What Is Parts Work? Exploring IFS in Trauma Therapy in Bozeman, Montana

If you’ve seen Inside Out, Disney’s animated movie about the inner world of a young girl’s emotions, then you’ve already had a beautiful introduction to “parts work.”

In the film, we meet Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust—each a character with its own personality, opinions, and role in helping the main character navigate her life. And while the movie may be fiction, the idea behind it is rooted in real psychological theory. In Internal Family Systems (IFS), a growing and evidence-based model of therapy, this concept is central: we are not one single self, but a system of many parts and all parts are inherantly good.

What Are Parts?

We all have “parts”—internal voices, emotional states, beliefs, and behavioral tendencies that show up in different situations. These parts can sometimes feel conflicting. One part of you might want to go out and be social, while another just wants to stay home in your sweats. One part might feel hopeful and excited about a new opportunity, while another part is terrified you’ll fail.

This inner experience, this multiplicity, is completely normal. It doesn’t mean you’re broken or disordered. It means you’re human.

So no, having parts doesn’t mean you have multiple personalities. It means you have multiple perspectives, shaped by your life experiences. Just like the characters in Inside Out, these parts can evolve and shift with time.

Meet the IFS Parts: Managers, Firefighters, and Exiles

Developed by Dr. Richard Schwartz in the 1980s, Internal Family Systems therapy helps us understand our parts more deeply. In IFS, we group parts into three main roles:

1. Proactive Parts: Managers

These parts work hard to keep us in control, productive, and safe from emotional harm. They might be perfectionists, planners, people-pleasers, or inner critics. Their job is to prevent pain by staying ahead of it.

Example: That part of you that’s double-checking every detail or staying busy to avoid thinking about that hard conversation? Manager.

2. Reactive Parts: Firefitghters

These parts jump in when emotional pain breaks through. They're reactive and often impulsive, trying to put out the fire of intense feelings by any means necessary. This might look like numbing with food, scrolling endlessly on your phone, drinking, yelling, or shutting down.

Firefighters aren’t bad—they're trying to help. But their methods are often more about short-term relief than long-term healing.

3. Child-like parts: Exiles

These are the parts of us that carry our deepest wounds—our shame, grief, fear, or loneliness. Exiles are often young and vulnerable, holding memories or feelings we couldn’t fully process at the time. Because they feel so overwhelming, Managers and Firefighters work hard to keep them hidden away.

But healing happens when we can connect with and care for these exiles, rather than exile them further.

Why This Matters in Trauma Therapy

Trauma fragments us. It causes our internal system to work overtime to protect us from ever feeling that level of pain again. Often, our Managers and Firefighters become overburdened, constantly hustling to keep those vulnerable parts at bay.

Let’s say a person grew up in a home where they had to constantly be "good" to avoid emotional punishment. A Manager part might have developed early on to keep things perfect—always looking for danger, always trying to prevent rejection. As an adult, this part might drive them to overwork, overfunction, or feel deep shame when they make mistakes. At the same time, a Firefighter might jump in when the pressure becomes too much—leading to binge-watching, emotional eating, or snapping at loved ones. Beneath it all? An Exile part that carries the original wound of feeling unworthy or unloved.

This is where IFS shines. Instead of simply addressing symptoms, it goes straight to the internal system that holds the trauma. It allows us to slow down and ask:

• What is this part trying to protect me from?

• When did it first show up?

• What does it believe about me?

• What does it need from me now?

In traditional trauma therapy, it can be easy to feel like we’re going in circles. We might talk about the same events or triggers without feeling true relief. But IFS offers a way through, by helping us build relationships with the parts of us that carry the pain. This relational healing is what creates lasting change.

For example, a client who struggles with panic attacks might discover that a young Exile part fears abandonment. Once that Exile is supported by Self and other protective parts no longer need to overreact to every perceived threat, the panic softens. Not because it was suppressed—but because it was heard.

Another client who struggles with anger outbursts might realize that their Firefighter part is protecting a teenage Exile who felt helpless in the face of bullying or emotional neglect. By witnessing and unburdening that pain, the anger doesn't need to explode anymore.

In trauma therapy using IFS, we create space for each part of you. Not to judge or silence them, but to get curious: What is this part trying to do for me? What is it protecting? What does it need?

This approach honors the complexity of the human experience. Instead of pathologizing behaviors or symptoms, IFS teaches us to see them as adaptations—brilliant survival strategies from parts of us that really care to protect us..

Parts Work in Couples Therapy

IFS is equally powerful in couples therapy. Every relationship is, at its core, two internal systems interacting. When partners argue or disconnect, it’s often their protective parts engaging, not their Self.

For example, one partner’s Manager part might criticize to maintain control and avoid vulnerability, while the other’s Firefighter part gets angry to avoid feeling hurt. Beneath both of those responses may be Exiles carrying old wounds of not being good enough, feeling abandoned, or unloved.

In couples therapy using IFS, each partner learns to recognize their parts, speak from Self, and hold space for their partner’s experience without becoming defensive or overwhelmed. You might hear things like:

• “A part of me is really afraid you’ll leave if I’m honest.”

• “My protector part wants to shut down right now, but I’m trying to stay present.”

This shared language helps couples communicate with more empathy and accountability. It moves them out of cycles of blame and into mutual care, where each person’s parts are acknowledged and supported.

Whether it’s conflict, disconnection, or trust issues, IFS provides a roadmap to understanding and repairing relational dynamics in a profound and lasting way.

Conclusion: Leading from Self, Healing from Within

IFS reminds us that healing isn’t about becoming someone new—it’s about becoming more you. When we learn to lead our internal system from Self—with compassion, calm, clarity, and courage—we begin to unburden the pain that parts of us have carried for far too long.

Instead of letting the loudest or most fearful part dictate our choices, we learn to listen deeply, respond intentionally, and build trust within. And from that inner trust, we begin to live more connected, whole, and empowered lives.

You are not your pain, your shame, or your trauma. You are the one who can care for all of it. One part at a time.

Ready foir a whole new way of treating trauma?

If you’re curious about parts work or wondering if IFS might help you, we’d love to walk beside you. At ELVT Mental Health in Bozeman, Montana, we offer individual and couples therapy, as well as customized intensives that allow for deeper, focused healing.

Reach out to learn more, schedule a consultation, or explore how our trauma-informed, integrative approach can support your journey. Because every part of you deserves to be seen—and you deserve to lead your life from a place of strength, trust, and wholeness.