As a creative humanistic counsellor, I often meet clients who tell me, “Part of me feels stuck,” or “I don’t know why I react this way.” Beneath those words, there’s often a younger part of themselves still carrying old emotions, memories, or unmet needs — a part we might call the inner child.

Working with the inner child isn’t about regression or “going back.” It’s about reconnection — rediscovering the playful, sensitive, and creative aspects of ourselves that may have been silenced or forgotten along the way. Through the lens of creative humanistic therapy, this process has the opportunity to become not only healing but also feel deeply life-affirming.

Creating Space for the Inner Child

When I begin this work with a client, my first priority is to create a space that feels comfortable, accepting, and non-judgemental. Inner child work can stir up emotions — sometimes joy and tenderness, other times grief or anger. All these feelings are welcome. Inner child work can be emotive.

I may invite you to imagine yourself as a child or use visualisation techniques to access a feeling or memory, using different creative ways to access your inner layers of emotion.
Sometimes, this comes easily. Other times, it takes time to find. There’s no right or wrong — simply what’s true in that moment.

I hold the belief that each person has an innate capacity for growth. My role is to offer empathy, congruence, and unconditional positive regard — trusting that healing unfolds naturally when a person feels genuinely seen and accepted.

Creativity as a Bridge to the Inner World

Many clients find that creativity helps them access feelings that words can’t reach. In creative humanistic therapy, we might use:

• Art materials such as paints, pastels, or clay — to give form to emotion.
• Sand tray figures or symbolic objects — to explore memories or relationships.
• Writing or letter work — to open dialogue with the inner child.
• Sound, or imagery — to express what needs to emerge without pressure or performance.
• Nesting Dolls- to explore the layers that are hidden beneath.

These creative approaches allow your inner child to communicate in their own language — the language of imagination, symbol, and sensation.

I’ve witnessed clients draw pictures of their younger selves, write letters to that child, or even paint the feelings they once couldn’t express. Often, something shifts — a softening, a release, a recognition: “I didn’t know I still carried that.”

Being With, Not Doing To

In this kind of therapy, I would not tell you what your artwork means or what you should feel. Instead, I invite curiosity and dialogue:

“What does this image mean to you?”
The process is always collaborative and person-centred. It’s not about me as the counsellor having answers — it’s about your own discovery.

Being humanistic means I am there with you. I hope to meet you in your experience, trusting your capacity to find meaning and self-compassion in your own time and way.

Integration: Reclaiming Wholeness

As you begin to reconnect with your inner child, I often notice a beautiful unfolding. The adult self may start to soften — becoming more compassionate, less self-critical, more open to joy and kindness to oneself.

Through the creative process, you may learn to re-parent yourself — offering the care, boundaries, and love that your younger self might once have missed. Over time, these once-hidden parts of the self may begin to integrate and can bring a sense of wholeness and peace.

Healing, in this sense, isn’t about erasing the past. It’s about learning to hold all parts of yourself with kindness — the wounded, the wise, the playful, and the strong.

A Gentle Invitation

When I work with inner child healing, sometimes they emerge in moments of sadness, sometimes in laughter, and often in creativity. However they appear, we learn to meet them with warmth and curiosity.

If you feel drawn to explore your own inner child, creative humanistic therapy offers a compassionate space to begin that journey. You don’t need to be “good at art” or even know what to expect — only to bring a willingness to explore, to listen, and to be gentle with yourself.

A Closing Reflection

If this way of working resonates with you, you’re welcome to reach out and begin a conversation. Whether through words, images, or quiet reflection, there is always a way to listen to what your inner child might want to share.

You deserve the space to meet yourself with compassion.
And perhaps, together, we can begin that gentle unfolding — one step at a time.