Internal Family System (IFS) Therapy
We provide evidence-based therapy to help you overcome life's challenges and improve your mental health.
What is IFS Therapy?
IFS therapy, or Internal Family Systems therapy, is a powerful and increasingly popular form of psychotherapy developed by Dr. Richard C. Schwartz. It’s based on the idea that the mind is made up of multiple “parts” or sub-personalities, and that we all have a core Self that can lead these parts with compassion and wisdom.
PARTS
We all have many inner parts, each with its own feelings, thoughts, and roles.
Parts are not pathological—they exist to protect us.
They often fall into three categories:
Managers: Try to keep us safe and in control (e.g., perfectionism, people-pleasing).
Exiles: Hold painful memories, emotions, or trauma (e.g., shame, fear).
Firefighters: React when exiles are triggered, often with impulsive or numbing behavior (e.g., binge eating, addiction).
SELF
The Self is our core: calm, curious, compassionate, confident, connected, creative, courageous, and clear.
IFS aims to help the Self lead the internal system.
Healing through Relationship:
The goal is not to eliminate parts, but to get to know them, unburden them, and restore balance.
Parts are often stuck in extreme roles because of past wounds. When they're witnessed and understood, they can transform.
IT'S FOR YOU
It’s non-pathologizing, because no part of you is “bad.”
It honors the complexity of your inner world.
It’s used for trauma, anxiety, depression, self-esteem, addictions, and more.
It helps you become more self-led, emotionally integrated, and empowered.
What Happens in IFS Therapy?
In a session, a therapist might guide you to:
Tune in to a part of you that feels anxious, angry, or self-critical.
Ask questions internally to understand its role and fears.
Access your Self to build a relationship with that part.
Help that part release burdens it has been carrying for years.
More on IFS
FS (Internal Family Systems) is a powerful form of therapy that helps people understand and heal their inner world by recognizing that we’re all made up of different “parts” (like the inner critic, the people-pleaser, or the scared child).
These parts aren’t bad, they each have a job, often to protect us from pain. At our core is the Self: calm, compassionate, and wise.
In IFS, you learn to listen to your parts, build trust with them, and gently help them release the burdens they carry, so you can feel more whole, clear, and at peace.
Five Core Emotional Needs
IFS therapy is based on the idea that people have essential emotional needs that need met during their development.
Secure attachment to others (includes safety, stability, nurturance, and acceptance)
Autonomy, competence, and sense of identity
Freedom to express valid needs and emotions
Spontaneity and play
Realistic limits and self-control
A person's biological temperament also plays an important role in how emotional needs are expressed. As a child grows up, they are largely dependent on their caregivers to meet these emotional needs. The ability for caregivers to meet these continua of emotional needs can have a strong impact on the way children develop as individuals and how they try to meet their needs as adults.
It’s important to note, however, that schemas generally form as a result of repeated experiences in childhood or adolescence. So, if parents fail to meet their child’s needs in a certain situation, this is not an indicator that the child will develop specific maladaptive schemas.
CBT & DBT Stress Management Techniques
Stress can impact every aspect of our lives, but it doesn't have to control you. Schema therapy is integrative with evidence-based cognitive behavioral and dialectical behavioral therapeutic techniques to help with immediate stress management.
Religious Trauma
Many experience religion as an added support to their mental health, but for others, religion is a source of complex psychological stress, painful memories, and trauma. The Religious Trauma Institute (2022) defines religious trauma as “the physical, emotional, or psychological response to religious beliefs, practices, or structures that is experienced by an individual as overwhelming or disruptive and has lasting adverse effects on a person’s physical, mental, social, emotional, or spiritual well-being.”
Examining religious trauma does not mean rejecting or opposing all religion. Instead, it opens a path towards healing for those who have been harmed by their experiences. There’s not onecorrect path forward.
Religious Trauma & IFS Therapy
Leaving a religious group is a significant life transition that can lead to confusion, strained relationships, and a sense of losing community. For those leaving high-control groups, the emotional impact can be so intense that it may result in trauma.
During this major life shift, people often have intense feelings of grief, anxiety, and anger, coupled with feelings of relief and liberation. These experience can increase the likelihood of developing schemas, including:
Abandonment/Instability
Mistrust/Abuse
Defectiveness/Shame
Approval-Seeking/Recognition-Seeking
Being Overly Dependent/Incompetent
Social Isolation
High Standards Towards Self or Others
Do any of these religious experiences resonate with you?
It was unacceptable to express my true emotions in my religious group.
Leaders in my group did not acknowledge harm they caused to others.
Some religious leaders shared information about other people (through prayer requests or otherwise) that should have been kept private.
I believed that God's love and acceptance of me was dependent upon my performance in the church/group.
I currently have trouble trusting religious leaders/religious groups.
I no longer trust myself to find a good spiritual community.
I was harshly criticized by religious leaders or group members.
I felt like a spiritual failure, and I depended on my leader/religious group to "get it right.”
I believed God would punish me if I didn't do what my church/group encouraged me to do.
I didn’t feel free to ask questions or express concerns in my church/group.
I felt dependent on religious group members.
My religious leaders used fear to control people.
I know that I or others were encouraged to serve as the eyes and ears for our leaders to get information about our members.
At times, I was scolded by religious leaders and made to feel ashamed and helpless.
I now feel lonely and misunderstood because of my religious group experiences.
Adapted from Katheryn Hope Keller’s (2016) PhD Dissertation entitled “Development of a Spiritual Abuse Questionnaire” available from doi: twu-ir.tdl.org/handle/11274/8760
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We provide evidence-based therapy to help you overcome life's challenges and improve your mental health.
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