Welcome to Towler Counseling LLC

At Towler Counseling LLC, our trained therapists specialize in the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model, a transformative approach developed by psychologist Richard Schwartz. This model helps clients explore and understand the various parts of themselves, revealing the complex inner landscape we all possess.

What is IFS?

IFS is built on the idea that our minds operate like a family, with different subpersonalities, or “parts,” interacting with one another. Schwartz observed that people often describe their inner experiences in terms of these parts, recognizing that they can have conflicting feelings and desires, much like family members in a household.

By exploring how these components work together, IFS encourages the discovery of your core Self—a resilient and healing aspect that exists within everyone. This core Self is unharmable and possesses the intrinsic ability to foster healing from past wounds.

Why Choose IFS?

IFS offers a powerful pathway for personal growth and healing. It allows you to dig deep into both past and current emotional struggles, particularly in relationships with others and with yourself. With IFS, you can begin to understand and mend these complexities, empowering yourself to live more fully.

Through this therapeutic approach, you'll also gain access to the “8 Cs”: confidence, calm, compassion, courage, creativity, clarity, curiosity, and connectedness. These qualities can reshape how you engage with the world and nurture your relationships.

Who Can Benefit from IFS?

The versatility of IFS means that it can be effectively utilized by professionals across various fields—bodyworkers, legal mediators, school administrators, life coaches, and religious leaders, among others. By integrating IFS principles into their work, they can enhance their understanding of human behavior and guide others on their journeys to healing and fulfillment.

Explore the transformative potential of IFS with us at Towler Counseling LLC. Let’s work together to uncover the parts of you that will lead to a more connected and balanced life.

IFS discusses sub-personalities consisting of wounded parts, painful emotions such as anger and shame, and parts that try to control and protect the person from the pain of the wounded parts. The sub-personalities are often in conflict with each other and with one’s core Self, a concept that describes the confident, compassionate, whole person that is at the core of every individual. IFS focuses on healing the wounded parts and restoring mental balance and harmony by changing the dynamics that create discord among the sub-personalities and the Self. 

IFS is used to treat Depression

Anxiety

Panic

Phobias

Trauma

Substance use

Physical health conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, heart

General functioning and well-being

Internal Family Systems (IFS) is a type of talk therapy where you work with a therapist to identify and understand the different sub-personalities, or parts, that make up your internal mental system. Through this process, you will recognize and acknowledge your feelings about these parts and the suppressed emotions they hold. The therapist will help you release these feelings, freeing you to address the underlying issues more effectively. You'll also learn more positive ways to manage conflicts on your own. Your therapist may suggest tools such as relaxation exercises, visualization, journaling, and creating a chart to illustrate the relationship between your core Self and your various parts. The underlying concept of this theory is that we all have several parts within us that fulfill both healthy and unhealthy roles. However, life events or trauma can push these parts out of their healthy roles and into extreme ones. 

Your first session of IFS therapy will often cover basic information about the process and include an initial assessment. Your therapist will ask background questions to better understand your needs and goals for therapy. Building a comfortable, trusting rapport with your therapist is crucial for the success of therapy.

In subsequent sessions, you will work with your therapist to identify the different parts of yourself and build connections between them. Each session typically involves talk therapy, focusing on exploring and understanding these inner parts. It’s normal to sometimes feel discomfort, fear, shame, or anger during this process. Your therapist will help you manage these feelings and learn healthier ways to deal with them.

With IFS- we use different techniques in the model such as understanding the parts of self. The three general parts are exiles, firefighters and managers. All parts of self are welcomed.

As you continue working with your therapist to help you achieve your goals. The duration of Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy can vary widely and is influenced by several factors, including the nature and complexity of the issues being addressed, individual progress, and personal goals. There is no one-size-fits-all answer regarding the duration of IFS therapy. The decision to continue or conclude therapy is a collaborative process between the client and therapist based on the client's evolving needs and goals. Regular check-ins with the therapist can help determine the most beneficial course and duration of therapy for each individual.