Inner child therapy may be used in cases where it would be helpful for your client to connect to their inner child parts that are subconsciously contributing to their current mental health concerns. This therapeutic approach focuses on helping your client reconnect with a part of themselves that they have become disconnected from, sometimes at a young age. Your work will delicately help your client fill in the gaps between their inner child and their current experiences as an adult. keep reading to learn how to create an inner child treatment plan, with an example.
As an example, your client may be able to trace their coping skills, social skills, and automatic thoughts back to their childhood. These are learned experiences that typically occur from observing parents, caregivers, and other adults around you. When you are in an environment with adults who struggle with the skills themselves are typically unable to model healthy skills for you to learn from.
A component of your work may include helping your client find compassionate and kind ways to perceive their experiences. It is not uncommon for adults to judge themselves harshly or have unrealistic expectations for themselves. You may help your client recognize how this approach differs from perspectives that we may take with a child who is struggling with big emotions, in social settings, or with academics. You can also help your client deepen their self-awareness of how unmet needs are contributing to their psychological distress.
Setting Goals and Objectives With Clients in Your Inner Child Treatment Plan
Inner child therapy can be helpful with clients who are struggling with anxiety, depression, substance misuse, disordered eating behaviors, self-harm, low self-esteem, and traumatic events. You may find that inner child therapy is a great option as a complementary therapy, used in addition to other mental health interventions and therapies. This approach can help your clients gain a deeper self-awareness, resilience, and improve their ability to regulate their emotions.
Before you begin developing your personalized treatment plan, we encourage you to review the documentation you have received thus far. This may include intake paperwork, self-assessments, or, in some cases, a completed biopsychosocial evaluation. This can provide you with insights into your clients’ most concerning issues and symptoms that they’re experiencing. Once you have done this, you can begin piecing together your inner child treatment plan.
View all of our Inner Child Worksheets
What to Include in an Inner Child Treatment Plan + Sample
We are going to focus on how to implement an inner child wounds treatment plan with the use of TherapyByPro’s customizable treatment plan. This template can be tailored to your treatment setting, therapeutic approach, and individual clients. We encourage you to be mindful of your client’s initial concerns, support system, and current capabilities. Try to focus on goals that would be impactful and that are realistic for where they are at this point in their mental health journey.
You may find it helpful to incorporate the use of other clinical worksheets. Many find that worksheets can enhance sessions and provide your client with an informative reminder of topics discussed in session. Continue reading to review a customized inner child treatment plan for our fictional client, Jane Smith.
Jane’s Story:
Jane is a 32-year-old female who sought treatment for depression. Jane indicated that she has been struggling with a low mood, helplessness, loss of interest in hobbies, and fatigue. Jane has also been faced with fatigue, which has made it challenging for her to engage in her typical social activities with friends. She has also found herself struggling to concentrate at work and in making decisions.
Jane shared that these symptoms have been present for about 3 months now, and that she was unable to think of a specific challenge or experience that led to the onset of symptoms. She explained that they began slowly, and that she may have begun experiencing symptoms further back than that without noticing. In addition to affecting her social life, Jane shared that her symptoms have begun to affect her career as an elementary teacher and that she has been struggling to “keep up” with her young students. Jane denied a history of other mental health concerns and current substance misuse. She noted that she will drink occasionally, consuming one to two drinks two to three times per month. She denied all suicidal and homicidal concerns and was able to discuss a variety of protective factors. Furthermore, she had no previous experience with mental health counseling and was unsure of what to expect.
Agencies Involved and Plans for Care Coordination
Jane denied a history of mental health counseling and is not working with other mental health professionals at this time. If this changes in the future, you can make edits to this section reflecting the necessary changes. Ensure that you have the necessary consent or release to engage in care coordination.
Example for Jane:
Care Coordination: None at this time
Clinical Diagnoses
Based on the information shared, Jane appears to be struggling with major depressive disorder. She has more than the minimum five symptoms, which have been present for more than two weeks. Her symptoms cause distress and interfere with her social and professional performance.
Example for Jane:
Clinical Diagnosis: Major Depressive Disorder, Moderate 296.32
Current Medications and Responses
Jane denied taking medications at this time for her mental health.
Example for Jane:
Current Medications: None at this time
Presenting Problem and Related Symptoms
The presenting problem of your treatment plan allows you to include a case conceptualization. Here, you can lay the groundwork for later sections of your treatment plan, including the goals and objectives. The information you include should support the goals and objectives used in the next section of your treatment plan.
Example for Jane:
Jane is a 32-year-old female who presented for treatment due to symptoms consistent with Major Depressive Disorder. She reports experiencing persistent low mood, feelings of helplessness, anhedonia, fatigue, impaired concentration, and difficulty making decisions. Jane notes that her fatigue has significantly impacted her ability to engage in social activities and has led to occupational challenges in her role as an elementary school teacher.
Jane reports that her symptoms have been present for approximately three months, though they may have developed gradually over a longer period. She was unable to identify a clear precipitating event for her symptoms. Jane denied a personal or family history of mental health disorders, current or past substance use disorders, and any suicidal or homicidal ideation. She endorses occasional alcohol use (one to two drinks, two to three times per month) without associated concerns. She noted that her drinking behaviors have decreased as she has stopped attending social events. Jane identified several protective factors, including supportive relationships and a stable living environment. This was her first experience seeking mental health counseling, and she expressed uncertainty about the therapeutic process.
Goals and Objectives
The goals and objectives within your inner child therapy treatment plan will be tailored to your client and their unique needs. Keeping in mind that these should be realistic and attainable. The interventions that you make note of should align with the therapeutic approach that you’re using in session.
Goal 1
Strengthen Jane’s emotional awareness by identifying her inner child’s unmet emotional needs
- Objective 1: Jane will identify two to three emotions that she experiences each day for two weeks. Her observations will be recorded and reviewed in therapy sessions.
- Objective 2: Jane will use guided meditations twice per week to focus on connecting with her inner parts that she is often disconnected from.
- Objective 3: Jane will complete the Reflecting on My Childhood Home Worksheet to understand how her childhood home affects her perception of relationships, emotional safety, and self-worth.
Goal 2
Work to increase self-compassion and reduce critical thoughts of self by nurturing the inner child
- Objective 1: Jane will identify 3 recurrent critical thoughts, or themes, that arise throughout the week. She will bring her observations into the next session and challenge them with inner child dialogue techniques. You may choose to incorporate the Challenging Beliefs Worksheet available with TherapyByPro.
- Objective 2: Jane will write herself a kind and compassionate letter once per week. Jane will make a note of how these letters impact her thoughts and emotions, sharing them in session if she is comfortable doing so.
- Objective 3: Jane will write five affirmations that she can read to herself daily. These affirmations should focus on addressing safety needs that were unmet during childhood. If she is comfortable doing so, she can read her affirmations aloud in front of a mirror.
Goal 3
Jane will process unresolved feelings of loneliness from her childhood.
- Objective 1: Time will be spent exploring two early childhood experiences that led to feelings of loneliness or emotional abandonment.
- Objective 2: Jane will complete the Healing from Abandonment Worksheet in session to reconnect with the parts of herself that felt neglected or alone.
- Objective 3: Jane will engage in three mindfulness exercises each week to help her stay grounded as she works on addressing unresolved feelings from her childhood.
Specific Interventions to Be Used
You can now make a note of specific therapeutic interventions that can be used to work towards your client’s goals and objectives. TherapyByPro’s treatment plan template allows you to make note of who would be responsible for each intervention, promoting organization in your treatment plan.
Example for Jane:
Intervention 1
Inner child meditations can be used to promote connection to her inner parts that she has become disconnected from.
Responsible person: Jane
Intervention 2
Inner child journaling prompts can be used to explore and identify early childhood experiences that led to feelings of loneliness and emotional abandonment.
Responsible person: Jane
Intervention 3
The Empty Chair Technique can provide Jane with an opportunity to have her adult and child self speak to each other in an attempt to process unresolved feelings of loneliness and isolation.
Responsible person: Jane, with the support of Counselor A
Intervention 4
Jane will identify beliefs formed in childhood, like not being “good enough,” and replace them with positive affirmations
Responsible person: Jane
Intervention 5
Learning and implementing health boundaries in her life to protect herself from reenactments of childhood wounds.
Responsible person: Jane, with guidance from Counselor A
Family Involvement
At this time, it does not appear necessary to include Jane’s family in her treatment. This section could be modified at a later date to reflect changes.
Example for Jane:
Family Involvement: None at this time
Additional Services and Interventions
Based on Jane’s symptoms, it would be appropriate to refer her for a psychiatric assessment. She will then have an opportunity to explore potential medication and holistic treatments that can be used in addition to psychotherapy sessions. Additionally, group therapy can be an impactful treatment option for those struggling with depression and isolation behaviors. These services can be recommended, though it is up to her if she would like to engage in them.
Example for Jane:
Additional Services: Offer referrals for psychiatric assessment and group therapy.
Estimation for Completion
The duration of inner child therapy can vary with each client. As an example, clients who are working on a specific symptom or challenge may require one to three months of individual care. Those who have complex mental health concerns, including complex trauma, may require a year or more of support. Keep in mind that you can shorten or extend the estimation for completion as you engage in treatment to accurately reflect her needs. At this time, Jane’s diagnosis is major depressive disorder, moderate, which may benefit from short-term care.
Example for Jane:
Estimated Time for Completion: 12 weeks of individual therapy sessions, to be modified as needed
Aftercare Plans
The aftercare section of your treatment plan is a section of your treatment plan that should be modified as treatment progresses. This section should provide a recommendation if Jane were to end treatment today. This can simplify unexpected discharge planning sessions.
Example for Jane:
Aftercare Plans: Meet with primary care physician for support, engage in outpatient individual therapy
Final Thoughts On Creating an Inner Child Treatment Plan
Inner child therapy can be an effective treatment approach for clients experiencing a range of mental health concerns, including depressive symptoms and disorders. Examples of key benefits that clients can experience include increased emotional awareness, reduced self-criticism, healing unresolved experiences, improving coping skills, and an increase in positive emotions like joy.
If you would like to learn more about available training and educational opportunities for inner child therapy, we encourage you to explore available continuing education opportunities. This can provide you with the knowledge needed to begin implementing interventions with proper supervision. We encourage you to be mindful of the requirements within your niche regarding training and supervision for the use of new treatment methods.
TherapyByPro is an online mental health directory that connects mental health pros with clients in need. If you’re a mental health professional, you can Join our community and add your practice listing here. We have assessments, practice forms, and worksheet templates mental health professionals can use to streamline their practice. View all of our mental health worksheets here.
View all of our Inner Child Worksheets
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