Our mission to bring IFS to the world is being realized through the work that we are doing in North America as well as the strong international partnerships we have established with several international organizations. One such international partner who has been spreading the IFS word is IFS Portugal, led by its founder Aníbal Henriques.
Aníbal completed IFS Levels 1 and 2 training but developed his “first crush” on IFS in 2017 when he met Dick and Jeanne in London, where he went to complete his Level 3 that Dick led. Just over a year later, Aníbal became an international partner with a mission to bring IFS to Portuguese speaking people across the world.
Since then, Aníbal and his team have delivered several Levels 1, 2 and 3 trainings, IFS workshops and consultation groups with up to 12 IFS lead trainers. He calls his relationship with the Institute, “A wonderful partnership, a privilege and a gift.“ He added, “The partnership is very generous towards IP. Despite minor ups and downs, it’s been improving. Over the last two years there have been huge shifts in the way the Institute is growing relationships with international partners. There are more people available to address challenges, and we are having more collaborative and progressive conversations about finding new ways to get the IFS message out to as many people as possible.”
Aníbal’s love for the value the model brings to people’s lives drives him. In 2000, he started the IFS Talks podcast aimed at deepening connections with the Internal Family Systems model through conversations with lead trainers, authors, practitioners, and users.
In the not-too-distant future, he envisions that the IFS model will officially be taught in Portuguese, not just in Portugal, but in countries where there are large Portuguese-speaking communities such as Brazil and Angola in Africa. To add to what he calls “a wonderful journey,” Aníbal is eagerly looking forward to playing an integral role in organising the first IFS conference in Portugal, an event that was already planned, but was cancelled because of the pandemic.