Two threads run through most of the therapy I do, whether the appointment is talk therapy, ketamine preparation, or integration afterward. The first is parts work in the Internal Family Systems tradition. The second is somatic attention: taking the body seriously as a place where history is stored, not just a vehicle that carries the head to appointments.
Parts work, in plain language
Internal Family Systems, usually shortened to IFS, starts from an observation most people recognize the moment they hear it: we are not one voice. Part of you wants to send the email and part of you has been avoiding it for a week. Part of you soothes with food or scrolling, and another part criticizes you for it before the phone is even down. IFS treats these not as flaws in a machine but as parts, each with a history and a job it took on, usually early, usually to protect you.
The work is not to argue with these parts or exile them. It is to get to know them from a steadier place, what IFS calls Self, and renegotiate jobs that made sense at nine years old and cost too much at thirty-nine. In practice this looks like slow, specific, often surprisingly moving conversation. People tend to stop asking “what is wrong with me” and start asking “what is this part protecting,” which is a better question with better answers.
Where the body comes in
Somatic approaches attend to the same material through a different door. A part that formed under threat does not live in vocabulary; it lives in a jaw that never quite unclenches, a chest that braces before difficult conversations, a stomach that answers the phone before you do. In session, somatic work means noticing those signals, slowing down around them, and letting the nervous system finish responses it never got to complete. It pairs naturally with parts work: the body is very often where a part announces itself first.
Why this matters in ketamine work specifically
Ketamine sessions reliably bring people face to face with their parts, though nobody in the room may use that word. The inner critic goes quiet for an hour and someone meets, often for the first time in years, what it was shouting over. A frame for that experience makes the difference between a strange afternoon and usable material. This is why parts language shows up in my preparation work and all through integration: the medicine loosens the system, and IFS gives the loosened system somewhere to go.
Training, named precisely
I use IFS-informed methods now, and I am completing formal IFS training with certification expected in December 2026. I name it that way on purpose. Credentials in this field get blurred constantly, and a practice that asks for your trust should be exact about what its training is and when. When the certification is complete, this page will say so.
If this is the kind of therapy you are looking for
Parts work and somatic approaches are woven into therapy and counseling at MindMorph rather than sold as separate packages. If the way this page describes minds matches the way yours feels from the inside, that is usually a good sign the fit is worth a conversation. Reach out here, Colorado and Oregon, in person in Lakewood or by telehealth. Her Psychology Today profiles for Colorado and Oregon carry current availability.
Content by Maria Steiner-Renoir, PMHNP-BC, board-certified psychiatric nurse practitioner. Last reviewed August 2026.