Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy Denver, CO
Understand the Protective Parts Driving Your Relationship Patterns and Feel Like Yourself Again
Authentic Connections Therapy and Wellness provides Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy in Denver, Greenwood Village, and Colorado Springs, with virtual sessions across Colorado and PSYPACT states. IFS is a parts-based approach to therapy built on a simple idea: you are not one unified voice, but a system of parts — each of which developed for a reason, usually to protect you. Our therapists practice relational IFS, connecting your parts work directly to your attachment history and to what happens inside you in relationships.
What is Internal Family Systems Therapy?
IFS was developed by Dr. Richard Schwartz and rests on the premise that the mind is naturally multiple, and that there are no bad parts. The part of you that gets critical, the part that shuts down, the part that needs constant reassurance — none are flaws. Each took its role at some point because it helped you survive something.
Along the way, parts take on burdens: extreme beliefs and emotions absorbed during painful experiences — I'm too much, I have to be perfect to be loved, it's safer not to need anyone. Healing in IFS doesn't mean silencing parts. It means helping them release those burdens so they can return to their original, healthier roles.
IFS also holds that underneath every part is a Self — a calm, curious, compassionate core that trauma cannot damage and that doesn't need to be built, only accessed. Much of the work is helping you lead from Self rather than from whichever part is loudest.
How we use IFS at ACTW
Relational IFS — parts work tied to attachment
Most IFS focuses on your internal system. We take a relational approach, drawing on Schwartz's You Are the One You've Been Waiting For and connecting parts work directly to attachment. The questions we're asking together: which parts show up in your closest relationships, what were they originally protecting you from, and how are they interfering with feeling like yourself now? For clients who have already done attachment work, IFS supplies the mechanism — the how underneath the pattern.
Managers, firefighters, and exiles
IFS describes a few kinds of parts. Managers work to keep life under control — scanning others' moods, perfecting, over-functioning, staying a step ahead of criticism. Firefighters step in when pain breaks through anyway, numbing or distracting through scrolling, food, substances, or shutting down. Both are protectors, and both are guarding exiles: younger parts carrying the loneliness, shame, or fear that felt unbearable at the time. None of this is pathology. Every part took its role for a reason.
Meeting your anxious part and your avoidant part
One of the most useful things IFS offers relationally is a different way to hold attachment styles. Rather than I'm anxiously attached, it becomes: a part of me gets anxious when I sense distance, and another part of me shuts down when I feel crowded. Most people have both. They pull in opposite directions, which is exactly why relationships can feel so destabilizing — one part reaching for reassurance while another braces to withdraw, sometimes inside the same conversation. In session, we slow that down: you get to know each part, what it fears would happen if it stopped doing its job, and what it actually needs.
Unblending — noticing when a part is running the show
A part is blended when it's speaking through you — when you don't have anxiety, you are anxious. Much of the practical work is learning to notice blending and step back enough to access Self, so you can respond from choice rather than reflex. Clients often describe this as the moment they stop feeling yanked around by their own reactions.
An embodied, not just analytical, process
Trauma isn't stored only in the mind, and IFS work is felt in the body. Clients describe Self as a spaciousness in the chest or a settling in the shoulders, and unburdening often arrives somatically — tears, deeper breath, a physical sense of relief. This is part of why IFS reaches material, especially shame, that insight alone doesn't shift.
What Can IFS Therapy Help With?
Feeling triggered or reactive in relationships without understanding why
Anxious and avoidant patterns that pull you in opposite directions
Harsh inner criticism, perfectionism, and shame
Protective patterns that once helped — people-pleasing, over-functioning, shutting down — and now cost you
Numbing and avoidance — scrolling, substances, overworking, checking out
Trauma and attachment wounds, often alongside EMDR — our team has written more about IFS and trauma healing here
Parts of yourself you dislike — the reactions you wish you didn't have. Dr. DePretis writes about working with the protective parts you dislike
Feeling disconnected from yourself, or unsure who you are outside a relationship
Conflict between partners is often conflict between parts. A protective part in one person triggers a protective part in the other, and the actual people disappear behind them. Bringing IFS into couples work — alongside Emotionally Focused Therapy and attachment-based therapy — lets partners recognize each other's parts with far more compassion than they can manage when it feels like a character flaw. "Part of me is terrified you'll leave" lands very differently than "you never care."
IFS in Couples Therapy
Frequently Asked Questions About IFS Therapy
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Parts are the different aspects of your inner experience: the part that pushes you to achieve, the part that criticizes, the part that wants to be left alone. Having parts is normal and healthy, and no part is bad. Parts formed to protect you, and therapy helps them relax when they're no longer needed.
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Managers keep life under control through perfecting, planning, and monitoring others. Firefighters react when pain breaks through, often through numbing or distraction. Both protect exiles — younger parts carrying pain that once felt unbearable. All three are trying to help.
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Self is the calm, curious, compassionate core underneath your parts. IFS holds that it can't be damaged and doesn't need to be created, only accessed. Much of therapy is helping you lead from Self.
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Yes. Much conflict is one partner's protective parts triggering the other's. We often integrate IFS with EFT so couples can see each other's parts rather than only each other's behavior.
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Sessions range from $135–$225 depending on the clinician and session type. HSA and FSA accepted, and superbills available for out-of-network benefits. Details on our fees and insurance page.
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Blending is when a part is speaking through you, so its feelings and beliefs feel like simply you. Unblending — stepping back enough to notice the part rather than becoming it — is one of the core skills of IFS.
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Your therapist helps you notice which part is present, get curious about it rather than pushing it away, and understand what it's protecting. It's experiential rather than analytical — you're often talking with a part rather than about it.
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No. Having parts is a normal feature of every mind and is not dissociative identity disorder. IFS gives language to something you already experience whenever you feel torn between two reactions.
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IFS reframes attachment styles as parts rather than identities. Instead of being anxiously attached, you have a part that gets anxious about distance and probably another that withdraws when things get close. Understanding what each needs is what makes them less controlling.
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Talk therapy often works toward understanding a pattern. IFS works directly with the parts driving it, and the process is embodied — which tends to reach material, especially shame, that insight alone doesn't move.
Experienced IFS Therapists in Denver
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Dr. Rebekah DePretis
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Dr. Mallaree Blake
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Dr. Brittany Woolford
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Karina Ernst, MA
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Dr. Annalise Floody
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Dr. Courtney Phillips
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Dr. Rachel Hughitt
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Dr. Celeste Tinkoff
Find Out How IFS Therapy Can Help You
If you've done the work but still feel like something’s missing, IFS might be the missing link that helps everything finally click into place. To schedule a free 15-minute consultation to find out more about in-person or online IFS therapy with us, please visit our contact page.
If you think IFS therapy could be helpful for you, reach out to us! You can use our convenient online therapy scheduling.
We encourage you to get to know a little bit about our therapists, their specializations, and credentials. Get to know our therapists here.
Jump start your healing journey with quick and effective treatment.
We hope to hear from you soon!
In-person and Remote Options for IFS Therapy Services in Colorado
We have offices conveniently located on the North Denver (Lower Highlands) , South Denver (Denver Tech Center), and Colorado Springs. Can’t make it into the office? No worries – we’ve got you covered with virtual therapy.
IFS Therapy in Denver Tech Center, Greenwood Village Co
Our Denver Tech Center (DTC) office is located at 5350 S Roslyn St in Greenwood Village. It shares a parking lot with the Landmark near Comedy Works South, Hapa Sushi Grill and Sake, and JING Denver.
IFS Therapy in Lower Highlands, Denver Co
Our Lower Highlands office is located at 2460 West 26th Avenue in Denver. It is right on i25, across the street from the downtown REI, and a few blocks from the Empower Stadium, The Downtown Aquarium, and Elitch Gardens
IFS Therapy in Colorado Springs, Co
Our Colorado Springs office is located at 2720 E Yampa St in Colorado Springs. It is 3 miles from downtown Colorado Springs and an easy drive from the highway.