Internal Family Systems

Our personalities are not one-dimensional; they are incredibly complex and made up of many different parts (or “sub-personalities”). This idea is familiar to virtually anyone. After all, we constantly say things like “Part of me wants to socialize, and the other part wants to withdraw,” or “Part of me wants to drink my feelings away, and the other part knows that’s unhealthy.” Internal Family Systems (IFS) is an evidence-based model of therapy that seeks to restore balance and harmony between all of our parts. It explores the many different sub-personalities of the mind and seeks to nurture and deepen their connection to each person’s overall self. Together, the therapist and client work to understand, engage, and reduce destructive parts. The idea is to keep the client’s individual parts from controlling their whole self, allowing them to lead a self-led life.