IFS Therapy
Most therapy helps you understand your patterns. But there is a part of you that works hard and never feels like enough. A part that shuts down when things get too close. A part that wants to change and one that will not let you. And no amount of insight seems to touch them.
Internal Family Systems (IFS) helps you meet the parts running those patterns, understand what they are protecting, and what they might be ready to put down. That is where the real work begins.
A groundbreaking therapy that works differently from anything you have tried before.
You tried to feel better. You have read the books, done the work, maybe even tried therapy. And you are still waiting for that shift.
That is not because you are beyond help. It is because most therapy works with the surface. IFS goes underneath it. Developed by Dr Richard Schwartz, IFS recognises that we are all multiple. We have different parts, each with its own feelings, beliefs and role: None of them are bad. All of them developed for a reason. And once you understand them, their stop running your life. IFS quickly becomes more than a therapy. Clients describe it as a blueprint for living. A way of relating to themselves with compassion that extends into every area of their life.
MANAGERS
The ones who keep it together
Proactive Parts that work hard to prevent pain before it happens. The perfectionist. The achiever. The people-pleaser. Often the most visible parts in high achievers.
FIREFIGHTERS
The ones who react
Parts that jump in fast when pain breaks through. Rage. Numbing. Overworking. Scrolling. Reactive and usually misunderstood as problems rather than protectors.
EXILES
The one who carry the pain
Younger, vulnerable parts holding old wounds, shame and fear. Managers and firefighters exist entirely to protect these parts from being felt.
And beneath all of them: The Self.
IFS holds that every person has an undamaged core Self. Not a part. Who you actually are. When you access Self energy, you can lead your inner system with compassion and wisdom. This is what the work moves towards. Richard Schwartz calls the qualities of Self the eight Cs.
Curiosity
Compassion
Confidence
Connectedness
Courage
Calm
Clarity
Creativity
WHO THIS IS FOR
Therapy for executives, founders and high performers
Most people arrive with several things tangled together. These are the areas we work on most often.
Burnout and exhaustion
Driven by parts that cannot stop
Anxiety and overthinking
Manager parts on high alert
Perfectionism
A protector carrying an old wound
Trauma and PTSD
Exile parts holding past pain
Depression
A system that has shut down
Relationship patterns
Parts that learned to protect early
Inner critic
A manager trying to keep you safe
Identity and self-worth
Exiles that never felt enough
Couples and intimacy
Parts running the relationship
IFS is a recognized, evidence-based practice.
IFS is not a trend. It is a rigorously studied, evidence-based modality with a growing body of peer-reviewed research behind it.
In 2015 IFS was designated an evidence-based practice by the National Registry for Evidence-based Programs and Practices, rated effective for improving general functioning and wellbeing, and promising for depression, anxiety and physical health conditions.
SAMHSA National Registry · Foundation for Self Leadership
A pilot study of 17 adults with PTSD found significant reductions in PTSD and depressive symptoms following IFS treatment. At one-month follow-up, 92% no longer met criteria for PTSD.
Hodgdon et al., Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment and Trauma, 2021
A randomised controlled trial found IFS effective for depressive symptoms in female college students, with results comparable to existing evidence-based treatments including CBT.
Haddock et al., Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 2016
A 2025 scoping review of 27 peer-reviewed studies identified IFS as a promising treatment particularly for chronic pain, depression and PTSD, with a strong evidence base continuing to grow.
Buys, Clinical Psychologist, 2025
IFS-based group therapy has been shown to significantly improve self-compassion and self-esteem, with measurable psychological shifts observed in participants after completion.
Published in JAYPS, 2024
WHAT A SESSION FEELS LIKE
IFS is experiential. The best way to understand it is to try it.
IFS is not about analyzing yourself from the outside. It is about going inside and making contact with your parts directly. Most clients describe it as unlike anything they have experienced in therapy before.
01
You tell me what’s going on. I will tell you honestly whether this is the right fit, what working together would look like, and what it costs. No prep needed.
02
You are invited to notice what is present inside. A feeling, a tension, a thought. We approach it with curiosity rather than trying to fix it or push it away.
03
We get to know the part that is there. Where it lives in your body. What it is carrying. What it needs. This is where the real shifts happen.
04
Over time, parts that have been burdened for years begin to trust. They soften. They transform. And your Self steps into the lead.
TRY IT • FREE GUIDED IFS MEDITATION
Get a felt sense of what IFS is like before your first session.
A short guided meditation by Shabs to help you begin to notice your parts, with curiosity and without judgement. The best way to understand IFS is to experience it.
Where IFS sits within the work
IFS is the foundation of how I work with individuals, couples and mothers. It is often combined with Brainspotting for deeper nervous system work, and with RLT when relational patterns are part of the picture.
FOR INDIVIDUALS
Individual IFS Therapy
Weekly and intensive formats
FOR COUPLES
Couples IFS and RLT
Understand each partner’s parts
COMBINED METHOD
IFS and Brainspotting
Mind and body together
DEEP DIVE
IFS Intensives in Jakarta and Bali
Exploration and Deepening formats
If you are curious about IFS
Two books worth reading. Three podcasts worth listening to.
No Bad Parts
Richard Schwartz
You Are the One You’ve Been Waiting For
Richard Schwartz
FEEL BETTER LIVE MORE
This Therapy Changed My Life And It Could Do The Same For You
Dr Rangan Chatterjee with Richard Schwartz, Founder of IFS
We Can Do Hard Thing
Inside an Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy Session
Glennon Doyle with Richard Schwartz, Founder of IFS
Huberman Lab
How to Achieve Inner Peace & Healing
Andrew Huberman with Richard Schwartz, Founder of IFS
CLIENT STORIES
What changes when the work goes deep
Common questions about
the approach
Do I need to know anything about IFS before we start?
Not at all. Most clients come with no prior knowledge. The process is entirely guided and you will feel oriented from the very first session.
Is IFS only for trauma?
No. IFS is effective for a wide range of presenting issues including anxiety, burnout, perfectionism, relationship patterns and identity. It is as much a practice for living as it is a clinical modality.
How is IFS different from CBT or regular talk therapy?
CBT works with thoughts and behaviors. IFS works with the parts underneath them. Where CBT might help you think differently about a pattern, IFS helps you understand and transform the part that is driving it. The change tends to be deeper and more lasting.
Is IFS available online?
Yes. IFS works very well online and is available to clients in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and across Southeast Asia and worldwide.
READY WHEN YOU ARE
Ready to meet your parts? Start with a conversation.
A free 15-minute conversation. No commitment, no pressure. Just enough time to feel if this feels right.