What is Parts work/ Ego-State Therapy?
This post is all about one of my favourite therapeutic approaches: parts work! Now, I know the term "ego state" may sound a bit psychoanalytic or Freudian, which can sometimes carry negative connotations. That's why I prefer the term "parts work" to describe this practice. It feels less clinical and more aligned with the holistic, non-pathologizing approach I take.
When it comes to parts-work, I find it helpful to understand the structural dissociation model. Essentially, this model suggests that we all have different "parts" or subpersonalities within us that emerged through our experiences and serve different roles.
There's the part that handles our daily life activities and routines - our job, chores, surface interactions. Call it the "daily life" part. This part helps us function and go about our business as usual.
Then we have what are known as our "emergency" parts. These were parts of ourselves that formed very early on, often in childhood, as a way to safely store and metabolize the extreme experiences, traumas, hurts and stresses we couldn't process at the time. It was the mind’s brilliant way of sequestering those overwhelming events so the rest of our consciousness could continue developing.
The problem is, those emergency parts can get stuck in perpetual survival mode, replaying the older defense mechanisms and wounded stories on a constant loop. They are frozen in those primal states of fear, shame, abandonment or heartbreak from long ago.
In therapy sessions, I help people slow down and start to notice when those emergency parts are emerging through certain felt-sense cues, emotional patterns or even spontaneous images and memories. With gentle curiosity, we can trace the activation of that part back to the original wounding that created it.
From that spacious awareness, magic happens. We get to develop a nurturing relationship with that stuck, wounded part. We can offer it the understanding, validation and care it never received. Unburdening it from the roles and protective armor it once needed, but no longer serves the person we are today.
Sometimes this process even involves visualizing or engaging in body movements that allow us to “rewrite” the trauma memory in a way that allows the emergency part to finally defend itself or have its needs met, rather than being retraumatized. It's about giving the body and psyche a chance to complete self-protective responses that may have gotten truncated or frozen during the original event.
Over time, directly communicating with our parts creates profound integration. The harmonized daily life part is less hijacked by emergency patterns. And those long-suffering parts can finally rest and experience the freedom they've never known.
Ultimately, parts work helps us unwind back into our innate wholeness. It's a journey of developing self-compassion, understanding the roles each part played in our survival, and weaving those parts into a resilient unified self ready to show up fully for life.
If you're curious to learn more about engaging in parts work, I invite you to book a free 20 minute consultation to explore whether this approach could be a good fit for you.
