Internal Family Systems (IFS)
Therapy where every part of you gets a seat at the table
When You’re at War With Yourself
Part of you wants to speak up; part of you shuts it down before you can. Part of you is exhausted; part of you won’t let you rest. There’s the voice that criticizes everything you do, and underneath it, somewhere, another part that just wants the criticism to stop. If any of that sounds familiar, you’re not confused or inconsistent. You’re describing what an inner life actually feels like — and IFS is a way of working with it directly.
Internal Family Systems is a therapy built on a simple observation: the mind isn’t one thing. It’s made up of parts, each with its own role, and most of the ones that cause trouble — the critic, the controller, the part that numbs out — took on that role to protect you from something. IFS doesn’t try to get rid of them. It helps you understand what they’re protecting, so they can stop working so hard.
Vista Counselling offers IFS-informed therapy in Langley, BC, with Dr. Kevin Klassen — in person at our Langley office or online across BC.
No bad parts. Just parts that learned their jobs in hard places.
How IFS Works
IFS was developed by Richard Schwartz in the 1980s, after he noticed that clients kept describing their inner experience in terms of parts — and that those parts responded better to curiosity than to being argued with. The model organizes them loosely into protectors (the parts that manage daily life and keep pain at bay — the critic, the planner, the people-pleaser, and the ones that step in hard when things get overwhelming, like numbing, rage, or shutting down) and exiles (the younger, more vulnerable parts carrying the hurt the protectors are guarding).
Underneath all of it, IFS holds that there is a Self: a core of calm, curiosity, and steadiness that isn’t a part and doesn’t need to be built — only uncovered. Much of the work is helping that Self take the lead, so the parts can relax.
In a session, that looks less like analysis and more like a conversation. You might notice a tightness in your chest when you think about a decision, and rather than push past it, we get curious about it: what is that part afraid would happen if it let go? Often the answer is something the part has been carrying for a very long time. When it feels heard, it tends to soften. The exiles it was protecting can then be approached safely, at your pace.
What IFS Can Help With
IFS is most often used for:
The research base is newer than for EMDR or CBT. A randomized trial with rheumatoid arthritis patients found IFS reduced pain and depressive symptoms and increased self-compassion, and a 2022 pilot study with survivors of childhood trauma found meaningful reductions in PTSD symptoms. Larger controlled trials are still to come. In practice, we find IFS is often the approach that makes the others possible: when the protective parts trust the process, trauma work with EMDR or emotional work with AEDP tends to go more smoothly.
IFS for First Responders
People who do hard work for a living usually have very well-developed protectors — the part that stays calm on a call, the part that compartmentalizes, the part that keeps going. Those parts are not the problem; they are why you’re good at the job. The difficulty comes when they can’t switch off at home, or when the parts they’ve been holding back start to surface anyway. IFS gives those protectors a way to stand down without feeling like they’re being dismantled.
We use it within our first responder counselling, often alongside EMDR.
Who Provides IFS at Vista
Dr. Kevin Klassen, PsyD
Kevin first trained in IFS in graduate school in 2008–09 and has worked with the model since, most recently through a three-day intensive with Frank Anderson, MD — one of the leading trainers in the IFS community — in 2025. His work is IFS-informed, integrated with EMDR and AEDP rather than delivered as a standalone protocol. RCC #3496, RMFT #2017033.
IFS is one of several approaches Kevin works with — often the one that opens the door to the others.
What to Expect in an IFS Session
Sessions are 50 minutes, with a 75-minute option when it suits the work. IFS is unhurried by design — the parts set the pace, and pushing past them tends to backfire.
IFS is available in-person at our Langley office or online via secure video for clients across BC.
Is IFS Right for You?
IFS tends to be a good fit if you:
- Recognize yourself in the language of parts — “part of me wants X, part of me wants Y”
- Have a strong inner critic, or a lot of shame
- Have tried to change a pattern through willpower and found it comes back
- Want to understand why you react the way you do, not just manage it
- Have a trauma history and want a way in that doesn’t start with the worst of it
It may be less of a fit as a starting point if you want a short, structured, skills-first approach — in which case we’d start elsewhere and bring IFS in later if it’s useful.
As always, we’ll work out together which approach, or combination, makes sense for you.
FAQs
Is IFS the same as “parts work”?
IFS is the best-known form of parts work, and the terms are often used interchangeably. Other approaches — including some of what we do in AEDP and EMDR — also work with parts. What’s distinctive about IFS is its map of protectors, exiles and Self, and its insistence that no part is the enemy.
Does IFS mean I have multiple personalities?
No. Everyone has parts; it’s a normal feature of the mind, not a disorder. IFS simply takes that ordinary experience seriously and uses it. (Dissociative disorders are a different matter and call for careful assessment before any parts work begins.)
Is IFS evidence-based?
The evidence is developing. There’s a randomized controlled trial and pilot studies with promising results, and a large body of clinical experience, but not yet the volume of research behind approaches like CBT or EMDR. We use it because it works well in the room, and we’re clear about where the research stands.
Can IFS be combined with EMDR?
Yes, and at Vista it often is. IFS is often the way we prepare for EMDR — getting the protective parts on board — and the way we make sense of what comes up during it.
Do I have to talk to my parts out loud?
Only if that helps. Some people find it natural to speak to a part directly; others prefer to describe what they notice. Either works.
What does a session cost?
Sessions are 50 minutes. The fee is $200 per session. Full details, including our cancellation policy, are on our FAQ page.
Curious whether IFS might fit? You don’t need a diagnosis or a referral to start.
Book a session through our secure online booking, or contact the office if you’d like to ask a question first.