IFIO (Intimacy from the Inside Out)

A couple-therapy model applying IFS principles to relationships.

Description

Developed by Toni Herbine-Blank, IFIO uses IFS within dyads. Each partner explores their Parts in real time while the therapist tracks system-to-system dynamics. It teaches Self-led communication, unblending, and Rupture and Repair as relational art.

What IFIO is NOT:

Conflict-avoidant; standard couples therapy; mutual diagnosis.

Examples:

Partner speaks for their shame Part; the other listens Self-led.
Therapist slows the pace when protectors spark polarization.
A moment of co-regulation becomes a Corrective Emotional Experience (CEE).

see also:

Collective Systems; IFS-Informed Communication; Attachment; Rupture and Repair