Alena Pavlenko

I help busy minds to turn inner noise into clarity and joy of living

IFS practitioner · PhD

IFS Academy expert & curator · 350+ hours leading somatic practice

We all have inner reactions and patterns that run our lives — the inner critic, the people-pleaser, the part that shuts down under stress. In individual sessions, I help you learn to notice them, understand them, and respond from a calmer, clearer place.

This is a practical skill, not endless therapy. Through IFS — a method where you build relationships with different sides of yourself — you learn to stay grounded and carry this into everyday life on your own.

Free 20-minute introductory call — let's see if this is a fit.

Message on WhatsApp — we'll find a time.

Message on WhatsApp See formats & pricing

Who it's for

Your mind loops — buzzing thoughts, background anxiety, a restlessness that doesn't fully let go. You want to feel settled in yourself.
You catch yourself reacting on autopilot — and want a way to actually stop the pattern, not just notice it after the fact.
There's an inner critic or fixer that won't quiet down — you want to live with it without the constant fight.
You've tried therapy or meditation, but the insights don't stick — plenty of understanding, few real changes in how you live day to day.
You want a healthy relationship with your anger — not to suppress it, but to hear what it's telling you and set boundaries without losing yourself.

The approach

In IFS, there's a concept called Self — a state from which curiosity, calm, and acceptance become possible. My task is to help you find and strengthen that place inside, and make working with your inner patterns and your state into a lasting, practical skill.

You learn to notice different sides of yourself — in IFS they're called parts (the inner critic, the people-pleaser, the anxious one) — understand what drives them, and build a relationship with them. You also learn to work with what's happening in your body (tension, heaviness, constriction, sluggishness). The ability to return to your center and hear yourself becomes something you use effortlessly in everyday life.

In sessions we explore what's going on inside and deliberately work with your state: noticing what's happening, leaning on the body and breath, returning to a grounded place. The goal is that over time you do this yourself in daily life — including in difficult emotional moments.

What is IFS

In IFS (Internal Family Systems), patterns, beliefs, and inner voices are seen as parts — and you can build relationships with them. Every part has a positive intention; each one protects you in its own way. At the center of the method is Self: a state of presence and acceptance from which contact with parts becomes possible.

The method helps release inner tension and build a skill: noticing parts, building relationships with them, moving toward greater wholeness. Research shows effectiveness in working with depression, anxiety, resilience, and self-relationship.

Evolving IFS

Evolving IFS includes classical IFS and adds emphasis on a trusting space, contact, and presence. Each session starts with attunement — work with state and body. You receive the experience of being seen, heard, and accepted — and on that foundation, resilience and the capacity to rely on yourself are built.

How a session with me goes

We start with attunement — I guide you through body and breath to settle the nervous system and connect with your state before we go further.
We work with what's coming up for you — together we get to know the parts and beliefs creating tension, and build relationships with them. Throughout, I help you stay with what's happening in the body: noticing sensations, returning to your center and to Self.
I give you practices to take with you — things you can try on your own between sessions, so the work carries over into daily life.

The pace and direction come from your system — we go where it wants to go.

From people who made IFS part of their life

"For me it's like a new level of awareness — a new layer opens up. When in the moment you recognize the part that's taking over, you can separate from it, and then more clarity appears."

"There's less reactive response now. Instead of acting the way the protector wants, I slow down, give it space inside to be angry, and only then start doing something. As a result, instead of a big fight with my husband for a week — we had a real, alive conversation."

"More compassion appeared toward my own parts, and consequently toward other people too. It changes relationships with loved ones."

"In dialogue with business partners, I explain through parts why I want something a certain way. It helps reduce tension, especially when you have a perfectionist part that needs everything to be flawless."

"In business, when you and your partner can speak this language, you can avoid a lot of conflicts."

"With colleagues, communicating through the context of parts significantly lowers the temperature of discussion — there's understanding that a specific part is reacting in the conversation, not the whole person… it makes the conversation more respectful."

Formats

Introductory call — 20 minutes, free

Ask any questions, learn more about the IFS method, share your request, and understand whether this format of work is right for you now.

Single session — 60 or 90 minutes (€80 / €120) Try the method, clarify one question, feel how the work goes.
One month — 4 sessions × 1 hour, €280 (€70/session) Support for your specific request: get to know your system of parts and state, start making this your skill.
Two months — 8 sessions × 1 hour, €480 (€60/session) For those who want to go deeper: lasting Self skills and parts work, building a system that supports your full capacity.

Book a free introductory call

My path

Career, how I came to IFS and somatic work, who I studied with, and what I do now.

Career

I started as a physicist, PhD — research in Germany, then the US and UK. Then I moved into strategic consulting (Deloitte) in the Netherlands. I've always liked figuring out how complex systems work and finding solutions that actually hold. Many moves and life changes along the way — I know from experience how you lose your ground, and how to find it again. For me, lasting change grows from trust in yourself and in the process.

Path to practice

I didn't set out to become a practitioner. I was exploring what actually works — years of my own therapy, then 350+ hours leading somatic practice — banya, massage, bodywork and working with state. Then I encountered IFS — a method that felt intuitive and gave results that outperformed everything I'd tried before. I went deep, and it became part of how I live. Along the way, people started reaching out to work with me: first about the body and state, then about IFS.

IFS Training

I came to IFS through Guthrie Sayen — a student of Richard Schwartz and one of the leading teachers of Evolving IFS, with a focus on working with state and Self. He has over 15 years of teaching and over 10,000 hours with clients. I studied with him for two years and also completed Richard Schwartz's course IFS and Spirituality.

Certificates

Certificate — Level 1 IFS Coaching Course by Guthrie Sayen, 40 hours, April 2025

Level 1 IFS Coaching Course by Guthrie Sayen, April 2025

Certificate — Classic and Evolving IFS: More Self Module 1 by Guthrie Sayen, 34 hours, December 2025

Classic and Evolving IFS: More Self Module 1 by Guthrie Sayen, December 2025

Now

Academia and consulting gave me systems thinking. Somatic practice gave me the ability to listen to my state and be in the body. At IFS Academy I'm an expert and curator — I design how we teach the material and help students bring it into their lives and practice. I also lead individual sessions in IFS (Self, parts, state) and continue my somatic work.

What matters to me

Sharing experience that actually works. Helping people learn to hear themselves and become self-sufficient in that — so that the skill stays with you.

Alena Pavlenko

Who it's for

The approach

What is IFS

Evolving IFS

How a session with me goes

From people who made IFS part of their life

Formats

Introductory call — 20 minutes, free

My path

First step