therapy for LGBTQ professionals looking to get out survival mode and discover their authentic selves
Internal Family Systems Therapy in Pittsburgh, PA
Finding Recovery from Trauma, Burnout, and Depression in Pittsburgh
Your nervous system is on hyper-drive and for a good reason
Pittsburgh is a LGBTQ friendly city but it’s also still surrounded by conservative suburbs in a red state. Even if you feel safe and welcome in the city, there’s always that part of you that’s on high alert. Maybe you moved from an anti-trans state like Florida, and the transphobic legislation is all consuming presence.
Whether you’re in Squirrel Hill North, Shadyside, or Fox Chapel, it can be hard to feel good about yourself when you’re constantly being told you’re “wrong.” The messages we get from society can get stuck in our heads until we eventually start to believe them. Internal family systems therapy helps you slow down and tune in to what's happening inside of your mind. Through IFS, I help LGBTQ and transgender folks separate all of those conflicting parts and find their true self.
You deserve to the space to turn off your brain and just be.
Are pressures of career life in Pittsburgh leading to burnout and overwhelm?
Living in Pittsburgh, PA can put unique pressures on your relationships, work-life balance, and career goals.
Feeling exhausted from constantly “performing” and being “on”
Imposter syndrome despite doing well in your career
Feeling like you have to over-compensate to prove your worth as queer or trans person
Constantly monitoring what to share about yourself and whether or not to come out
Stress and burnout that doesn’t get better when you take time off of work
Struggling to say “no” or correct people when you’re misgendered because you don’t want to seem “difficult.”
Talk therapy hasn’t worked for you, or you’ve done therapy but still feel stuck.
what is internal family systems therapy?
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Internal Family Systems (IFS) recognizes that your mind contains multiple “parts’” that impact your daily life and well-being. Parts can show up as emotions, beliefs, memories, or even bodily sensations. At the center of your inner world is your core self, the calm part of you that serves as your wisdom.
Through experiential activities, we’ll get to know your parts, gain their trust, and begin healing the wounds they’ve been protecting.
If you’re into role-playing games, pretend your inner world is a D & D campaign, with your parts as the players and your core self as the Dungeon Master. If you work from home, imagine your inner world as a Zoom meeting where your parts are your coworkers and your core-self is the boss hosting the meeting.
Unlike traditional approaches that may pathologize or label your experiences, IFS therapy honors the wisdom behind even your most challenging behaviors. These reactions are likely in response to some type of trauma or painful event, and serve as a way to protect you from feeling pain.
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First Session
I’ll ask you to openly share about what’s on your mind and what feels important right now. This conversation sometimes focuses on what brought you to therapy in the first place. I’ll keep track of your parts and reflect back what I’m noticing when I hear you talk.
Ongoing Sessions
Together, we’ll choose a concern to focus on during the session. I’ll engage you to notice how you’re sensing that part or concern in or around your body. Some people notice body sensations during this phase while others experience a part as an image or a thought. As you begin to notice these sensations, we’ll explore how you’re feeling towards this part of yourself. The answer to this question says a lot about where we go next.
We’ll get to know the target part on a deeper level including when it first showed up and what role it has in your life. Some parts are like workaholics that are stuck in over-time because they need to feel a sense of control. Other parts act like first responders where they swoop in quickly to get rid of the bad feelings. These parts operate on an “act first, think later” mentality.
Sometimes when we’re getting to know a part, other parts might emerge. Our conversation may need to pivot to a new target part in order to address its concerns.
IFS Activities
Parts Mapping is an activity where we use drawing, objects, or other visual aids to map out your parts. Externalizing your parts can help both of us keep track of them week to week.
Incorporating art therapy can be helfpul for folks who struggle to notice body sensation as parts. If you’re feeling consumed by an emotoin or thought, I might ask you to draw the part or find an object that represents that part.
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IFS helps you develop compassion towards every part of you instead of judging yourself. IFS makes space for all of your conflicting parts and doesn’t try to force change. IFS helps you accept your emotions so they can feel more managable.
If you’re struggling with disordered eating, IFS can help you stop fighting your eating disorder and become more curious about why it’s there in the first place. When you stop fighting with yourself, your parts relax so you can get to the root of your struggles.
Therapy that fits your life
Online IFS Therapy in Pittsburgh, PA
Therapy should be accessible. For many queer people in Pittsburgh, finding a Level 1 trained IFS therapist who specializes in LGBTQ-affirming care can take time.
Many career professionals are dealing with longer work days and tight deadlines which can make it hard to prioritize. My practice offers online ifs therapy in Pittsburgh so you don’t have to deal with long commutes and tunnel traffic. Whether you go to the office or work from home, you can fit in therapy sessions during lunch or after work. Online therapy works in any space as long as it’s private and stationary.
Is Internal Family Systems therapy right for you?
my ifs therapy approach is a good fit for…
LGBTQ adults, transgender and gender expansive folks seeking identity affirming care from a queer therapist with advanced training.
Career professionals, healthcare workers, software engineers, and people who work in tech facing burnout and stress
Queer individuals looking for trauma recovery or therapy for narcissistic abuse
Partners and spouses of transgender individuals
People who have been in therapy but still feel stuck
IFS Therapy for Eating Disorders in Pittsburgh
If you’re struggling with food, you might feel conficted about seeking help. Maybe your eating disorder has been a survival strategy, or you’re afraid you’ll gain weight if you recover. IFS makes room for all of you: the parts that want to count calories, the parts that want to enjoy food again, and the parts that are fearful of change.
Through IFS therapy, we explore:
How Manager parts might use restriction to control gender dysphoria
Ways Firefighter parts use bingeing to soothe rejection wounds
Beliefs Exiles hold about worthiness tied to body image
The intersection of queerness and relationships with food
Integrating IFS with Other Approaches
While Internal Family Systems forms my therapeutic foundation, I integrate complementary modalities to meet your specific needs:
Art Therapy and IFS
As an art therapist, I combine creative expression with IFS techniques to help you connect to your inner world. Sometimes naming your parts can feel overwhelming, so it helps to draw and map your parts on paper. Art-making can help increase body awareness in a way that feels both gentle and powerful. Learn More About Art Therapy.
Psychodynamic and IFS Concepts
Psychodynamic therapy helps you understand the patterns in your relationships by bringing them into full awareness. The feelings you have in our therapy sessions become valueable information on what might need to change in your life. Learn More About Psychodynamic Therapy
What we’ll work on
Internal Family Systems therapy can help you…
Use somatic or arts-based activities to help you identify and map out your parts.
Understand and connect to your parts from a place of compassion and curiosity
Recognize how your parts show up whether it’s through body sensations, images, thoughts or memories.
Explore what your parts are trying to do for you and how they are protecting you.
Heal emotional pain from the past and restore balance to your mind so you can make decisions with confidence
You don’t have to keep stretching yourself thin to feel loved
IFS helps you build confidence to show up in relationships as your full, authentic self.
Questions?
FAQs
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No. My physical office is located in Philadelphia. I offer online therapy to people residing in Pittsburgh and all of PA.
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Yes, and for many people, it’s more effective than in person therapy. Sitting in your own space can be soothing for your nervous system and can feel safer.
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Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy is LGBTQ friendly at its core due to the framework of welcoming all parts without judgement. IFS seeks to understand and have compassion for every part of you. It’s non-pathologizing and can be effective in addressing internalized shame caused by discrimination and minority stress.
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IFS is highly effective in addressing PTSD, trauma, inner conflict, and eating disorders.
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There is no set timeline in IFS therapy, and it can often depend on your treatment goals. Some people attend therapy for a 3 months while others are in therapy for 6 months or longer.
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While both therapy approaches have similar names, they are very different in practice.
Family Therapy involves you and your family meeting with a therapist together. So there’s at least two people in session (including you) or more. Goals in therapy address the relationships and communication between family members.
Internal Family Systems therapy is a form of individual therapy between you and your therapist. The model views your mind as “parts” and aims to help you understand the parts in your inner world.
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Neither approach is objectively better but rather they serve different purposes. EMDR is a structured memory-focused approach that integrates exposure therapy and bilateral stimulation. EMDR is helpful for PTSD and single-incident traumas.
IFS is a more expansive approach that views your mind as different parts and aims to heal emotional pain from the past. IFS doesn’t require your to identify specific memories or details in order to find healing. It’s especially helpful for complex trauma (C-PTSD), attachment wounds, eating disorders and anxiety.
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In our sessions, I guide you to notice and connect with different parts of yourself in a gentle, curious way. You might notice a critical voice, a part that numbs out, or a part that feels young and scared. Rather than pushing these parts away, we get to know them and understand what they need. Over time, this process helps you feel more integrated, grounded, and at peace with yourself.
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IFS can be a powerful tool for eating disorder recovery because it helps you understand the parts of you that drive disordered eating behaviors. Rather than seeing these behaviors as the enemy, we explore what these parts are trying to protect you from. This compassionate approach often leads to deeper, more lasting healing than simply focusing on changing behaviors alone.
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Yes. IFS is well suited for body image work because it helps you explore the parts of you that criticize your body, the parts that feel shame, and the parts that developed these beliefs in the first place. By approaching these parts with curiosity rather than judgment, you can begin to shift your relationship with your body from the inside out.
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Every person and every system is different, so there is no single timeline. Some clients notice shifts in how they relate to themselves within the first few sessions. Deeper healing often unfolds over months as we work with different parts and address underlying wounds. I tailor the pace to what feels right for you and check in regularly about how the work is landing.
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Internal Family Systems (IFS) parts mapping is the process of visually drawing your parts. Parts mapping is especially useful if you struggle to visualize your parts or find it difficult to notice them as body sensations. If your parts feel overwhelming (blending), parts mapping can help you get some space from them so you can understand them more clearly. Drawing your parts can be helpful if you’re neurodivergent and/or have complex trauma.
Why Choose Me for Your IFS Therapist?
As a queer therapist trained in IFS, I show up as my full self. I maintain awareness of my own parts both in and outside of the therapy room, and do my best to connect to your parts from a place of self-energy.
As an art therapist with over 15 years in practice, I have:
Advanced training in eating disorders and gender-affirming care
Expertise navigating the intersection of identity and mental health
Art therapy certification for creative healing approaches
Experience supporting partners and families through transition
Deep commitment to LGBTQ+ community wellness