivations in your system. We ask it questions like “What is your job?” “What do you think would happen if you didn’t do this job?” “How did you get this job?”
Build trust over time: Depending on the part, it may take a while before it’s willing to divulge important and sensitive information (such as whether it’s protecting another part). It also may take a while before it’s willing to try something new. The key is to stay patient and trust the wisdom of your system - never trying to force parts to tell you things or to change before they’re ready.
This is heavily genericized - depending on the age of the part (when it became burdened) and the situation you’re currently in, the time it takes to develop a healthy and trusted relationship will vary and the process may change.
Did this make you curious about your firefighter parts? Reach out here if you’d like to learn more about your system!