In this episode, we welcome two leading voices in Internal Family Systems therapy for a conversation that bridges neuroscience, sensory experience, and healing. Sarah Bergenfield is a certified Level 3 IFS practitioner, writer, and educator specializing in autistic individuals and couples. Autistic herself, Sarah weaves together IFS, polyvagal theory, predictive processing, and sensory science in her clinical and consultation work. She teaches internationally for clinicians working with neurodiverse clients, and her work reframes autism not as a deficit, but as a condition of sensory surplus. Martha Sweezy is an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, program consultant and supervisor at the Center for Mindfulness and Compassion at Cambridge Health Alliance, and a psychotherapist in private practice in Northampton, Massachusetts. She teaches IFS nationally and internationally and has authored and co-edited numerous books on the model, including Internal Family Systems Therapy, Second Edition (with Richard Schwartz), Intimacy from the Inside Out (with Toni Herbine-Blank), and Internal Family Systems Therapy for Shame and Guilt.
This episode is an invitation to explore the role of uncertainty in mental health: how it can quietly drive distress and shame, and how IFS offers a path toward resolution. While the conversation has special relevance for autistic systems, the insights apply across all neurologies.
Listen to this episode of IFS Talks on Spotify, or Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.