IFS: Internal Family Systems

Internal Family Systems, or IFS, is a therapeutic approach that helps you explore the different parts of your personality, especially the “protector parts” that may have developed to keep you safe but now create internal conflict or slow progress. These parts often carry fears, beliefs, or strategies that were helpful in the past but feel limiting in your life today.

In IFS, we work to understand each part’s role and the positive intentions behind its actions, even when it seems to interfere with your goals. For example, a part might believe:

“If I heal, I will lose connection with people who are struggling.”
“If I become more confident, I might make choices I am not ready for.”
“If I let go of guilt about the past, I will have to face that I was not protected.”

These parts are trying to help, even if their methods are no longer serving you. IFS gives them a voice and shows how their goals can be honored in ways that feel safer, healthier, and aligned with your life.

By understanding and appreciating each part, you create internal harmony, reduce self-criticism, and increase your capacity to make choices that truly feel good for you. This process often makes the next steps in trauma work, including EMDR, more effective because your nervous system is better able to engage in healing without feeling threatened.

With IFS, you can integrate your experiences so that you no longer have to shut off parts of yourself or stay in conflict with your defenses just to cope. Instead, your actions and decisions become aligned with your best interests naturally and effortlessly.

IFS is a gentle but powerful way to learn about yourself, build compassion for your inner system, and create lasting change from a place of understanding and safety.