Releasing Our Burdens brings together Thomas Hübl and Richard Schwartz in a collaboration that seeks to connect Internal Family Systems (IFS) with collective and ancestral approaches to trauma. Having previously read Schwartz’s No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model and used IFS in my own therapeutic journey, I was curious to see how this work would expand on those foundations. IFS is a thoughtful modernization of Jungian archetypes and Freudian structures, and it has offered many, including myself, valuable ways of identifying and naming emotions.

This book continues that conversation while widening the lens to collective and ancestral experiences of trauma. Some of the most compelling ideas highlight how much of what we carry is not ours alone, but shaped by family legacies and cultural histories. The inclusion of Fatimah Finney’s chapter was especially meaningful; her reflections on social injustice and intergenerational wounds grounded the book in timely relevance, and I wished her voice had been given even more space.

That said, the structure of the book, particularly the reliance on extended transcripts, made the reading experience feel a bit dense at times. The prose leans academic and can come across as repetitive, which may limit accessibility for some readers. A clearer framing in the description about the use of transcripts would have set more accurate expectations. Still, those transcripts may prove illuminating to readers who appreciate seeing how theory translates into practice.

Overall, Releasing Our Burdens raises important questions about how individual, ancestral, and collective healing intersect. While I found some sections less engaging, the concepts themselves are valuable, and readers who are newer to IFS or trauma-informed approaches may find this a helpful introduction. Therapists and healing practitioners at the start of their journey will likely benefit most from its insights.

I struggled to keep reading this book. It is very wordy without a lot of actual, helpful advice. There are lots of transcripts of others having sessions, and lots of talk about parts. Schwartz invented the IFS model of psychology in the 80s, which basically says we all have some Dissociative Identity Disorder (formerly called Multiple Personality Disorder) and parts of ourselves that are stuck in childhood or the past and we need to talk to them, listen to them and heal them. There’s also a lot of talk about communicating with our dead ancestors, the trauma of things like racism and slavery (which is absolutely valid) and using this sort of talking to your child parts and your traumatized dead ancestors to heal. It honestly felt like a very long ad at times and like listening to a couple of very wordy and self aggrandizing cult leaders at other times.

I'm a fan of Internal Family Systems therapy generally and interested in addressing things in an intergenerational context, but this is not my favorite book, and I'm having a hard time putting my finger on why it seems so unsubstantial. Usually therapeutic dialog examples are helpful in counseling books, but many of the ones in this book just fell flat for me. I'm not sure if it would have been different in video form where there is more information. They seem so out of out context.

The strongest chapter is by Fatimah Finney but she is not given credit in the book's meta data or on the cover, just inside the book on the front page it says under the two men with PhDs it says "with Fatimah Finney, LMHC" in smaller font. That is an awkward dynamic for this particular book since ancestral and collective traumas are often about or the result of social power differentials across groups in societies.

If this subject is of interest, I would encourage to read this book. It may just not be working for me.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I will certainly recommend it to others. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC.

In Releasing Our Burdens, Thomas Hübl and Richard Schwartz offer a deeply insightful journey into the healing of trauma—one that transcends the individual to encompass ancestral wounds and collective patterns. Rather than isolating pain as a personal struggle, they invite us to understand how deeply we're shaped by generational and societal aftershocks. Drawing from Internal Family Systems and group-based healing traditions, they present a compassionate roadmap for releasing emotional and psychological burdens, fostering resilience, and nurturing a more connected world. This thoughtful collaboration is both gentle and profound, serving as a lighthouse for anyone seeking not just personal restoration, but a chance to mend and transform communities as well.

This is a great resource that answered quite a few questions I had about ancestral trauma and healing. I highly recommend.

This book felt like sitting down with two wise, compassionate guides who finally get it. As someone who’s been through more trauma than I sometimes know how to name, I’m always searching for books that go beyond surface level self-help, and Releasing Our Burdens absolutely delivered.

What hit me the hardest? The reminder that not everything I carry is mine. Some of my heaviest pain isn’t just from my own life, but it’s ancestral, cultural, collective. And realizing that doesn’t make it less personal… it makes it feel less shameful. It gave me permission to stop blaming myself for wounds that were never mine to begin with.

Richard Schwartz’s Internal Family Systems work resonated with me, and adding Thomas Hübl’s perspective on collective and spiritual trauma was… honestly, eye opening. It connected dots in my own healing that I didn’t even know were related.

The exercises aren’t complicated, but they are powerful if you take the time with them. The biggest shift for me was leaning into curiosity and kindness toward the parts of myself I usually want to shove down. There’s something quietly revolutionary about approaching your trauma not with judgment, but with gentle gratitude.

I found myself crying, pausing, breathing deeply and sometimes feeling an actual physical release, like I was letting go of something I’ve been gripping for too long.

If you’re healing, if you’ve been through hell and are trying to make sense of the pieces, please read this. It’s not a “quick fix” kind of book. It’s a companion for the long, messy, beautiful work of becoming whole again.

✨ If you’ve ever wondered why you feel so heavy, and you’re ready to let some of it go… this is your book.

Thank you to NetGalley, Richard Schwartz, and Sounds True Publishing for the eARC of this book.