Molly Hayes & Robyn Polsfut Interviewing the Internalized Self Handout

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Please feel free to modify and use!
Interviewing the Internalized Inner-Self
Why?
Interviewing the internalized inner-self is an intervention where
individuals are asked to remember a version of themselves and
reassume that role. Engaging in this type of interview allows clients to
self-heal, make meaning of events that happened in their past, and
reconcile cognitive dissonance related to identity and its formation
(Bakhtin, 2002) This intervention is rooted in narrative therapy where
individuals re-author their personal story created a hopeful and wanted
future narrative
(Bakhtin, 2002). Interviewing the internalized inner-self falls within the
scope of this important tenant of narrative therapy.
Method
Pre-Intervention: Explain to the client that this activity asks them to
look back at who they once were and be engaged in a conversation
from the worldview of this former self. In gaining consent, explain that
this activity can be challenging because of course you are not who you
once were and there may be questions asked that were never asked to
that version of yourself in the past.
Preparation: Ask the client to get comfortable and begin visualizing
the version of themselves that they would like interviewed. Ask them
to visualize their appearance, clothing, and location. Ask the client to
signal to you that they are in the place of the internalize inner-self to
begin the interview.
Simple Orienting Questions: Begin the interview simply by asking
things such as, What is your name? Can you tell me about yourself?
How old are you? What do people call you? Do you have a nickname
(pro tip, if yes, use this name throughout the interview!) How do you
feel about coming to this meeting today? What are your hopes for
today?
Invitation for Inner-Self to Describe Themselves: At this stage
you are still just trying to learn about this internalized inner-self. Some
questions that help this process include, What are some things you
are good at? What do you like about yourself? Can you describe some
of the things you appreciate most about yourself?
Discover Systems the Inner-Self is Involved With: At this time
you are looking to gain information about the systems in the inner-

Molly Hayes & Robyn Polsfut Interviewing the Internalized Self Handout
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Please feel free to modify and use!
selves life. You might ask about parents, siblings, significant others,
teachers, etc.
Explore Concerns Within These Systems: Begin by asking, What
do you find most troubling with your relationship to _______? Explore
this concerns using open-ended questions and paraphrasing their
responses in order to be as specific as possible about what is
concerning the individual.
Invite Inner-Self to Remember Experiences of Concern: In order
to get to the place of understanding the impact of negative
experiences to the inner-self we ask the individual to share their
negative experiences. In our video we were working with individuals
who experienced family violence in childhood. In this scenario it is
integral to ask, Some people feel threatened or hurt by others, do you
ever feel threatened or hurt by others? Ask the client to recall the
details of this experience (thoughts, feelings, actions).
Explore the Impact of these Concerns on the Inner-Self: While
looking at the impact of this experience on the inner-self ask questions
such as, Did this experience lead to any changes in yourself? How did
your actions with others change? How did your thoughts about others
change? How did your feelings about others change? Thinking about
the ways that this experience has changed you, do you think this is a
positive or negative change? What would you want to do about this
change?
Dismissing Inner-Self and Re-Inviting Present-Self: Thank the
inner-self for their time, ask them if there is anything else that they
would like to say before we ask the present-self back to the counselling
space. Pro tip: Before engaging the present-self in processing ask,
What is one thing that you would want to say to that inner-self? If you
had a message for your inner-self what would it be? I want you to say
that message loud and clearly to this inner-self. Once this message is
complete it is time to process the experience of the interview.
Processing the Inner-Self Interview: Sensation, imagery,
behaviour, affect/feeling, and meaning (SIBAM model) are all explored
using this intervention. The SIBAM model compliments this intervention
and can be used as a holistic processing model. Some questions to
include in this type of processing are, How did you experience this?
How difficult was it to speak from your inner-self? What would have to
happen in order for you to speak more deeply from your inner-selfs
experience? Having a chance to better understand your inner-self and

Molly Hayes & Robyn Polsfut Interviewing the Internalized Self Handout
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Please feel free to modify and use!
present-self what lessons have you learned as a result of doing this
activity? In what ways could this understanding change your life
looking forward?

Reference
Bakhtin, M. (2002). From monologue to dialogue in families:
Internalized other interviewing and Mikhail Bakhtin. Pastoral
Sciences, 20(2), 219-244.