10 Inner Child Therapy Activities & Exercises to do with Yyour Clients

Inner child therapy is an approach that I often integrate into psychotherapy when I’m helping clients reconnect with the younger parts of themselves that still carry unmet needs, emotional wounds, or internalized beliefs. This work focuses on unconscious material and the influence that the inner child continues to have on a client’s current functioning. Many clients have lost touch with this part of themselves as they’ve aged, and one of my goals in session is to bridge the gap between their inner child and their adult self. Keep reading to learn 10 inner child therapy activities and exercises you can use with your clients.

As adults, so many of our automatic thoughts can be traced back to childhood. Early experiences shape beliefs about the self, others, and the world, and these beliefs often drive present-day reactions. When I guide clients into inner child work, I’m helping them approach these younger parts with empathy and compassion—especially toward the beliefs and fears that developed in childhood and still influence their emotional responses.

Cultivating this compassion can create a noticeable shift in how clients respond to distress. I often use simple comparisons to help them understand this. For example, think about the difference in how you would speak to an adult versus a child who is scared before a medical test. Both may feel fear, sadness, or uncertainty—but most of us naturally respond to the child with more patience, gentleness, and care. Helping clients access that same tone with themselves can gradually soften self-criticism, reduce emotional reactivity, and improve how they cope with challenges.

Inner child activities give clients a way to recognize the moment they become triggered and notice how their internal state shifts. Over time, clients learn to identify the needs of their younger parts and respond in a way that feels grounded and nurturing. Negative automatic thoughts often begin transforming into questions like, “What does this part of me need right now?” or “How can I support myself in this moment?” This naturally moves into reparenting—the process of learning to give themselves the comfort, protection, safety, and validation they did not receive earlier in life. Want more inner child resources? Read our guide on inner child questions to ask clients.

Mental Health Concerns That Can Benefit From Inner Child Therapy

There are a number of mental health disorders—and everyday emotional difficulties—that respond well to inner child therapy activities. In my work, I’ve seen the most meaningful progress with clients whose distressing thoughts, emotions, and behaviors are clearly tied to early childhood experiences. Many of these clients have a history of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), which can include abuse, neglect, household dysfunction, parental mental illness, poverty, bereavement, witnessing violence, or parental separation and divorce. These experiences can interrupt healthy development and significantly increase the risk for both psychological and physical concerns later in life.

Inner child healing exercises can be especially beneficial for clients living with PTSD, Complex PTSD (C-PTSD), depression, anxiety disorders, Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), attachment disorders, eating disorders, dissociative disorders, and substance use disorders. In my experience, accessing younger parts often helps clients understand the origins of their patterns and move toward deeper, more sustainable healing. These conditions can present with varying symptoms and severities, which highlights the importance of a comprehensive assessment before creating your personalized inner child therapy treatment plan.

Inner Child Therapy Activities

Here are some inner child therapy activities that I’ve used with my clients:

1) Setting Boundaries

Boundaries are something that can have a significant impact on our clients’ overall emotional well-being. This can include boundaries within relationships and in different areas of their lives. Using the setting boundaries Worksheet can help your client gain a new perspective on interpersonal boundaries that they would like to establish. This includes determining who they will share what information with, and such. Talking through this boundary worksheet can help your client gain confidence about their ability to establish and maintain new boundaries in their life.

2) Play

An important part of childhood is playing. This allows kids to explore the world around them, try new things, push themselves, and learn. This is not an experience that all children get, which can have a negative impact on their development and mental health. Encourage your client to play by finding something that they enjoy. This could be a new hobby, interest, or activity, either alone or with others. As they incorporate more playful activities into their routine, explore changes they have seen in their mood, thoughts, and behaviors. Has there been a change in how often they’re triggered? Are they responding to triggers or stress differently?

3) Thought Challenging

TherapyByPro has a thought-challenging worksheet that can be used to address maladaptive automatic thoughts that are rooted in childhood experiences. This worksheet can help your client walk through an event when their belief is triggered, and go through the steps of supporting or disproving its authenticity. 

4) Letter to Yourself

Have your client write a letter to themselves as a child, saying things they wish they had heard at a younger age. This can include validating, supportive, and encouraging sentiments that could have made an impact on them. Encourage them to take their time with this exercise, touching on some of the unmet needs of their inner child. An next step would be to bring this letter to their next session to read aloud. This may be repeated if you would like additional time to have their message sink in. You can support your client as they process this expertise, exploring their thoughts and emotions during different stages of the exercise.

5) Role Playing

Role-playing is a commonly used technique for inner child work. This exercise allows clients to re-experience situations where they could have benefited from feeling safe, comforted, or supported. This worksheet provides you with a script that can guide you and your client through a role-playing exercise.

6) Visualization of Safe Space

Since we are focusing on your client’s inner child, encourage them to visualize a place where they feel safe. This may be an actual place for some, or a fictional location for others. Guide this exercise by asking your client to describe their environment using their senses. What do they see, feel, smell, taste, and hear? Is there anyone there with them? Once your client has visualized this location in detail, you can talk about their environment using the benefits of using visualization techniques when they are feeling triggered, threatened, and scared. Engaging in this exercise allows them to address the needs of their inner child by creating a sense of calmness and safety, which can make it easier to cope with the difficulties at hand.

7) Connecting with Inner Child

A component of your client connecting with their inner child is recognizing the influence that early experiences have on their current behaviors and reactions. This can include the use of unhealthy coping skills like avoidance and substance abuse.  Bringing attention to these patterns can increase your clients’ self-awareness, allowing them to recognize the role that their early experiences continue to have on them.

8) Writing a Letter to a Parent

Another twist on the letter-writing exercise is to write a letter to a parent, caregiver, or guardian. This can be a challenging, yet validating, experience for clients who have experienced a range of challenging or traumatic experiences during childhood. Your client can take time to stand up for themselves and their needs, providing the safety and support they could have used in the past. You can help your client process this exercise, keeping in mind that you may need to address guilt if the subject of their letter has passed. 

9) Positive Affirmations

Positive affirmations can be a helpful way to address negative automatic thoughts. Negative thoughts are often tied to negative beliefs about ourselves. When our clients focus on their perceived flaws or weaknesses, they are likely missing their strengths and successes. Encourage your client to incorporate positive affirmations into their routine. This could be when they wake up, before they go to work, or before bed. They can say this statement aloud, with or without looking in a mirror. Examples of positive affirmations they could use include:

• “I am healthy and loved.”
  
• “I am proud of myself and my efforts.”
  
• “I will let go of the shame I have been carrying.”

10) Exploring Triggers

Triggers are often rooted in previous experiences that were challenging or caused distress. Some of which can be traced back to early experiences. This trigger record worksheet with TherapyByPro can help your client gain awareness of patterns regarding triggers and their subsequent behaviors. This can increase self-awareness and bring attention to experiences that should be addressed in therapy.

Final Thoughts On Choosing Inner Child Healing Exercises For Your Clients

Thank you for reading this resource on 10 inner child therapy exercises and activities to use with your clients. Integrating inner child work into psychotherapy can be a meaningful and effective way to treat a wide range of mental health concerns. Even clients who describe their childhoods as “mostly good” carry moments of pain, confusion, or unmet needs that still shape their present-day beliefs and emotional patterns. By helping clients understand how these early experiences influence their current thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, we give them the opportunity to respond with greater awareness, compassion, and choice.

If you’re interested in deepening your skill set with inner child interventions, I encourage you to explore continuing education opportunities and specialty training within your clinical niche. Supervision can also be invaluable, especially when you’re beginning to integrate new techniques into your sessions. Having support as you refine your approach ensures you’re using these interventions safely, ethically, and in a way that best supports your clients’ healing.

View all of our Inner Child Worksheets

Resources:

• Hestbech, A. M. (2018). Reclaiming the Inner Child in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy: The Complementary Model of the Personality. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 71(1), 21–27. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.psychotherapy.20180008