Rooted in Relationship

Internal Family Systems (IFS) is a gentle, evidence-based therapy approach that helps us understand and heal the different “parts” of ourselves. We all have parts—like an inner critic, a perfectionist, a people-pleaser, or a shutdown, avoidant part—that try to protect us in times of stress or pain. These parts aren’t bad or broken; they developed for good reasons, often in response to past experiences (Schwartz, 2001; Schwartz & Sweezy, 2020). IFS helps you build a relationship with these parts from your core Self—the calm, compassionate, wise center of who you are—so that you can lead your life with more clarity and balance.

I integrate IFS across all areas of my practice. For clients navigating postpartum anxiety, parenting stress, or grief after stillbirth, IFS offers a way to meet intense emotions with compassion rather than judgment. In eating disorder recovery, we explore the protective roles behind restricting, bingeing, or body shame, helping you move toward food and body trust. When working with trauma—including the impact of intimate partner violence or early relational wounds—we gently uncover the parts that hold fear, self-blame, or survival strategies that no longer serve you. IFS also supports parents in recognizing how their own activated parts can shape the way they show up for their children.

CBT helps us explore the connection between your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. I use CBT tools alongside Internal Family Systems (IFS) to help you recognize thought patterns that are tied to specific parts of you—like an inner critic, a perfectionist part, or a worried planner.

Rather than trying to simply replace “negative thoughts,” we’ll get curious about which part of you is thinking that way, and why it developed that belief in the first place. For example, a thought like “I’m a failure” might come from a younger part that felt deeply unseen or misunderstood. CBT helps us identify the thought; IFS helps us understand and heal the part behind it.

Together, we’ll practice noticing unhelpful thoughts, understanding where they come from, and gently shifting them with compassion—so that your internal world feels less chaotic and more connected. This process can help reduce anxiety, ease self-criticism, and build new habits that support your well-being.

DBT offers practical skills to help manage overwhelming emotions, build distress tolerance, and stay present in the moment. I often integrate DBT skills within an Internal Family Systems (IFS) framework to support parts of you that feel reactive, shut down, or out of control.

For example, when a part of you feels flooded with emotion—like panic, anger, or shame—DBT skills like grounding, self-soothing, or opposite action can help you regulate enough to stay in relationship with that part rather than being consumed by it or pushing it away. Once that part feels more settled, we can get curious about what it’s protecting, how long it’s carried this job, and what it needs from you now.

In this way, DBT becomes more than just a toolbox—it becomes a way to support your system with compassion and clarity so that deeper healing can unfold. You’re not just learning skills; you’re learning how to care for all parts of yourself, even in moments of distress.

Intuitive Eating invites you to rebuild trust with your body, move away from chronic dieting or food rules, and cultivate a more peaceful relationship with eating. For those seeking help with disordered eating, I use this approach in combination with Internal Family Systems (IFS) to help you understand the parts of you that may be stuck in cycles of restriction, emotional eating, or body shame.

In this work, we don’t force change—we get curious. For example, a part of you that restricts food might believe it’s keeping you safe from judgment or loss of control. A bingeing part might be trying to soothe emotional overwhelm or exhaustion. IFS helps us gently explore these parts, listen to their fears, and offer new ways of caring for them—without shame or urgency.

Through this process, you can begin to reconnect with internal cues like hunger, fullness, and satisfaction, while also developing a more compassionate understanding of the protective roles different eating behaviors have played. Intuitive Eating, when paired with IFS, supports not just behavior change—but deep healing and reconnection with your Self.

I work with clients with disordered eating symptoms that are appropriate for outpatient, once-weekly care, and collaborate with dietitians and medical providers as needed to ensure comprehensive support. For those needing a higher level of care, I can assist in making referrals.