Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy in Northampton, MA
Internal Family Systems (IFS) is a model of the mind developed by Dr. Richard Schwartz, built on the idea that we're not one single, unified self — we're made up of multiple "parts," each with its own perspective, feelings, and job to do. Some parts protect you by keeping you in control or moving forward no matter what. Others carry pain from earlier in your life that never fully got addressed. IFS gives you a structured way to understand and work with these parts directly, rather than being at war with them or trying to suppress the ones you don't like.
What Is Internal Family Systems?
IFS organizes the mind into a few recognizable roles. Managers are the parts that try to keep your life running smoothly and keep you safe from getting hurt — the inner critic, the planner, the part that overworks. Firefighters are the parts that jump in reactively when something painful gets triggered — through distraction, numbing, anger, or escape. Exiles are the younger, more vulnerable parts carrying pain, shame, or fear from earlier experiences, often kept hidden away because their pain feels like too much to face.
Underneath all of these parts is what IFS calls the Self — a core capacity for calm, curiosity, clarity, and compassion that isn't damaged, no matter what you've been through. The goal of IFS isn't to get rid of any part of you. It's to help your Self build a working relationship with each part, so the managers can relax their grip, the firefighters don't have to react so hard, and the exiles can finally be heard.
What a Session Actually Looks Like?
In an IFS session, rather than talking about a problem in the abstract, you turn toward it directly. If you're feeling anxious, your therapist might help you get curious about the anxious part itself — where you notice it in your body, what it's afraid would happen if it let its guard down, what job it thinks it's doing for you. This isn't about analyzing yourself from a distance. It's about building an actual relationship with these different parts, often for the first time.
Over time, parts that have been stuck in extreme roles — the harsh inner critic, the part that shuts down under pressure, the part that keeps you endlessly busy — get room to relax, because the vulnerable feelings they've been protecting finally have a chance to be witnessed and unburdened.
Bruno's Approach
Bruno, LCSW, brings parts work into session as one strand of a broader, deeply relational practice — alongside Gestalt therapy and EMDR, in which he's formally trained (Levels 1 and 2). He describes his core commitments simply: we're all embodied, so the work slows down to notice what the body is communicating; we all carry some burden of past experience, so there's room to process and integrate it at a pace that works; and everyone carries the seeds of their own healing already. His role is to help those seeds get watered, not to hand down answers.
Bruno also draws on more than a decade of experience teaching Capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian martial art built on moving intentionally and staying aware of the people around you — an influence that shows up directly in how he works with the body and relationship in the room together. He holds a Master's in Social Work from Smith College, along with additional academic background in comparative religion and computer science, and is licensed in both Massachusetts and New York.
Who This Helps
- You know intellectually what you "should" do, but a different part of you keeps taking over
- You've done talk therapy before and understood your patterns clearly, without much actually changing
- You have a harsh inner critic that won't quiet down no matter how much self-compassion you try to practice
- You feel like you're at war with yourself — one part driving you forward, another shutting you down
- You're working through grief, anxiety, or trauma and want an approach that treats your struggle as one part of you, not the whole of who you are
Insurance & Getting Started
Somatic Psychotherapy Group is in-network with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Tufts, and Harvard Pilgrim. We're happy to answer questions about coverage before your first session.