Using IFS and EMDR Together to Heal Trauma and Childhood Wounds
Trauma is more than just a memory—it’s an experience that becomes embedded in both the mind and body. For many survivors of childhood trauma, the lingering effects show up in self-doubt, emotional overwhelm, relationship struggles, and even physical symptoms. Healing requires more than just talking about the past; it requires an approach that addresses both the emotional and physiological imprints of trauma.
Two highly effective trauma therapies—Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)—can work together to facilitate deep, lasting healing. While each of these modalities is powerful on its own, integrating them allows trauma survivors to process painful experiences while fostering inner harmony and self-compassion.
In this post, we’ll explore how IFS and EMDR complement each other, how they can be used together in trauma therapy, and why this integrative approach can be transformative for childhood trauma survivors.
Understanding Internal Family Systems (IFS) and EMDR
Before exploring how these two modalities work together, let’s briefly define them:
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
IFS is a therapeutic model that helps individuals understand and heal the different “parts” of themselves. The core idea of IFS is that we all have an internal system made up of different parts, each with its own role and purpose. Trauma disrupts this system, causing parts to take on extreme roles to protect us.
Exiled Parts: These hold the pain, fear, or shame from past trauma.
Protectors (Managers and Firefighters): These step in to keep us from feeling overwhelming pain—often through overworking, perfectionism, avoidance, or self-destructive behaviors.
Self (Core Self): This is the wise, compassionate, and grounded part of us that can heal wounded parts and bring balance to the system.
IFS therapy helps clients befriend and heal wounded parts, creating an inner environment of self-compassion instead of inner conflict.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
EMDR is a trauma-focused therapy that helps the brain reprocess distressing memories so they no longer feel overwhelming. Using bilateral stimulation (eye movements, tapping, or sounds), EMDR allows trauma survivors to process memories in a way that helps reduce emotional intensity and shift negative self-beliefs.
EMDR follows an eight-phase model, including:
Identifying traumatic memories and associated negative beliefs.
Using bilateral stimulation to process, integrate, and reframe distressing experiences.
Installing new, adaptive beliefs to replace trauma-driven narratives.
EMDR helps reduce trauma activation in the nervous system, allowing clients to recall past events without being emotionally overwhelmed.
How IFS and EMDR Work Together in Trauma Therapy
While EMDR focuses on processing and resolving traumatic memories, IFS provides a compassionate framework for understanding and working with the inner system that holds onto trauma. Here’s how they complement each other:
1. IFS Prepares the System for EMDR Processing
Before beginning EMDR, many clients experience internal resistance—parts of them may feel too afraid, overwhelmed, or distrustful to engage in processing. Using IFS first allows a client to build a relationship with their protective parts, reassuring them that healing can be and is safe.
For example:
A client may have a part that blocks distressing memories because it fears they’ll be too painful.
IFS helps the client befriend this protective part, reducing internal conflict before EMDR processing begins.
By gaining the trust of protective parts first, EMDR can proceed with less resistance and greater effectiveness.
2. Identifying and Working with Parts During EMDR
During EMDR sessions, different parts of the client’s system may become activated. A young, wounded part may surface during memory processing, or a protective part may try to shut down the experience.
Using IFS within EMDR allows the therapist and client to:
Identify which part is activated and address its concerns.
Provide self-compassion and support to younger parts during EMDR.
Help protectors feel validated and reassured that reprocessing trauma won’t harm the system.
This integration helps reduce dissociation and overwhelm, making EMDR processing smoother and more effective.
3. Healing Exiles Through Self-Compassion
EMDR often brings up deep-seated pain stored in exiled parts—the parts that carry childhood wounds. Without IFS, these parts may be processed but still feel unhealed.
Using IFS after EMDR allows the client to:
Revisit exiled parts with compassion, rather than just processing the memory.
Help these parts feel seen, understood, and integrated into the self.
Transform the relationship between Self and wounded parts, fostering long-term healing.
By combining EMDR’s memory reprocessing with IFS’s self-led healing, trauma survivors can experience profound shifts.
Benefits of Integrating IFS and EMDR
Combining these two modalities enhances trauma therapy by:
Creating a sense of safety before trauma processing begins.
Reducing resistance and overwhelm during EMDR sessions.
Strengthening self-compassion by addressing all parts involved in the trauma response.
Helping protectors and wounded parts feel included, rather than just “pushing through” the trauma memory.
Allowing for deeper healing, rather than just symptom reduction.
For trauma survivors who feel stuck in cycles of self-doubt, fear, or shame, this integrative approach provides a gentle yet powerful path forward.
Healing Trauma Is Possible
Healing from trauma isn’t about erasing the past—it’s about changing your relationship with it. IFS and EMDR, when used together, offer a way to process trauma without retraumatization while fostering a sense of inner safety, connection, and self-leadership.
If you’ve struggled to move forward in therapy or feel overwhelmed by trauma memories, this integrative approach might be exactly what you need. You don’t have to do this alone—healing is possible, and you deserve support every step of the way.
How Trauma Therapy with Brea Giancaterino in Denver, Colorado can Help
As a trauma therapist with training in EMDR and IFS, with years of experience supporting individuals impacted by childhood trauma and trauma, I understand the complexities of this journey.
At my private practice in Denver, I offer a safe, compassionate, nonjudgmental space where you can explore your past, reconnect with yourself, and create lasting change. I’m here to help you find clarity and peace. Together, we’ll work to unburden the weight of the past and move toward the life you deserve. I am dedicated to building a safe, trusting therapeutic relationship and going at the pace you need to process your trauma.
If you’re ready to take the next step, I’d love to hear from you. Schedule a free 15 minute consultation!
Learn more about EMDR therapy (an impactful and effective trauma therapy) here.
