Parts Work Therapy: Internal Family Systems (IFS), TIST, and Inner Child Healing In Vancouver
Sometimes it can feel like different parts of you want different things.
It’s a common human experience to feel two impulses or feelings at once pulling you in opposite directions. A super common example is when one part of you wants to speak up, while another is afraid of what might happen if you do. Parts also show up when you understand that something isn't your fault and yet, you still find yourself reacting as though you’ve done something wrong, or have something to hide. If you find yourself overthinking a decision, shutting down during conflict, becoming intensely self-critical, or feeling pulled between wanting connection and wanting to protect yourself… you guessed it, also a part.
These responses can be confusing, especially when they seem out of proportion to what is happening in the moment. That’s the catch, and why people look for support… somewhere in your mind, you know that you're safe, loved, capable, or allowed to have needs, and at the very same time, another part of you doesn't seem to believe it or buy in.
Parts Work offers a way of making sense of these different responses while also paying attention to what they feel like from the inside. Rather than treating any part of you as something that needs to be pushed away or fixed, the work invites curiosity about the experiences, emotions, needs, and protective responses underneath the pattern.
The counsellors who offer parts work at our Vancouver counselling practice draw from approaches including Internal Family Systems (IFS), Trauma-Informed Stabilization Treatment (TIST), Inner Child work, and reparenting models. These approaches can help you build curiosity towards the patterns that take over, understand where they came from, and in time, develop a different relationship with yourself and new ways of feeling and responding to the world.
What is Parts Work Therapy?
We know it sounds a bit weird, but at its core, parts work is kind of like having a sit-down with one or several people you care about, with the intention that everyone leaves feeling welcomed, heard, and respected. It's an approach that recognizes that we aren’t always connected to a single, core self, and explores the many different parts, or aspects, of ourselves that can hold different emotions, beliefs, needs, memories, and unique responses
Although it doesn’t always feel like it, Parts Work recognizes that beneath our parts, we always have access to a deeper sense of who we are, or a deeper sense of ‘Self’. This sense of Self is understood as having qualities such as calm, curiosity, compassion, clarity, and connection. However, it’s also normal to find it difficult to connect with this Self underneath other parts that might be responding to a difficult moment. Often when this happens, we can lose our sense of what truly feels like who we are.
We aren’t all the same collection of parts. Each of us develops distinct parts and reactions over the course of our life experiences. Some may form around fear, shame, hurt, or unmet needs, while others learn to protect us by staying in control, keeping the peace, working harder, avoiding conflict, or keeping people at a distance. Our many gifts, personalities and skills can also show up through our parts. For example, being highly organized and intelligent can show up in a part’s efforts to stay busy or distant from our emotions.
Parts Work creates space to connect to ourselves and our experience of our parts without judging or trying to get rid of them. We can become curious about what a part has learned, where it came from, what it has been trying to protect, and what it needs now.
The irony is that the more we tend to our parts, the less likely they tend to be to run the show, or have big reactions to things in that may not require them in the same way anymore. Over time, this work can help us develop a different relationship with all parts of ourselves, creating more room for choice, connection, compassion, and a deeper trust in who we are.
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Four Ways We Work With Parts
There are several ways of working with parts, and they don't all use the same language or framework. At New Tides, our counsellors may draw from Internal Family Systems (IFS), Trauma-Informed Stabilization Treatment (TIST), Inner Child work, and reparenting depending on your needs, history, and the kind of work you're looking for.
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
Internal Family Systems, or IFS, was developed by Dr. Richard Schwartz and offers a specific framework for understanding our inner world through parts and Self.
IFS recognizes that different parts can take on different roles, including protecting us from experiences such as fear, shame, rejection, or hurt. Rather than trying to eliminate or override these parts, IFS creates space to become curious about them and understand what they are trying to do for us. IFS can also be woven together with somatic work, paying attention to how a part shows up in the body, which can deepen access to parts and the Self even further.
A central part of IFS is developing greater access to Self, with its qualities of calm, curiosity, compassion, clarity, and connection.
Inner Child Work
Inner Child work explores the ways younger parts of our experience can continue to shape how we feel about ourselves, relate to other people, and respond to situations in the present.
You might notice a younger part of yourself becoming frightened, lonely, ashamed, or desperate for approval in situations that your adult self knows are safe. Rather than dismissing these reactions, Inner Child work creates space to understand what that younger part may have needed and what you can offer yourself now.
For some people, this can mean reconnecting with needs for safety, protection, reassurance, play, belonging, or care that were difficult to fully experience earlier in life.
Trauma-Informed Stabilization Treatment (TIST)
Trauma-Informed Stabilization Treatment, or TIST, was developed by Dr. Janina Fisher and blends parts work with trauma-related responses.
TIST can help address experiences such as fight, flight, freeze, shutdown, shame, or intense emotional reactions as protective responses rather than personal failures.
Rather than forcing yourself to move past a response before you're ready, TIST emphasizes stabilization, and can create space to stay present with what you're experiencing while building greater regulation, choice, and connection with yourself. You don’t need to be working through trauma for TIST to be helpful; we all have moments where we freeze or go into fight mode even in subtle ways.
Reparenting
Reparenting involves developing a different internal relationship with yourself, particularly around needs that may not have been adequately met earlier in life.
This can mean learning to respond to yourself with more patience, protection, encouragement, boundaries, or care rather than automatically responding with criticism, shame, or neglect.
For some people, reparenting means learning what it feels like to take their own needs seriously. It might mean noticing when you're exhausted before you reach the point of collapse, allowing yourself to have boundaries without immediately feeling guilty, or offering yourself the kind of steadiness you may have spent years looking for from other people.
A Note on the Different Languages of Parts Work: Is IFS or One Model Better Than the Others?
Parts work has a lot of overlap in the actual process of what therapy looks like, but the language and way parts are conceptualized can look quite different.
In session, our counsellors can weave in different aspects of each approach. They don't need to be kept in separate boxes. Once we find the language that fits best for you, the process can look quite similar even when the words are different.
IFS has become particularly well known even outside the therapy room, and has contributed some wonderful therapeutic processes that have influenced the broader field of parts-based work. However, the Internal Family System’s language of ‘firefighter’, ‘managers’ and ‘exiles’ don’t really fit for everyone and can be confusing. For many using the words protective parts can be simpler, as long as both you and your therapist have the chance to explore these parts (there’s often more than one!)
TIST is less familiar to most people, but many clients find its trauma-based language immediately relatable. We all know something about flight energy: I don't want to be here anymore. I need to get out.We may also recognize collapse: feeling small, helpless, shut down, or like we're simply not good enough. TIST offers a way of understanding and responding to the energy and felt sense of these responses, while working to calm the nervous system and create space to work with what is happening underneath them.
Inner Child and Reparenting also offers language and a process that can feel especially intuitive and show up in other models as well. Many of us recognize the experience of feeling much younger in certain moments, or noticing that a part of them still longs for the safety, reassurance, protection, belonging, or care they needed earlier in life. For some people, the idea of healing a younger version of themselves makes immediate emotional sense in a way that more clinical language doesn't
In summary, you don’t always need a counsellor extensively trained in IFS Therapist or TIST if you’re feeling drawn towards one specific modality or you’ve heard about parts work through a friend.
IFS is having a bit of a popularity boom at the moment so it may feel familiar, and TIST may make the most sense because you understand your trauma responses, or Inner Child language may simply be the way that something you've felt for years finally clicks into place. However, what really tends to matter is finding a counsellor who understands parts-based work and who can collaborate with you to find the language and processes that resonate with you.
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All of the approaches above use the language of “parts” in a way that doesn't mean you have multiple personalities or Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). People can experience different emotional states, protective responses, memories, or ways of relating without having DID.
If dissociation or other complex trauma symptoms are part of what you're experiencing, your counsellor can help you understand what is happening and determine what kind of support would be appropriate. If this is, you, while it’s important to have a counsellor who understands dissociation, trauma and perhaps complex trauma, parts work can be an excellent way to work with many forms of dissociation.
When a Part of You Takes Over
We know that you don’t love the moments when you know how you want to respond, but something else happens instead.
You might:
Become overwhelmed by a relatively small conflict
Shut down when someone is upset with you
Become intensely self-critical after making a mistake
Feel responsible for everyone else's emotions
Find yourself people-pleasing even when you want to say no
Become angry before you have time to understand what happened
Feel suddenly young, small, helpless, or afraid
Disconnect from your feelings when things become too much
Understand something intellectually but still react in the same way
Feel caught between wanting closeness and wanting to protect yourself
Parts Work can offer a different way of approaching these moments. Instead of asking, “Why am I like this?”, you might begin asking, “What is happening inside me right now?” Even this small shift can create room for curiosity and bring you closer to the emotional experience underneath a pattern, so that you can bring kindness and presence to this part of you, much like you would to a kid who is having a big emotional response and needs some care and attention to move on to the next thing.
As you get more comfortable with this process you will also begin to notice what you actually need in those moments: reassurance, space, connection, boundaries, rest, protection, or simply permission to feel what you're feeling. In a session, this might mean slowing down when you notice a strong reaction, getting curious about what is happening inside rather than judging it and helping different parts of you feel safer enough to respond differently. This might also mean needing to respond and be kind to judgmental parts too!
Over time, you may begin to recognize the situations that activate particular parts, know what’s happening and respond to your parts, (and your environment!) with more choice.
Meet our TIST, Inner Child, IFS & Parts Work Counsellors
Our counsellors bring different training and perspectives, including the integration of parts-based approaches with somatic approaches, EMDR, or attachment-focused counselling.
If you're specifically looking for a TIST or IFS therapist in Vancouver, you can browse our counsellors below or use our matching form to find someone whose experience and approach fit what you're looking for.
The following members of our team offer online sessions and have availability for new clients. We offer free 15-minute consultation so you can connect and ask questions first.
Who Can Benefit from Our Approach?
Parts Work may be helpful if you find yourself repeating patterns that you understand intellectually but have difficulty changing.
It can be particularly relevant for people experiencing:
Childhood, developmental trauma, or complex PTSD
Attachment wounds and challenging patterns
Recurring internal conflict
Shame and harsh self-criticism
Emotional overwhelm or shutdown
Feeling disconnected from yourself
Perfectionism or people-pleasing
Difficulty setting boundaries
Grief or unresolved experiences from earlier relationships
Challenges with self-worth and self-compassion
Couples Work
Parts work can also be a natural fit alongside couples counselling, (IFS for couples is also known as Intimacy from the Inside Out) especially when a pattern between two people starts to make more sense as two sets of activated parts responding to each other than as one person being "the problem.
You don't need to have a trauma history or a specific diagnosis to explore Parts Work, but might also be drawn to Parts Work because something in you is asking for a different way of being. You may want to feel more at home in yourself, have more room for your own needs, understand your relationships differently, or reconnect with parts of yourself that you know have been pushed aside.
In-Person Parts Work in Vancouver, or Online Anywhere in BC
We're based in Kitsilano, Vancouver, and offer Parts Work both in person and online throughout British Columbia. Parts Work can translate well to online counselling, whether you're exploring IFS, TIST, Inner Child work, reparenting, or another parts-based approach.
A Little About Who You'll Be Working With
Registered Clinical Counsellors with training in Parts Work and related trauma-informed, relational, somatic, and attachment-focused approaches
In-person counselling in Vancouver, or online counselling anywhere in BC
Counsellors who may draw from IFS, TIST, Inner Child work, reparenting, and other parts-based approaches depending on your needs
Trauma-informed practitioners who consider both your inner experience and the relationships and circumstances around you
Inclusive and affirming counselling, including culturally sensitive, queer-affirming, and neurodivergent-affirming approaches
You make sense, and you're not alone.
Make space for all of you.
All of our counsellors offer a free 15-minute consultation. This offers you the chance to connect and ask questions about how they work, and get a sense of who you might feel comfortable with. It also helps us understand what you're looking for, so we can help you find a counsellor who feels like a great fit for where you are.
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Parts Work is a compassionate approach to understanding yourself as a collection of different inner "parts" or aspects. Think of it like an internal family where each part has its own role, emotions, and experiences. Instead of fighting against these parts, we learn to listen, understand, and help them work together harmoniously.
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Yes and no!
Parts Work, Internal Family Systems (IFS), Inner Child Work and even some reparenting approaches refer to very similar underlying approaches.
When a therapist mentions parts work, it generally means IFS, TIST or a similar modality, although IFS and other modalities sometimes use slightly different language (for example, ‘firefighter’ vs. protective part vs. fight part). -
Parts Work and EMDR can complement one another in quite helpful ways, particularly when protective responses or internal conflicts make trauma processing feel complicated.
Parts Work may help you understand and work with the responses that arise during EMDR.
Your counsellor can help determine whether combining approaches makes sense for you.
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Absolutely. Your counsellor can talk with you about what online sessions would look like and whether virtual counselling feels like a good fit for the kind of work you're hoping to do.
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IFS has received growing clinical and research interest, but, like many models, there are debates about the strength and scope of its evidence base and how some of its concepts should be understood.
We don't think you need to choose between being enthusiastic about an approach and being thoughtful about its limitations. If you're curious about IFS or other parts-based models, your therapist can talk with you about what the approach offers, and whether it makes sense for you.
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Trust your intuition. Parts Work might be a great fit if you:
Are curious about your inner world
Want deeper emotional understanding
Feel ready for compassionate self-exploration
Are open to a gentle, non-judgmental approach
Desire to understand your emotional patterns
Parts Work may be worth exploring if you're curious about patterns that seem to happen automatically, especially when you understand them intellectually but still find yourself responding in familiar ways.It may also appeal to you if you want to understand yourself with more compassion, explore the effects of earlier experiences, or develop a different relationship with difficult emotions and protective responses.
You may simply have a sense that there is more to your experience than the explanation you've been able to give it so far. Parts Work can offer a way of exploring that complexity without needing to reduce yourself to a diagnosis, a pattern, or a single story.
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IFS has a growing research base, although it is newer and less extensively researched than some longer-established therapeutic approaches.
There is research exploring IFS in areas including depression and trauma, and research continues to develop. Your therapist can talk with you about what is known about IFS, what is still emerging, and how it might fit with other approaches.
RCC (She/Her)
Esther supports clients with self-worth, relationships, attachment, childhood experiences, neurodivergence, family dynamics and burnout, creating space for clients to better understand themselves and the patterns shaping their lives. Esther also has a background as teacher and school counsellor and loves supporting teens, other educators, caregivers and those with BIPOC experiences or who have lived outside of Canada
Main Approaches:Somatic · Mindfulness · Attachment-Focused · IFS · Narrative · DBT · Emotion-Focused · AEDP