Ready to Heal Your Inner Child?

Completing some inner child work can help you feel less depression and anxiety in your daily life. Inner child work can create healing that you’ve needed all along. If you’re a teenager or adult, maybe it’s time to give some attention to your child self. I’ve outlined a few ways to begin this healing.

Develop a secure attachment
Increasing awareness of your inner child’s distress. How do you do this? Are you reacting to a situation as your inner child? Check-in with your parts and see if you are having a reaction from one of your child parts. Let the little you know that you’ve got this.
Try to understand your inner child wants & needs. What is it that you wanted when you were little? What needs did you have? Notice these needs and begin to give them attention. Start giving yourself ways to obtain these needs. For example, if your need was to be comforted. If your child self always wanted a teddy bear to hold, and to be told that you’re safe and loved. Purchase yourself a teddy bear, and give yourself the message that you needed to hear as a child.
Next, Provide responsiveness & validation. Do this by helping your inner child identify what he/she is thinking/feeling and understand why.
Evaluate if you're safe & keep yourself safe. Really examine if you are feeling safe. Maybe examine ways that you do not feel safe. Notice where you do not feel safe or with whom. Set boundaries and create safety in these areas. Reassure your child self that you are safe now.
Use distress tolerance skills to help inner child. An example of this is to use wise mind to look at your life and give yourself a healthy perspective
Restructure cognitive dissonance: individual therapy can help with this last step. Your inner child will really love you for this.

If you’d like to do some of this work in therapy, let’s begin! I’m ready to help you move towards the healing and growth.

Best,

Natalie Teeters, LMFT