Therapy approach
Internal Family Systems, or IFS, is a talk therapy built on one idea. Your mind has different parts, like a worried part, or a part that shuts down when things feel like too much. IFS therapy, also called IFS parts work therapy, helps you get to know these parts instead of fighting them. People use IFS therapy for anxiety, trauma, and depression. Saalvio's registered clinical team offers online therapy across Ontario, with your first step costing nothing.
A therapist named Richard Schwartz built Internal Family Systems therapy in the 1980s. Wondering what Internal Family Systems is? IFS stands for Internal Family Systems. Most people just call it "parts work," or "IFS parts work." He noticed something in his sessions. His clients did not act like one single person. They acted like a small group of parts, each with its own voice and its own job.
Parts do not come from nowhere. They tend to grow out of the same root causes behind most mental health struggles: genetics, stress, and things that happened to you, especially early in life.
Parts work therapy does not try to get rid of any part. Every part is trying to help you, even the parts that cause trouble. The goal is to get to know each one. Once you do, your calm Self can lead, instead of one loud part running the whole show.
IFS sorts parts into three loose groups.
Managers try to keep your life organized and keep pain away before it starts. A manager part might push you to overwork, overplan, or people-please.
Firefighters jump in fast once pain breaks through. A firefighter part might reach for a drink, a scroll, an argument, or anything that turns the pain down right now. Sudden anger is a common firefighter response, and it can be worth learning to know if you have anger issues rather than just living with the outbursts.
Exiles carry the pain itself, often from years ago, sometimes from childhood. Exiles are usually young parts. The other parts work hard to keep them locked away, because their pain feels too big to face.
None of these parts is bad. Each one is doing a job it believes is keeping you safe.
The word "Self" means something specific in IFS. It is not your personality or your job title. It is the calm, clear part of you that is still there under all the noise, even on your hardest days. IFS calls this Core Self, and the goal of therapy is called Self-leadership.
Self-leadership does not mean you never feel anxious or sad again. It means your Self is steady enough to lead your parts with care, the way a good parent leads a family, instead of one scared or angry part taking over the whole house.
IFS describes eight qualities that show up when you are leading from your Self, sometimes called the Internal Family Systems 8 c's of self:
Steady, not shut down.
Wanting to understand a part, not judge it.
Seeing what is really going on.
Caring about your own pain and other people's.
Trusting yourself, quietly.
Being willing to feel hard things.
Finding new ways through a problem.
Feeling linked to yourself and to others.
You will not feel all eight at once, and that is normal. Your IFS therapist is watching for small signs of them as the work goes on.
Say you keep meaning to start something you care about. Maybe it is writing, painting, or music. Every weekend you plan to start, and every weekend you scroll your phone for hours instead. Then you feel ashamed, so you scroll a little more to push the shame away.
In an IFS session, your therapist would not tell you to try harder. She would get curious with you. There is a part of you that wants to make the thing. There is also a part that scrolls. Why does the scrolling part scroll? Often, it turns out the scrolling part is protecting a younger part of you, one that was told years ago that your work was not good enough. The scrolling keeps that younger part from getting hurt again.
Once you can see what the scrolling is protecting, you can speak to the younger part directly. You can tell it the truth: you are an adult now, and you can survive a rough first try. The scrolling part often settles down once it sees the younger part is being cared for. You still might not write the very next weekend. But the fight inside gets quieter, and the project usually comes unstuck in its own time.
IFS therapy for anxiety. Many people carry an anxious manager part that is always scanning for the next problem. IFS helps you build a relationship with that part instead of being run by it.
IFS therapy for trauma and PTSD. IFS is often used for trauma because it moves slowly and asks permission at every step. It does not push you toward the hardest memories before your system is ready.
IFS therapy for depression. Some people describe depression as a part of them giving up, or going numb to protect the rest of the system from pain. IFS gives that part a way to be heard.
IFS has also been studied for grief, harsh self-criticism, some eating concerns, and stress-related physical symptoms.
A note on self-assessments: any reflection tool you fill out with Saalvio is meant to help you notice your own patterns. It is something you bring to a conversation with your therapist. It is not a diagnosis, and Saalvio's platform does not diagnose. Only a regulated clinician, working within their scope, can do that.
For more on these and other concerns, see our full list of conditions we work with.
IFS parts work is slower-paced than a lot of talk therapy. There is less telling your therapist what happened, and more noticing what is happening inside you right now. A typical session moves through a few stages, though your therapist will always go at your pace, not a script's.
You and your therapist start by noticing what part of you is loudest today. Maybe it is the anxious one. Maybe the angry one. You simply name what is present.
Your therapist helps you ask that part some questions. How long has it been around? What is it afraid would happen if it stopped doing its job? Most parts have not been asked these questions before.
Many parts, especially managers and firefighters, are protecting a younger, more exiled part underneath. Your therapist helps you approach that part gently, with your permission at each step.
This is the part of IFS people mean when they talk about deep healing. A part gets to set down a belief or a feeling it has carried for years. This does not happen on a schedule. Some sessions get there. Many do not, and that is still real progress.
Every session ends with thanking the parts that showed up and grounding back into the room. Your therapist checks that you feel steady enough to go.
IFS was added to the US National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices in 2015 as an evidence-based practice for depression, anxiety, phobias, and general functioning. Since then, randomised trials have shown benefit for rheumatoid arthritis, post-traumatic stress, and depression.
The evidence base is younger and smaller than CBT, DBT, or EMDR. That said, the trials so far are positive, qualitative reports are consistent across diverse populations, and the model has been adopted by major trauma treatment programmes. We list it as moderate evidence with momentum.
People who try IFS therapy often describe:
Feeling less at war with themselves
A gentler pace for deep or old pain, since nothing happens without a part's permission
More self-understanding, instead of just symptom management
A way to work with shame, self-criticism, or old family patterns without reliving them all at once
A model that keeps making sense long after therapy ends, because you still have the language for your own parts
Saalvio's registered clinical team offers IFS therapy, along with CBT, DBT, ACT, EMDR, and other evidence-based approaches, over secure video across Ontario today, with expansion across Canada underway. If you have been searching for an IFS therapist near you, our virtual model means you do not need a therapist in your specific neighbourhood. You need the right fit, and that can now happen from your own kitchen table.
Everything you share with your therapist is private to the two of you, held under PHIPA in Ontario and PIPEDA across Canada. Saalvio does not bill insurers directly. Clients pay at the time of the session and receive a detailed receipt to submit for reimbursement, and sessions with a Registered Psychotherapist or Registered Social Worker are typically reimbursable under most Canadian extended health plans.
You do not have to decide that alone, and you do not have to decide it today. Before you book anything, you can message a Saalvio therapist trained in Internal Family System parts work and ask what you need to ask. Does this approach fit what you are carrying? Has she worked with something like this before? There is no cost and no commitment. Message a therapist before you book.
Saalvio also offers a free 30-minute consultation, so the very first conversation about what you are going through costs you nothing.
Several Saalvio clinicians draw on IFS in their work who trained in Internal Family Systems, CBT, DBT, and ACT. The right match for you depends on more than the modality on paper, so we encourage you to read a few profiles and pick whose voice feels closest to what you need.
IFS stands for Internal Family Systems. It was developed by therapist Richard Schwartz in the 1980s.
The goal is Self-leadership: helping your calm, clear Self lead your inner parts with care, instead of any one part (an anxious manager, a numbing firefighter, a hurting exile) running the whole show on its own.
Most people meet for 12 to 30 sessions, usually 50 to 90 minutes long, often weekly. Complex or long-held trauma can take longer. Your therapist will not push you faster than your system is ready to go.
CBT works mainly with your thoughts and behaviours. EMDR works with one specific memory using guided eye movements. IFS works with your whole system of inner parts and how they relate to each other. All three are evidence-based, and many Saalvio clinicians are trained in more than one.
Yes. Saalvio's registered clinical team delivers IFS therapy over secure video to clients anywhere in Ontario, with expansion across Canada underway. You do not need an in-person "IFS therapist near me." You need secure video and a private hour.
These are terms some IFS therapists use for the steps of working with one part in session: Find it, Focus on it, Flesh it out, Feel toward it, beFriend it, and ask its Fears (the 6 F's), guided throughout by Presence, Patience, Persistence, Perspective, and Playfulness (the 5 P's). You do not need to memorize any of this. It is simply the internal map your therapist is using to guide the pace and safety of the work, one conversation at a time.
All three are evidence-based approaches, and Saalvio's clinical team is trained across more than one of them. The difference is mostly in where the work happens. CBT works mainly with your thoughts, helping you notice the link between what you think, feel, and do. EMDR works with one specific memory at a time, using guided eye movements to help your brain finish processing it. IFS therapy works with your whole inner system, the different parts of you and how they relate to one another. None of these is better than the others in general. Your therapist will help you find the approach, or the mix of approaches, that fits what you are carrying.
Talk with a Saalvio therapist for 30 minutes, at no cost. There is no obligation to continue.
