Internal Family Systems (IFS)

Find inner calm by bringing your inner parts into harmony

What is Internal Family Systems (IFS)?

Internal Family Systems (IFS) is a therapy model that understands the inner world through different “parts,” each with its own emotions, needs, and protective roles.

Rather than trying to eliminate these parts, IFS invites curiosity and compassion toward them while helping you access what the model calls the “Self”: a calm, connected, and compassionate way of relating to your experience.

A calming still life selected for What is Internal Family Systems (IFS)?

Building inner understanding

Improved Emotional Awareness

IFS helps you notice and understand different parts of your inner experience and how they may shape thoughts, feelings, and behaviours

Greater Self-Compassion

By befriending your parts instead of judging them, you naturally cultivate kindness toward yourself

Trauma Healing

Exiled parts hold past pain, fear, or shame. Safely accessed, they can release their burdens, allowing healing and inner balance

How It Works

01.
Identify Parts
You and your therapist map out the different "parts" of your psyche. Each part has a role or function, often formed in response to past experiences.
02.
Access the “Self”
The goal is to help your core "Self" emerge. The Self is calm, curious, compassionate, and capable of leading your internal system.
03.
Understand and Befriend Parts
Protectors are parts that try to prevent emotional pain or vulnerability. By learning their motivations and fears, you can build trust with them, encouraging them to step back so deeper healing can occur.
04.
Access Exiled Emotions
As protectors step back, you can safely access the exiled parts that carry pain.
05.
Heal and Integrate
The Self works with the exiled parts to unburden them of their pain, leading to healing and a more balanced system.