If your T does IFS then you have nothing to worry about!!! IFS Ts are great!!!! I'm a little prejudiced, of course! You mean he's never discussed parts of the personality with you, and how the Self is supposed to lead all the parts in harmony? Maybe he's read the book, and just dabbles in it.

I'm telling you; it works. I love IFS and wish my T hadn't abandoned it for EMDR. It's not all about holding the parts, though. It's about accepting all parts of yourself without judging them. My T would ask "what does that part need from you?" and often it was the "holding". I wanted her to do it though, and that's why she started holding my hand, Then she gradually and gently led me to "holding my own hand". It's a gentle kind of therapy. You don't HAVE to do it and like it all at once, but it's very powerful. My former T told me that when I switched to my new T. I was surprised that she endorsed it; it was MY idea to find a different kind of therapy, not hers.