IFS therapy in Colorado Springs
Internal Family Systems, often shortened to IFS, works from the idea that you're not one single voice in your head, you're made up of parts: the part that people-pleases, the part that panics, the part that shuts down to protect you.
I'm Sarah Post Massey, a licensed marriage and family therapist in Colorado Springs, and I use IFS to help those parts work together instead of against each other.
How IFS works
Instead of treating an anxious thought or a defensive reaction as a flaw to eliminate, IFS treats it as a part of you trying to protect you, usually based on something that happened a long time ago.
We get curious about that part instead of fighting it, which tends to loosen its grip faster than trying to think your way past it.
Where I use IFS
IFS shows up most in my work on emotional abuse recovery, where it helps rebuild trust in your own internal voice, and alongside EMDR in trauma work, where it helps prepare and stabilize before we process a specific memory.
Is IFS right for me?
IFS tends to fit if you notice conflicting reactions in yourself, wanting connection and pushing it away, feeling angry and guilty about the anger in the same breath, and you're curious why, rather than just wanting the reaction to stop.
Questions about IFS
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Not quite. It's a structured way of getting curious about different reactions and protective patterns in yourself, with me guiding the process, not just reflecting alone.
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Both. Some clients work primarily in an IFS framework. Others use it alongside EMDR, especially during preparation and stabilization before trauma processing.
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As a private pay therapist, I am out of network with insurance providers, Medicaid, and Medicare. You'll receive a Good Faith Estimate of costs before your first session.