What if the fastest path to your Enneagram type wasn’t testing or theory—but listening to your parts? In this conversation, Rick Kahler and Enneagram veteran Joan Ryan explore a powerful, emerging approach: using Internal Family Systems (IFS) as a direct pathway to accurate Enneagram typing. Joan explains how the Enneagram offers a reliable map of core motivations, while IFS provides the method to investigate them from the inside—by working with managers, protectors, and long-held fears. Together, they show how identifying which parts prioritize certainty, bonding, or agency can reveal your true Enneagram center and type, often correcting years of mis-typing. It’s a client-led, curiosity-based process that replaces guessing with inner clarity—and deepens both personal growth and financial therapy.
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Stop Guessing Your Enneagram—Ask Your Parts Instead with Joan Ryan
Joan Ryan
Joan Ryan specializes in Organization Development and the Enneagram. She is a Senior Leadership Coach and has worked internationally in for profit, nonprofit, and governmental organizations including USAID. She is an Adjunct Professor at Boston College. She previously worked as an attorney. She served 2 terms on the IEA Board in the early 2000s.
An internationally recognized Enneagram expert. Joan completed training as a Certified Narrative Enneagram Teacher in 1996. She had the distinct honor of being mentored directly by both Helen Palmer and the late Dr. David Daniels.
Most recently, she taught with Dr. Dan Siegel in the first two public workshops presenting the material in the forthcoming book Personality and Wholeness in Therapy: Integrating 9 Patterns of Developmental Pathways in Clinical Practice (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology) Paperback – November 19, 2024.
Her current focus is exploring intersections between the Enneagram and Internal Family Systems (IFS-Institute.org). She co-authored a chapter in “Altogether Us: Integrating the IFS Model with Key Modalities, Communities, and Trends”, August 2023. With her teaching partner, Tammy Sollenberger, she offers classes and consulting groups along with individual coaching.
About Rick Kahler:
Rick Kahler, MSFP, CFP® , CFT™, CeFT® , Certified Internal Financial Systems™ Financial Therapy Practitioner, president of Kahler Financial Group, is a lifelong resident of Rapid City, SD. He began his professional career in 1973 selling and appraising real estate He founded Kahler Financial Group in 1981. He became the first fee-only Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP ® ) in South Dakota in 1983. In 2020 he became one of the first Certified Financial Therapist (CFT™,) in the nation.
His firm, specializes in the integration of investment advising, financial planning, financial coaching, and financial therapy, serving small business and real estate owners, professionals, and retirees, as well as individuals and families.
He served on and chaired the South Dakota Investment Council and served in leadership capacities with the Financial Planning Association and the National Association of Financial Planning Advisors. Kahler is also a nationally renowned speaker and educator. In 2003, National American University recognized Mr. Kahler with the Alumni Distinguished Service Award.
Interested in working with Rick Kahler, MSFP, CFP®, CFT™, CeFT®, Certified Internal Financial Systems™ Financial Therapy Practitioner? Please go to our website, Book a Financial Therapist Appointment and fill out a request for a 30-minute free consultation.
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