Although art therapy began as a mental health profession in the 1940s, there is often little public awareness of it as a field, or it is over-simplified and misunderstood. So it is art? Or therapy? Elinor Ulman, another early art therapy pioneer, sought early on to define the field and concluded that it is both art and therapy, where the art is “the meeting ground of the inner and outer world.”

The therapeutic relationship is considered a cornerstone of psychotherapy, and research has shown it as one of the most reliable predictors of positive outcomes across the course of treatment.

Explore the externalizing approach of IFS with information grounded in the field of art therapy to extend beyond parts mapping into various practical exercises for IFS practitioners, therapists, and doing your own personal parts work.