Understanding Your Inner Parts: How IFS Therapy Helps Heal Childhood Trauma

Have you ever felt like different “parts” of you want different things? Maybe one part wants to stay calm and in control, while another part urges you to escape, lash out, or shut down completely. If so, you’re not broken—you’re human.

Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy is a powerful and gentle approach that helps you explore these inner parts of yourself—especially the ones shaped by early trauma.

What Are “Parts”?

IFS teaches us that the mind is not a single voice but a system of sub-personalities or ‘parts’, each with its own feelings, fears, and goals. These parts form over time as a way to protect you.

For example:

A manager part may push you to stay in control, always doing the “right” thing.

A firefighter part may try to numb pain through substances, food, or other escapes.

An exile part may carry deep feelings of shame, fear, or loneliness from past trauma.

Everyone has parts—but when we experience childhood trauma or attachment wounds, the number and intensity of these parts can grow. That’s because the psyche creates more coping strategies to protect the vulnerable, wounded parts inside.

How IFS Helps

In IFS therapy, we don’t try to eliminate parts. Instead, we:

Listen to them

Understand their role

Help them feel safe enough to let go of extreme behaviours

Through this process, parts begin to trust your Self—the calm, compassionate, inner core that has always been there beneath the chaos.

IFS offers a path to healing that isn’t about controlling yourself—it’s about reconnecting with yourself. When you begin to understand your parts, you can move from inner conflict to inner harmony.

If your addiction or emotional pain feels like it’s coming from deeper places inside, IFS therapy can help you heal from the root—compassionately and at your own pace.

Ready to begin that journey? I’m here to support you.

Marcus Scutt

Addiction Counsellor & Psychotherapist

Let’s Find Calm Together