IFS Therapy in Los Angeles, CA
Internal Family Systems Therapy for Trauma, Anxiety, and the Parts of You That Feel Stuck
What Is Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy?
Internal Family Systems, often called IFS or "parts work," is an evidence-based model of psychotherapy developed by Dr. Richard Schwartz. IFS is listed on SAMHSA's National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices and has a growing body of research supporting its effectiveness for trauma, PTSD, depression, anxiety, and chronic shame.
The core idea is simple, even if it sounds unusual at first: your mind isn't one unified voice. It's made up of many sub-personalities, or parts — each carrying its own memories, feelings, and protective strategies. IFS therapy helps you get to know these parts, understand what they're trying to do for you, and build a healing relationship with them from a grounded, compassionate internal Self.
IFS Recognizes Three Main Parts
Have you ever noticed that one part of you wants to change, while another part sabotages every attempt? That one part shows up confident in a meeting, while another floods you with self-doubt the moment you get home? That's not a contradiction, and it's not a character flaw. It's how the mind actually works.
It’s a map, not a problem.
Protective Parts
(Managers & Firefighters)
Parts developed to protect you from pain. They work hard to manage your image, keep you productive, anticipate rejection, or shut feelings down before they can overwhelm you.
Exiled Parts
The parts that carry the original wounds — shame, grief, fear, and the memories of times you felt fundamentally unlovable or unsafe.
The Self
A core state of clarity, compassion, curiosity, and calm that exists in every person, regardless of what they've been through. The goal of IFS therapy isn't to eliminate any of your parts. It's to help them trust the Self enough to relax their extreme roles — and finally rest.
What can IFS help with?
IFS is particularly effective for clients navigating:
Trauma and C-PTSD — especially for people who've found traditional talk therapy only goes so far
Shame and deeply held beliefs of unworthiness
Self-sabotage and internal conflict — the feeling of being at war with yourself
Anxiety and the inner critic
Depression and emotional numbness
Relationship patterns rooted in early attachment wounds
LGBTQ+ identity work — parts that learned to hide, perform, or suppress
Perfectionism and high-achiever burnout — common among professionals in entertainment, tech, law, and medicine
Clients who've tried CBT, traditional talk therapy, or medication and feel stuck
If you've ever said something like "I know what I should do, but I can't seem to do it," IFS is built for that exact experience.
What to Expect in an IFS Therapy Session
IFS sessions don't follow a rigid script. The work is experiential and relational — meaning it unfolds in real time as you turn your attention inward and get curious about the parts that show up. You might notice a part that lives as tightness in your chest before a difficult conversation. Another that floods you with self-criticism after a small mistake. Another that's kept a secret for decades because it believed no one could handle what it's been carrying.
With support, you learn to approach these parts with genuine curiosity instead of judgment — asking what they need, what they're afraid of, and what they've been working so hard to protect.
That shift, from fighting yourself to understanding yourself, is where real change begins.
In a typical IFS session, you can expect:
1- Check-in and orientation — What's alive this week? What part of you needs attention?
2- Turning inward — Noticing sensations, images, or emotions that represent a part.
3- Getting to know the part — Curiosity, not interrogation. What is it protecting? What does it fear would happen if it stopped?
4- Building trust with the Self — So parts can relax, unburden, and shift out of extreme roles.
5- Integration — Bringing awareness back to your day-to-day life.
Combining IFS and EMDR Therapy
As an EMDR-trained therapist, I often integrate IFS and EMDR when working with clients. This combination is often more effective than either approach alone.
IFS identifies and prepares the parts that hold traumatic experience(s), building trust and internal safety before any reprocessing begins. This matters: traditional EMDR sometimes activates protective parts that shut the work down. IFS reduces that resistance.
EMDR then reprocesses the memories those parts are holding at a neurological level, creating lasting change in how the brain stores and relates to traumatic experience.
The Result: Trauma work that's deeper, safer, and more durable.
IFS Therapy for Los Angeles Professionals
I work with adults across Los Angeles — including clients in Pasadena, Silver Lake, Los Feliz, Echo Park, Eagle Rock, Glendale, Highland Park, and the greater LA area — as well as telehealth clients throughout California.
Many of my clients are high-functioning professionals in the entertainment industry, creative fields, healthcare, law, and tech — people whose external success masks a deep internal struggle with perfectionism, burnout, identity, or unresolved trauma. IFS is particularly well-suited for clients who are introspective, self-aware, and ready to go deeper than symptom management.
I also offer specialized work in:
About Your IFS Therapist
I'm Thomas Blake, LMFT — a licensed psychotherapist with training in Internal Family Systems, EMDR, and somatic approaches to trauma. I've been in private practice since 2018 and my work is grounded in the belief that healing happens through relationship: with a therapist, and with the parts of yourself you've had to push away to survive.
Ready to Begin?
Currently accepting new clients.
In-person in Pasadena, CA
Telehealth throughout CA, NJ, MD, WY & ID
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IFS, or Internal Family Systems therapy, is a form of psychotherapy based on the idea that your mind is made up of many "parts" — each with its own feelings, memories, and purpose. IFS helps you build a healthy relationship with those parts from a grounded, compassionate core Self, rather than fighting or suppressing them.
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Yes. IFS is listed on SAMHSA's National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices and has growing research support for treating PTSD, depression, anxiety, and chronic pain. A 2025 scoping review in Clinical Psychologist identified IFS as a promising therapeutic approach with significant symptom reduction across multiple trials.
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Traditional talk therapy often focuses on insight — understanding why you feel what you feel. IFS is experiential: rather than just talking about your inner critic or anxious part, you actively turn inward and build a relationship with it in real time. Many clients describe IFS as going deeper, faster, than years of traditional therapy.
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It varies. Some clients experience meaningful shifts in 8–12 sessions; others engage in IFS therapy for a year or more, especially when working with complex trauma. In your free consultation, we can talk realistically about what timeline makes sense for what you're bringing in.
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EMDR is primarily a trauma reprocessing technique that uses bilateral stimulation to change how the brain stores traumatic memory. IFS is a broader therapeutic model that works with the full inner system — not just trauma. Many therapists (including me) combine them: IFS prepares parts for processing, EMDR does the reprocessing, and IFS helps integrate the shift afterward.
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Yes. IFS translates very well to telehealth — in fact, many clients find it easier to turn inward from a familiar, private space. I offer telehealth IFS therapy throughout California, New Jersey, Maryland, Wyoming, and Idaho.
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IFS tends to be a strong fit for people who are introspective, who feel "stuck" despite previous therapy, who notice internal conflict or self-sabotage, and who are willing to work experientially rather than purely cognitively. The best way to know is to schedule a free 15-minute consultation — we'll talk through what you're working on and whether IFS is the right approach.