Where Brain Meets Parts: Combining Brainspotting and Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS)
At CARE Counseling, Inc., we believe that healing happens not only through talking—but through feeling, sensing, and connecting with the body and the mind.
That’s why many of our clinicians integrate two powerful, evidence-informed modalities: Brainspotting (like EMDR) and Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS). Together, these approaches help clients access trauma held deep in the nervous system while also building trusting relationships with the many “parts” that make up their internal world.
If you’ve struggled with traditional talk therapy—or are seeking a method that works with your body and your story—this integrative approach may be for you.
What Is Brainspotting (like EMDR)?
Brainspotting is a somatic and neurobiological therapy developed by Dr. David Grand. It’s based on the understanding that where you look affects how you feel—and that eye position can help access and process trauma stored in the subcortical brain (the part responsible for survival, not language).
In Brainspotting, a therapist helps you find a “brainspot”—a fixed eye position that connects to a particular emotional or physical experience. You may feel activation (tightness, heat, nausea, emotion), or a release, or simply curiosity.
Brainspotting allows clients to:
Access deeper layers of trauma without needing to retell the story
Work beneath verbal cognition, where many trauma memories are stored
Release stuck emotional energy held in the body
What Is Internal Family Systems (IFS)?
Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS), developed by Dr. Richard Schwartz, views the mind as a system of parts—each part with a role, a history, and an intention to protect or help. Parts include:
Protectors (e.g., inner critic, avoider, controller)
Exiles (wounded parts carrying pain, shame, fear)
Self (your core Self—calm, curious, confident, compassionate)
In IFS therapy, we don’t try to get rid of parts. Instead, we get to know them, develop trust, and help them release outdated roles. Ultimately, these parts have wisdom and strengths for you.
Why Combine Brainspotting and IFS?
Because trauma isn’t just in the mind. And healing doesn’t come only from insight—it comes from felt experience.
When we combine Brainspotting (like EMDR) with IFS, we help clients:
Connect with parts in the body: Many parts carry physical sensations (tight chest, foggy head, burning in the stomach). Brainspotting helps us tune into those.
Unburden exiles with less re-traumatization: Instead of diving into story or logic, Brainspotting allows emotional release while the Self stays present and grounded.
Build inner trust: IFS teaches clients to approach all parts with curiosity, which reduces internal conflict. Brainspotting strengthens this by providing somatic resolution.
Heal from the bottom up and the inside out: IFS addresses psychological structure, while Brainspotting accesses the neurobiological imprint of trauma.
Together, they create a gentle, deep, and integrative process that honors both the complexity of the mind and the wisdom of the body.
What Does a Combined Session Look Like?
At CARE Counseling, Inc., sessions are always customized to your needs. A session may include:
Checking in with your parts (IFS)
Identifying a target issue or emotion (e.g., “a part of me feels anxious when I’m seen”)
Locating it in the body (e.g., tightness in the throat)
Finding a brainspot with your therapist’s support
Allowing the part to express, emote, or release—while your Self stays present
Debriefing what you felt, what shifted, and what your system needs next
Therapy is not rushed. Your system sets the pace.
In combining IFS and Brainspotting, we hold a non-pathologizing, trauma-informed, and individualized space for healing. All identities, parts, and experiences are welcome.
Start Your Healing Journey with CARE Counseling, Inc.
You are not broken. You are a system of brilliant, protective, wounded, and wise parts—all doing their best. With Brainspotting and IFS, we can help those parts release pain, step out of survival mode, and reconnect with your Self.
Your body remembers. Your parts are speaking. We’re here to help you listen—and heal.