Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy is a transformative and evidence-based approach to psychotherapy that helps individuals understand and heal their inner emotional world.
IFS therapy is based on the concept that the mind is naturally subdivided into a number of different parts, each with its own perspective and qualities. These parts often interact within the internal system, much like members of a family. The goal of IFS therapy is to help individuals achieve a harmonious balance among their parts, potentially leading to greater self-awareness and emotional well-being.
Key Components of IFS:
IFS therapy involves a collaborative process between the therapist and the client to identify and understand the different parts within the client’s internal system. The therapy sessions are designed to help clients access their Self and facilitate healing and integration of their parts.
1. Identifying Parts: The therapist helps the client identify and get to know their parts, including their roles and functions.
2. Accessing the Self: The client is guided to access their Self, which is the core part of their being that can provide leadership and healing to their internal system.
3. Understanding Parts: Through dialogue and exploration, the client learns about the intentions and needs of their parts, often uncovering past experiences that have shaped these parts.
4. Healing Exiles: Exiles are parts that carry the burden of painful emotions and memories. The therapist helps the client to compassionately engage with these parts, potentially leading to healing and release of these burdens.
5. Harmonising the System: The client works to create a more balanced and harmonious internal system, where parts work together under the guidance of the Self.
IFS sessions typically last between 60 and 90 minutes. During these sessions, clients are encouraged to engage in a process of self-exploration and dialogue with their parts. The therapist facilitates this process, providing support and guidance as needed.
Steps in an IFS Session:
1. Check-In: The session begins with a check-in to understand the client’s current state and any immediate concerns.
2. Focusing: The client is guided to focus inwardly, noticing sensations, emotions, or thoughts that arise.
3. Identifying Parts: The therapist helps the client identify which parts are active and encourages a dialogue with these parts.
4. Accessing the Self: The client is supported in accessing their Self to interact with their parts from a place of compassion and curiosity.
5. Healing and Integration: The therapist assists the client in addressing the needs of their parts, facilitating healing and integration within the internal system.
6. Closure: The session ends with techniques to ensure the client feels grounded and supported.
IFS therapy may offer numerous benefits for individuals seeking to understand and heal their internal emotional world:
IFS therapy is considered a safe approach for individuals dealing with a variety of mental health conditions, including trauma, anxiety, depression, and relationship issues. It is important to work with a certified IFS therapist who has undergone specialised training to ensure the best possible outcomes.
Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy offers a unique approach to understanding and healing the inner emotional world. By recognising and harmonising the different parts within oneself, individuals may achieve greater self-awareness, emotional healing, and personal growth. If you are considering IFS therapy, know that you are taking a courageous step towards a potentially healthier and more fulfilling life. A qualified IFS therapist can guide you through this journey with compassion and expertise.
Remember, healing is a process, and seeking help is a sign of strength. IFS therapy might be the key to unlocking a more harmonious and integrated self.
If you have any questions or would like to learn more about IFS therapy, we have a number of IFS trained therapists who can help – give us a call on 1300 830 552 or send an email enquiry to be matched with a therapist near you.
What "parts" work actually means, whether IFS suits trauma, and honest answers for the sceptics - because you don't have to be sold on the model for it to help.
IFS (Internal Family Systems) works from the idea that we all have different “parts” – the part that gets defensive, the part that people-pleases, the part that shuts down – and that these parts developed for good reasons, usually protection. Rather than fighting these parts, IFS helps you understand them, ease the burdens they carry, and lead from your calmer, wiser core self.
IFS is used for trauma, anxiety, inner criticism and stuck relationship patterns. It tends to resonate with people who notice internal conflict – “part of me wants to leave, part of me can’t imagine it” – and who want an approach that’s compassionate rather than confrontational with their own history.
Most couple conflict is parts talking to parts – one partner’s protective anger meeting the other’s shutdown. IFS helps each person recognise which part has taken over in the heat of a moment, and respond from a steadier place. That shift alone tends to change the tone of a relationship’s hardest conversations.
We have IFS-trained therapists in most capital cities – including IFS therapists in Melbourne and IFS therapy in Sydney – and via telehealth Australia-wide. Let us know what you’d like to work on and we’ll match you accordingly.
IFS has a growing research base and is increasingly recognised in trauma treatment, though it is younger than approaches like CBT and its evidence base is still building. Many therapists combine IFS with other well-established methods, which is common in our network.
It varies with what you’re working on – some people find real movement within a couple of months, while deeper trauma work takes longer. IFS tends to be gentle in pace by design; your therapist will keep you oriented on progress as you go.
Yes – trauma work is where IFS has grown fastest. Its approach suits people who find direct exposure-based methods too confronting: instead of reliving events, you work with the parts of you that carry the trauma, at a pace those parts can tolerate. For some people IFS is the main trauma therapy; for others it pairs well with EMDR.
No – and healthy scepticism is common at the start. Parts language is a working model, not a claim that separate beings live in your head. Most people find that within a few sessions it simply matches their experience: “part of me wants to stay, part of me is already gone” is how people naturally describe inner conflict anyway. If the language never lands for you, that’s useful information and your therapist can adapt.
It has a strong somatic thread – parts are often located and felt in the body, and therapists regularly work with physical sensations – but it isn’t purely body-based. It sits comfortably alongside dedicated somatic approaches, and some of our therapists combine them.
Some self-led IFS is genuinely possible – Richard Schwartz has written accessible books for exactly this – and daily check-ins with your parts are a useful practice. The limit is trauma: parts carrying serious burdens tend to be protected by other parts, and working past those protections safely is what the therapist is for. Self-led IFS works best as a companion to therapy rather than a substitute where trauma is involved.
Richard Schwartz, an American family therapist, developed IFS in the 1980s after noticing his clients naturally described themselves in parts – and that the family-systems dynamics he was trained in also played out inside a single person. That origin is why IFS translates so naturally into couples work.
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