Why I Choose Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy

When people come to therapy, one of the most common questions I hear is: 

“Why IFS? How is it different from other approaches?”

There are many effective therapy models, and each has value. What draws me to Internal Family Systems (IFS) — and why I choose it for much of my work and as an overarching framework — is the compassion and respect it brings to clients’ experiences, the gentle and self-compassionate process, the deep, almost “cellular level” changes it can bring, and the ability to identify the source of pain and suffering and paths to healing, when other therapies have not helped. 

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is often very helpful for managing symptoms by identifying and changing unhelpful thoughts and behaviours. For some clients, CBT provides important tools and relief. However, for people with complex or childhood trauma, insight and coping strategies alone don’t always reach the deeper emotional wounds where the pain began. 

Trauma-focused approaches, such as EMDR or exposure-based therapies, can be powerful and effective. At the same time, revisiting traumatic memories directly right off the hop can feel overwhelming or unsafe for some individuals — particularly those who have experienced multiple or developmental traumas. In those cases, innate defense systems, like internal flashing red lights, can be triggered, and these can shut down progress in these types of therapies. 

Psychodynamic therapy offers valuable insight into early relationships and unconscious patterns. While this understanding can be meaningful, they don’t incorporate any mechanism for change beyond insight. It may take a long time before clients feel a true sense of emotional relief or internal change, or they may end up understanding the problems without really feeling any differently about them. 

Internal Family Systems (IFS) offers something different. Rather than viewing symptoms as problems to eliminate, IFS understands them as burdens carried by parts of us.  Some parts carry pain, fear, or shame from experiences they had. Others work tirelessly to manage, avoid, or control those feelings, as a form of protection. Beneath all these parts is what IFS calls the Self — a calm, compassionate, curious, and wise inner presence that we all have. An analogy we often use in IFS is the metaphor of the sky. While the sky may be at times filled with clouds (our parts), even if we can’t see the sky behind them, we know it is still there. Self-energy is like this. We capitalize the word “Self” in IFS to denote this quality and distinguish it from the other meanings of the word “self”. If you read “self” without capitalization, then the word refers to the regular/standard meanings we think of when we hear that word.

Self-energy as healer 

In IFS, healing doesn’t come from fighting ourselves or forcing change. We see Self-energy as the healer of our parts. Self-energy carries the ability to listen inwardly with kindness, helping each part feel understood and supported. This approach reduces shame, increases self-compassion, and creates lasting emotional balance. Sometimes it takes time to get in touch with our Self-energy. Many different, non-IFS therapies, even if they don’t hold the concept of Self-energy, can help a person to learn how to get more in touch with it. IFS can do this as well.

How do I recognize Self energy? 

As a quick and dirty guide to becoming more aware of Self-energy, IFS talks about the 8 C’s and the 5 P’s. Whenever you are experiencing any of the 8 C’s or 5 P’s, no matter how small the space these qualities take up inside of you, and no matter how many other awful feelings you may be having at the same time, we say that there is a little window of Self energy, like a break in the clouds. We encourage that window to open by focusing on it through skillful awareness, and by directing those feelings inward towards the parts of you that most need it.

So, what are the 8 C’s and 5 P’s, you ask?

The 8 C’s of Self energy are: Compassion, Calm, Curiosity, Courage, Clarity, Creativity, Connected, and Confidence.  

The 5 P’s of Self energy are: Presence, Perspective, Playfulness, Persistence, and Patience. 

But is it evidenced-based? 

For many people, IFS may not sound very scientific, and they question its effectiveness as a therapy. After all, how can you prove the existence of Self energy? How can you prove the existence of different parts of us? These questions are valid. I applaud you for asking them! Skepticism keeps us away from things that may not be beneficial for us.  

When it comes to therapy, there are many different theoretical models that underpin different techniques. Some of these models have more evidence of their existence than others. We can never truly “prove” without a shadow of a doubt that any of these theoretical models are “true”, but we can look at different types of data to say that there is some evidence to support them. Psychotherapy research in general has many measurement flaws. However, researchers do their best to substantiate different therapies. Some therapies are more amenable to what science considers the “gold standard” of research (randomized controlled trials, or RCT’s), than other therapies.  In psychotherapy research, we take a pragmatic lens on different therapies. If we can’t prove theories, can we at least show some evidence that the therapy techniques these therapies endorse work as compared to no therapy at all, or as compared to others? Also, does the research hold up once a therapist uses it in the real world? What is the real impact on our clients? 

In my clinical and personal experience, IFS has been transformative. And research is beginning to support what I have seen in my clinical work. A recent study exploring IFS for adults with PTSD related to multiple childhood traumas found significant improvements after 16 weekly sessions. Most participants experienced substantial reductions in PTSD and depression symptoms, felt less emotional pain and shame, and were better able to regulate their emotions. Remarkably, about 90% no longer met criteria for PTSD one month after completing therapy. 

One of the strengths of IFS is that it is gentle and non-retraumatizing. Clients are not required to relive traumatic memories. Instead, they learn to notice emotions and body sensations, understand what each part needs, and allow healing to unfold at a pace that feels safe. If parts do need to be witnessed in remembering, that happens, too, but at the pace and readiness of a client’s entire system of parts. 

I’ve seen IFS be especially effective for complex childhood trauma, PTSD, anxiety, depression, emotional regulation difficulties, for somatic concerns and inner conflicts about any range of things. It also integrates beautifully with other therapeutic approaches, allowing treatment to be tailored to everyone. 

For those seeking a therapy that helps them feel more whole — rather than trying to “fix” parts of themselves — IFS offers a compassionate, respectful, and deeply healing path forward. 

Challenges with finding a qualified IFS practitioner 

If you are interested in exploring IFS as an option, the next task is to find a qualified IFS therapist. This can be no easy feat! IFS is becoming more well-known and therapists doing IFS, more sought after. Unfortunately, for many years I have noticed that when a therapy becomes “trendy”, more therapists will jump on board and advertise themselves as practitioners of that model, even if they have simply read a book or done an online course. Sadly, this can lead clients to have ineffective experiences with that type of therapy, and to assume that the problem was the therapy itself.  I have had clients tell me that “IFS didn’t work for me”, only to find out that the therapy they received was not actually IFS.  

So, amid the hundreds of choices, how can I find a qualified IFS therapist? 

The answer is simple. Ask about their training. To call yourself an “IFS therapist”, a person needs to have at minimum completed an IFSI Level 1 training. IFSI stands for Internal Family Systems International. IFSI has a website, and on it, they list individuals who have completed their Level 1 training. This is a good resource when looking for an IFS therapist.  

There is further advanced training available as well, in Levels 2 and 3. And an IFS therapist who has completed a certain number of hours of consultation with an approved consultant and had a video of their work reviewed by a team of IFS trainers, can carry an even higher level of credential, become a “certified IFS therapist”.

If the therapist you are considering doesn’t have any IFSI training, you could ask them what other training they have done, and whether it involved any hours of actual practice with the model. There are a few other organizations (IFSCA and IFS Connect, for instance), that offer good training for those therapists who have not been able to get into an IFSI training (which is in very high demand). An IFS training that doesn’t involve supervised practice would not make someone qualified to do IFS, even if they may understand its principles. 

In the past, IFSI used to allow people who weren’t therapists to become Level 1, 2 and 3 trained and certified. These people are allowed to call themselves “IFS practitioners”.

They are not trained therapists, however, and that is something you may want to consider. They may offer coaching or use their training in various group or workplace settings, or in spiritual care, but the IFS training they received, while training them in the model, did not train them to become therapists.  

If you are interested in exploring IFS therapy with a trained IFS therapist, feel free to reach out to our intake team to discuss the options. Lesley Hartman & Associates has a number of IFSI trained IFS therapists on their team.  

Lesley is the practice leader and founder of Lesley Hartman & Associates. She loves using IFS to assist people in unburdening painful experiences and emotions and to become more wholly and fully themselves. She is also trained in a more somatic branch of IFS called Somatic IFS.