For some people, welcoming all parts of ourselves feels very scary; we’ve been struggling for years or decades to change these parts. For others this invitation feels immediately safe (or something close to safe). It’s provocative in our culture to meet the aspects of ourselves that have been labeled anxious, depressed, angry, dissociative, manipulative, judging, etc. with curiosity and compassion.

But IFS therapy does just that. Issues, that in other therapeutic models would feel pathologizing, are identified as protective parts of ourselves that can be approached with curiosity. When welcomed, our parts can often provide vital details about how they offered brilliant support to us, once a upon a time.

But as adults those strategies can create problems for us in work or personal relationships. IFS therapy allows you to create the space between you and your parts to learn what they are protecting; update the parts that don’t know you’re an adult now; heal past trauma and wounding that led to these strategies; and invite these valuable parts of yourself to choose a new supportive role in your life.