Expert Therapy for Trauma

You might not think of your experience as trauma. You show up. You succeed. You keep it together. But under the surface, something feels off—like you’re constantly bracing, pushing, or shutting down. Maybe you overfunction at work, avoid closeness in relationships, or struggle with a voice in your head that never lets you rest.

Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy offers a compassionate, non-pathologizing approach to healing. It helps you understand that these patterns—overworking, people-pleasing, emotional numbing—aren’t personal failings. They’re protective strategies your nervous system learned in response to past overwhelm.

Developed by Dr. Richard Schwartz, IFS views the mind as made up of distinct “parts,” each with its own emotions and role. Some carry hurt, fear, or shame. Others work hard to keep those feelings hidden—by pushing you to succeed, stay in control, or stay quiet. In IFS, we don’t try to get rid of those parts. We get curious about them. We build relationships with them.

As you begin to understand your system and lead with more self-compassion, the pressure eases. You start to feel more connected, less reactive, and more in charge of your inner world—not by force, but by working with yourself instead of against yourself.

Research supports the use of IFS in trauma treatment:

• Zimberoff and Hartman (2014) found that IFS significantly reduced trauma symptoms by helping clients unblend from hypervigilant or shutdown parts, improving both emotional clarity and nervous system regulation.
• Bartlett et al. (2020) demonstrated that IFS improves emotional regulation and reduces reactivity in individuals carrying chronic stress and trauma-related burdens.
• Parnell and Fisher (2020) noted that when IFS is used alongside somatic and attachment-focused work, clients are better able to integrate fragmented experiences and regain a sense of coherence.
• Anderson et al. (2017) observed that trauma-impacted clients using IFS reported greater self-compassion and internal harmony—even when memories couldn’t be fully verbalized.
• Schwartz and Sweezy (2020) explain how IFS helps trauma survivors reconnect with their core Self—building resilience, emotional flexibility, and internal safety.

IFS therapy doesn’t just treat trauma—it helps transform how trauma lives in the body and mind. Rather than managing symptoms or reliving the past, IFS creates space for authentic healing, led by the parts of you that already know how to grow.

• A longitudinal study by Lanius et al. (2018) found that individuals who completed IFS-informed trauma therapy maintained reduced PTSD symptoms and improved emotional functioning years later. This lasting benefit was tied to their increased capacity to lead from Self, rather than remain hijacked by reactive protective parts.

These findings reinforce what many trauma-informed clinicians witness every day: IFS offers a sustainable, deeply respectful way to heal trauma by restoring access to the calm, compassionate Self that’s never been broken—just buried beneath protective layers.