Practice parts work out loud, with a fictional client who has parts of their own
Practice Room is a voice-first rehearsal space for IFS™ and parts-work practitioners. You talk with a fictional client aloud or by typing, then read feedback drawn from what you said.
uncertainA conversation in your own words, then a careful look back
The client speaks first, the way a client would at the start of an ordinary session. From there it’s your conversation. There’s no script to follow, and help appears only when you ask for it.
Two people, each with an inner world of their own
Max and John are fictional. Each is written as a whole person first: a job, a home life, things they enjoy, a sense of humor. Their parts color how they talk without turning every reply into a lesson.
Choose what you want to practice
Scenarios come in pairs, one pair for each client. With Max, you get to know a protector through the 6 F’s, then, with its permission, witness the exile it protects. With John, you befriend a critic that feels like the truth, then practice direct access when unblending isn’t working.
Nine dials for the person, and a profile for every part
Each client is designed in two layers. The first describes the whole person: what they can perceive, how they relate to you, how much pressure they can hold, and how they talk. Every setting is written as behavior you’d hear in the room, never as a score.
Combinations that make a person
The dials are independent, and the useful clients live in the combinations. John is fluent in IFS language but only medium in parts awareness: he has the vocabulary, and under pressure he loses the observing position.
Dials set a baseline, not a fixed state. When a critic blends, it lowers parts awareness for as long as it’s blended, the way it would in a real session.
Our team sets these when a client is written. You choose a client and a scenario; the dials stay out of your way.
The second layer: parts
Protective strategies come from parts, not from the person as a whole. Sarcasm, shutdown, intellectualizing: each belongs to a specific part with its own role, voice and triggers. Triggers decide how quickly a part steps in. Trust decides how readily it steps back.
When a part is pushed
Push past a protector and its own strategy intensifies first: the critic gets more certain, a joking part gets sharper. Push again and it hands off to a backup part. Often that’s a part that goes flat and foggy.
So the consequence of pushing past a specific part is something you can see and learn from, with shutdown as the realistic end point rather than the first one.
Strength: how much a part leads
The same part can be a flicker or the whole reply. Here is one part, one that wants the session to feel like it’s going well, at three strengths.
A client, not a puzzle with a right answer
A practice client is only useful if it stays honest. Each client is written to follow these rules.
No scripted arc
No magic phrases
Facts stay put
Proportionate responses
A face that changes with the conversation
The portrait moves between eight expressions as the client speaks. It shows outward presentation, not every feeling underneath, and it never signals progress or rewards a technique. Often the right face for a practical answer is a neutral one.
When you don’t know what to say next
“I’m stuck” pauses the session and opens a help panel beside it. You get a short read on where things seem to be, two or three next moves with one to try first, and wording you could say aloud.
It ends with a question about what you’re noticing in yourself, which you can answer or skip. The client waits until you go back in.
The suggestions follow the client’s system: curiosity and permission before technique, and protectors set the pace.
Feedback grounded in what you said
When you end the session, you can say what felt uncertain. Then you get at most one thing to build on and one thing to explore, each tied to the exact lines it’s based on. The thing to explore comes with a next step to try.
Based on the words of seven exchanges. Tone and pauses aren’t part of what’s reviewed.
No grades, no quotas
There’s no score and no required balance of praise and critique. If nothing stands out, a section stays empty. If the exchange was too short to say anything useful, the feedback says that instead.
What the feedback looks for
Curiosity, consent, respect for protectors, the client’s agency, and pacing. Respecting a part’s no isn’t treated as a missed opportunity.
A place to rehearse
Practice Room is for trying a response, noticing your choices and trying a different one. The clients are fictional, and their conversations draw on no real client records. The feedback is one perspective on your words, offered alongside your own judgment and your consultation relationships.
Practice with Max and John
Practice Room is opening to practitioners in stages. If you would like to try it, we would be glad to hear from you, and we’ll let you know when there’s room.
Ask about early accessIFS™ and Internal Family Systems™ are trademarks of the IFS Institute. Parts Companion is not affiliated with or endorsed by the IFS Institute.