Healing the inner child

All children, including your own inner child, require love, affection and attention. Narrative Arts Therapy integrates storytelling and the creative arts to help women and teens make sense of their life experiences. This approach can be particularly effective for bringing the little girl inside of you into your adult present, where she can be safe. NAT provides a supportive environment to do just that.

Here’s how narrative arts therapy can help heal your inner child:

1. Externalisation: Narrative arts therapy encourages us to externalize our experiences and emotions by creating stories, drawings, or other forms of artistic expression. This process allows us to step back from the experiences and gain a new perspective, helping to reduce the emotional intensity and making the events manageable.

2. Reframing: Through storytelling and creative expression, we can reframe our past experiences and traumas. This can involve reimagining the narrative of our childhoods in a way that allows us to understand and cope with our experiences differently. Reframing can lead to greater self-compassion and a sense of agency.

3. Symbolism and Metaphor: Narrative arts therapy often uses symbolism and metaphor as tools for exploration. These artistic devices can help us access and express complex emotions and memories related to our inner child in a way that feels less direct and more manageable.

4. Validation and Witnessing: By sharing our stories and creative work with a therapist or a supportive group, individuals can receive validation and empathy. Being heard and witnessed can be a powerful experience for healing, as it helps individual people feel seen and understood.

5. Integration and Closure: Narrative arts therapy allows us to integrate our inner child into their adult self by creating a coherent narrative that acknowledges past experiences, while also focusing on our current strengths and resilience. This process can provide a sense of closure and healing for unresolved childhood wounds.

6. Creative Coping Strategies: Through narrative arts therapy, we can learn creative coping strategies to manage emotions and challenges related to the inner child. These strategies can include specific set of skills, including cognitive behavioural techniques.

7. Empowerment: By taking ownership of our personal narratives and using creative expression, we can reclaim their sense of identity and empowerment. This can help us move forward with confidence and self-assurance.

Narrative arts therapy offers a holistic and creative approach to healing the inner child. It provides a safe space for us to explore and process our past experiences, reframe their narratives, and integrate the inner child into our adult lives. This can lead to greater emotional well-being and a stronger sense of self.

Do make use of my complementary WhatsApp call to chat with me about how the narrative arts might help your inner child.