Inner child therapy in Denver
Inner child therapy at My Denver Therapy helps adults recognize the younger parts of themselves that still react to the present as if it were the past, and build a different relationship with those parts.
What is inner child therapy?
Our therapists use Internal Family Systems, sandplay, and somatic therapy, experiential approaches that reach what talking alone does not. We see clients in Denver, Greenwood Village, Lone Tree, and Arvada, and online across Colorado.
You are a competent adult. You also know that something in you is eight years old. It shows up when your partner’s tone shifts and you feel suddenly small, when a friend cancels and you are certain you did something wrong, when you cannot rest without earning it, or when a harmless comment from your mother lands like it did thirty years ago. You have tried to think your way out of these reactions. They are not in the part of you that thinks.
Inner child work is for adults who are functioning well and still carrying something young. You do not need a traumatic childhood to benefit. You need a childhood, which everyone has.
Understanding your inner child
“Inner child” is a plain-language name for a clinical idea: parts of your personality formed early, in response to what your family needed from you, and those parts are still active. The child who learned to stay quiet, to perform, to take care of a parent, or to never need anything is still running those strategies in your adult relationships and career.
Inner child therapy makes those parts visible, understands what they were protecting, and gives them a different experience. The goal is a relationship between your adult self and the younger parts, so that the adult leads and the child no longer has to.
Common patterns this work addresses:
- Feeling responsible for other people’s emotions
- Difficulty resting, playing, or doing anything without a purpose
- A harsh inner critic that sounds like someone from your childhood
- Reacting to partners, bosses, or friends with an intensity that does not match the situation
- Fear of being too much, or not enough
- Difficulty knowing what you want or feel
- Shame that arrives without a clear cause
How we do inner child work
Internal Family Systems. IFS is the most rigorous framework for inner child work and our most requested approach. It identifies the young parts (what IFS calls exiles), the protective parts that keep them hidden, and the Self that can lead them. Clients who have been skeptical of “inner child” language often find IFS makes immediate sense.
Sandplay therapy. Sandplay is not only for children. Adults use the sand tray and figures to represent inner experience that has no words yet, and the process reaches early material quickly. Several of our therapists are trained in sandplay for adults.
Somatic therapy. Young parts live in the body: the tight chest, the collapse, the urge to disappear. Somatic work helps you notice those states, stay with them, and regulate them, which is what a child needed and did not always get.
Attachment-based therapy. We look at the early relationships that shaped the young parts, and we use the therapy relationship itself as a place to have a different experience of being seen and responded to.
EMDR and Brainspotting when needed. When a young part is anchored to specific memories, EMDR and Brainspotting resolve them. For clients whose childhood involved abuse or neglect, our childhood trauma therapy is the right starting point, and inner child work becomes part of it.
What inner child therapy helps with
Clients come to inner child work for people-pleasing, perfectionism, low self-worth, anxiety inside relationships, difficulty with parents who are still in their lives, and a general sense that they are living out a script someone else wrote. It is also one of the most useful approaches for new parents who find their own childhood surfacing as they raise their kids.
Frequently asked questions
What is inner child therapy?
Inner child therapy helps adults identify the younger parts of themselves formed in childhood, understand what those parts learned and protect against, and build a relationship in which the adult self leads. At My Denver Therapy it is done through Internal Family Systems, sandplay, somatic therapy, and attachment-based work.
Do I need to have had a bad childhood to benefit?
No. Every childhood shapes adult patterns. Inner child work is for anyone who notices reactions, beliefs, or habits that started young and no longer serve them, whether or not the childhood involved harm.
Is inner child work the same as Internal Family Systems?
IFS is the most developed clinical framework for inner child work, and it is our primary approach. Inner child therapy is the broader idea; IFS is a specific, evidence-informed way of doing it.
Will I have to talk about my childhood in detail?
Not necessarily. Experiential approaches like sandplay and somatic therapy reach early material without requiring a detailed verbal account. You set the pace.
How long does inner child therapy take?
Many clients notice meaningful shifts within a few months. Deeper work, especially when early experiences were painful, takes longer. Your therapist will give you a realistic sense after the first few sessions.
How soon can I start?
Most new clients are seen within a week.
Healing may not be so much about getting better, as about letting go of everything that isn’t you – all of the expectations, all of the beliefs – and becoming who you are.
Rachel Naomi Remen
Meet our therapists
As a therapist-owned practice, we care about helping you heal, grow, and thrive. We take a client-focused approach to counseling and approach each session with a commitment to your progress and growth.
Availability
We’re always accepting new clients at our conveniently located offices in Denver, Greenwood Village, Lone Tree, and Arvada. All of our therapists can meet with clients online.
We specialize in you
You are welcome here. Because we have a large team with a wide range of specialties and trainings, we work with clients of all ages, backgrounds, and life stages.
We can match you with a male or female therapist who matches your goals, location, and schedule. If you have a preference for gender, age, religious background, or a person with a specific type of training or life experience, we can match you with a therapist you feel comfortable with.
Trained in effective therapy modalities
To support your mental health journey, our team is trained in some of the most effective forms of therapy available today, including EMDR, Brainspotting, CBT, DBT, and IFS.
Whether you’re looking for help with anxiety, depression, trauma, or want to better understand your relationship and attachment styles, we can help.
Insurance information
We’re out of network with insurance and Tricare and are unable to take Medicaid or Medicare.
Unlike many Denver therapy practices, we don’t charge separate intake or administration fees or charge more for your first session or specialized therapy methods like EMDR.
Get matched with a therapist
Contact us today, and one of our therapists will reach out to you directly, usually the same day.