Australia Resource Therapy Institute

May 16, 2025

IFS Vs Resource Therapy: What’s The Difference? A Parts-Based Perspective For Trauma Professionals

All the Parts of me in my brain - my inner crew our Resources. Join clinical Resource Therapy certification training with Gordon Emmerson, Philipa Thornton

As psychologists, trauma therapists, and counsellors, you have likely encountered the rising popularity of Internal Family Systems (IFS) – and perhaps, heard whispers of another parts-based approach: Resource Therapy (RT).

While both models work with inner parts, their methodology, clinical structure, and language differ in key ways.

Let us unpack what sets Resource Therapy apart – and why more clinicians are choosing it to deepen their trauma-informed resilience-enhancing practice.

Two Parts-Based Models, One Clear Distinction

Both IFS and RT understand the human psyche as comprising inner parts. IFS, developed by Dr Richard Schwartz, describes protectors, exiles, and a core Self, with therapy focused on accessing and unblending these parts, so the Self can lead.

Resource Therapy, developed by Professor Gordon Emmerson, PhD, evolved from ego state therapy yet offers a distinct and clinically advanced model. RT works with Resource States – the personality parts activated in specific situations, triggered if you will – using direct and respectful interventions that resolve inner conflicts at the source.

Unlike IFS, which builds inner dialogue over time, RT engages directly with the part in control, using targeted Treatment Actions to bring emotional healing and resolution. This is client-directed according to the client’s goals and needs.

“All our parts have a purpose. Even when they seem problematic, they’re trying to help – but sometimes they’ve learned the wrong lesson.” Emmerson, G. (2012)

A Therapy Of Action, Not Just Awareness

What makes Resource Therapy powerful in clinical practice is its 15 Treatment Actions, which are mapped to its neuropsychological model and rooted in research on trauma and memory reconsolidation (Ecker et al., 2012). Buy the book here.

These allow clinicians to precisely identify, access, and treat the part holding pain, with interventions that often bring about rapid and lasting change.

Whether a client is navigating trauma, anxiety, dissociation, or confusion, RT offers a clear roadmap and compassionate approach.

It is equally useful for non-clinical goals such as performance anxiety, assertiveness, or relationship issues – empowering clients to access their strengths and select the best part of self for the job. When we have the best part in the Captain’s seat to suit the occasion, we are in flow, and it’s smooth sailing.

RT is a standalone therapy, however can fit seamlessly into your EMDR, DBR, ACT, clinical hypnotherapy and coaching styles.

“IFS is a method of understanding and harmonising the mind’s parts, with the Self as a compassionate leader.”
— Schwartz, R. (2021)

Buy from Amazon his book No Bad Parts here.

RT’s Unique Language and Structure

In IFS, we speak of protectors and exiles. In RT, we work with Resources – not as stuck pathologies, but as valued parts of the personality system. Our parts can change and adapt.

When Resources become Vaded (emotionally hurt or stuck in fear, shame, blame, confusion, or disappointment), therapy involves bringing healing directly to that state, with empathy, and compassion. All our parts are trying to help. Or Resources acting out in outdated modes of being – sexting, rage attacks, gambling or withdrawing, self-injurious behaviours, for instance. We work directly to negotiate change. Inviting a more empowered part to take the lead and crew the ship.

RT offers an attachment-based lens, where we find an internal adult caring figure to share love, compassion, and calm within.

As one client shared, “Oh, this part of me, ‘Loving’ is caring, kind, and is a loving part always there for me. It won’t leave me, it won’t cheat on me, it won’t die or abandon me. It is Me. So amazing. What a relief.” (used with permission).

At the Australian Resource Therapy Institute, Philipa has developed the ship/ boat metaphor: the client is the captain; the parts are the crew. This makes RT easily explainable to clients who want an understanding of how parts therapy works. When a confused or defensive part takes the wheel, therapy gently helps the client regain direction, with the best Resource stepping in to guide the ship forward.

Grounded In Science – Mapped To Real Diagnosis

Unlike many integrative therapies, Resource Therapy offers diagnostic clarity and clinical alignment. Its treatment framework maps well onto major mental health classifications, including DSM-5 and ICD-11 categories for trauma, dissociation, anxiety, and depression.

As Professor Gordon Emmerson writes in Therapist Gold:

“Resource Therapy not only provides a complete and thorough personality theory, but has its own diagnostic classifications… [which] cover all existing psychological disorders except for organically caused disorders. RT offers treatment for every concern a client presents within the psychological spectrum – whether fear-based disorders, OCD, eating disorders, self-harming behaviours, addictions, suicidal ideation, or any other presentation” (Emmerson, 2024, p. 35). Buy Gordon Emmerson Therapist Gold book here.

This makes Resource Therapy particularly valuable for psychologists, trauma therapists, professionally trained coaches, mental health accredited social workers, doctors, psychiatrists, and counsellors seeking a state-based, evidence-informed method that supports both short-term results and deeper personality-level healing.

You Are In Expert Hands

The Clinical Resource Therapy Training is co-led by Philipa Thornton, President of Resource Therapy International, and her amazing husband, Chris Paulin, a consultant psychologist with over 45 years of experience in clinical practice and trauma treatment.

Together, they bring warmth, depth, and expertise along with special guest appearances from Professor Gordon Emmerson himself, founder of the Resource Therapy model.

Explore Gordon’s essential book:
Healthy Parts, Happy Self: 3 Steps to Like Yourself
https://www.resourcetherapy.com.au/books

Which Model Is Right For Your Practice?

Both IFS and RT honour the complexity of the inner world. But if you are seeking a clinically structured, empowering, trauma-informed approach that treats the part in control with precision and care, Resource Therapy offers the path forward. A roadmap for results with your therapeutic artistry and healing heart.

Join The Clinical Resource Therapy Program

Are you ready to learn a structured, parts-based model grounded in compassion and clarity?

Join the Clinical Resource Therapy Internationally recognised Certification Program through the Australian Resource Therapy Institute, led by Philipa Thornton and Chris Paulin, Master trainers.

Explore flexible options, expert support, and the chance to learn and train directly from the founder, Gordon Emmerson, PhD.
👉 www.resourcetherapy.com.au/training

📚 References

Emmerson, G. (2012). Healthy parts, happy self: 3 steps to like yourself. Old Golden Point Press.
Emmerson, G., & Essing, C. (2024). Therapist Gold: Treating Fear-Based Trauma and Attachment Trauma. Old Golden Point Press. Blackwood Victoria, Australia.
Schwartz, R. C. (2021). No bad parts: Healing trauma and restoring wholeness with the Internal Family Systems model. Sounds True.
Ecker, B., Ticic, R., & Hulley, L. (2012). Unlocking the emotional brain: Eliminating symptoms at their roots using memory reconsolidation. Routledge.

May 13, 2025July 16, 2025

Parts, Pain, and Progress: What Therapist Gold Offers You and Your Clients

Therapist Gold Treating Fear Based Trauma and Attachment Trauma book Author Gordon Emmerson

Therapist Gold: Treating Fear-Based and Attachment Trauma is the latest must-read by Professor Gordon Emmerson, founder of Resource Therapy, and Christiane Essing, an international master trainers in Resource Therapy and psychotherapist.

Thoughtful, practical, and grounded in real clinical work, this book is a valuable resource for therapists working with fear, complex trauma, and attachment wounds.

Whether you’re just beginning your parts-based therapy journey or already immersed in Resource Therapy, Therapist Gold will deepen your understanding and sharpen your skills.

Why This Book Belongs in Every Trauma Therapist’s Toolkit

This essential guide dives deep into two of the most prevalent – and often treatment-resistant – areas we see in clinical practice:

1. Fear-Based Trauma
The hidden driver behind panic attacks, phobias, generalised anxiety, PTSD, agoraphobia, and other fear-related disorders.

2. Attachment Trauma
Rooted in early relational wounds, this trauma underpins feelings of inadequacy (‘I’m not good enough’), people-pleasing, fear of intimacy, eating disorders, and compulsive overachievement.

Both types of trauma are also core contributors to addictions, OCD, and other behaviours that serve as coping strategies – often unconscious efforts to self-soothe and avoid deep emotional pain.

What sets this book apart is its integration of Resource Therapy theory and techniques, offering a clear and compassionate framework for helping clients identify and heal the specific personality parts (Resource States) that hold trauma.

Therapists will learn how to work directly with these parts to:

Uncover the true origins of presenting issues
Provide deep relief for long-standing emotional pain
Shift clients from survival mode to healthy self-regulation and empowerment

Whether you are new to parts therapy or a seasoned clinician, this book offers practical interventions and profound insight to support transformational healing.

🛳️ Grounded in the latest trauma research and parts-based approaches, this book is a valuable companion to our Clinical Resource Therapy training.

A Hands-on Guide to Resource Therapy in Action

This book is written for the therapy room, not the ivory tower.

It is filled with therapist–client dialogues, case examples, and clear guidance on using Resource Therapy Actions effectively and ethically. You’ll learn how to:

Bridge to eVaded States holding fear, shame, hurt, abandonment, or anger
Use RT techniques that support emotional shifts for lasting results
Respect protector parts while gently accessing deeper pain
Create the conditions for memory reconsolidation – helping clients update old emotional patterns with new, healing experiences

This is the kind of practical wisdom therapists can use right away.

What is Memory Reconsolidation – and Why Does it Matter?

Memory reconsolidation is a process in the brain that allows emotional memories to be updated and healed when accessed in the right way.

Resource Therapy provides a structured, respectful pathway to do just that.

When a Vaded State ( RT technical term) is accessed safely and the emotional truth is expressed and processed, the brain has an opportunity to reorganise that memory. Instead of being stuck in fear or confusion, clients experience genuine relief, clarity, and transformation.

Therapist Gold shows you how to make that happen, session by session.

Meet the Authors

Professor Gordon Emmerson, PhD, is the founder of Resource Therapy. A psychologist (now retired) and author, Gordon developed this model from decades of work in ego state therapy and trauma recovery. Resource Therapy is now a globally respected clinical approach used by psychologists, counsellors, social workers, and trauma therapists across the world. His other books include Healthy Parts Happy Self and Resource Therapy Casebook. Known for his clarity, compassion, and commitment to client-centred care, Gordon continues to inspire a growing international community of therapists.

Christiane Essing is a psychotherapist based in Germany. She works with children, adolescents, and adults, using psychotherapy, and Resource Therapy. She also translated and interpreted Gordon’s entire training into German, and currently serves as Executive Director of Training on the Board of Resource Therapy International.

How to Order Your Gold Nugget of Learning

You can purchase Therapist Gold: Treating Fear-Based and Attachment Trauma via Amazon using our official link below. As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. This helps support our work in bringing Resource Therapy training and tools to more therapists globally.

🛒 Order on Amazon

Therapist Gold lives up to its name. It is a heartfelt, practical guide that helps us do the real work – connecting with the parts of our clients that have been hurt, helping them heal, and staying grounded in the process.

If you are serious about parts-based therapy, trauma healing, and making a real difference in the therapy room, this book is for you.

💡 Want to go deeper?

Perfect for training and beyond

This book is an ideal companion read for those completing:

It is also highly recommended for therapists seeking to refresh their skills, feel more confident with RT Actions, and deepen their trauma-informed work with parts.

Enjoy reading Therapy Gold over a nice cup of tea or coffee. If you’re like me, possibly a pencil and highlighter!

May 7, 2025

Why Resource Therapy Changed My Practice: A Clinician’s Testimonial

ClinicalResourceTherapyTrainingGraduateTestimonial

When seasoned trauma therapist Angela O., an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker and EMDR practitioner, completed her Clinical Resource Therapy training, she never imagined the profound shift it would bring—not just to her clients but also to herself.

“As a trauma therapist, I have ventured through a myriad of therapeutic approaches—including EMDR, Trauma-Focused CBT, Cognitive Processing Therapy, and Schema Therapy. Yet none have been as transformative as Resource Therapy.”

Angela’s words speak to something many of us in the helping professions know too well: even the best-known trauma therapies can fall short when a client’s inner world remains fragmented, their parts unseen or unheard. That is where Resource Therapy steps in.

“Resource Therapy profoundly honours the lived experiences of clients, fostering a sacred space where all facets of their being are not only acknowledged but celebrated.”

In one powerful example, Angela shares how just three sessions of Resource Therapy helped a client find her voice after years of being silenced.

“For the first time in her life, she was able to articulate her needs to the person who had long disempowered her. We uncovered her core needs and dismantled the trauma script that kept her stuck in a cycle of pain.”

Angela now integrates Resource Therapy seamlessly into her trauma work—and often uses it as a stand-alone intervention with elegant, client-led results.

“It beautifully complements other therapeutic modalities, but as a stand-alone approach, it shines. I am a devoted advocate for its benefits.”

She also speaks from the heart about the clinical training experience:

“I cannot express enough gratitude to Philipa and Chris for their generous support, and to Professor Gordon Emmerson, the visionary founder. Their authenticity and vast expertise create an inspiring and powerful learning environment.”

With warmth, professionalism, and deep conviction, Angela offers this endorsement to her peers:

“I wholeheartedly recommend Resource Therapy to any therapist or client eager to connect with those often elusive parts of themselves—those fundamental aspects that shape our identities and the meanings we assign to our lives.”

Ready to discover the power of parts therapy for yourself?
Explore our Clinical Resource Therapy Training Program and join a global community of trauma-informed therapists creating change from the inside out.