Inner Child Art: Art-Based Therapy Activity

• Paper, pencils, crayons, markers or oil pastels
• Optional: a childhood photo, only if the client chooses to bring one
• Lined paper for the writing version, or the Compassionate Letter to a Younger You worksheet
• A grounding object within reach, such as a smooth stone, a piece of textured fabric or a cold drink
• A folder or envelope for keeping the finished work

Before you begin, agree on a stop signal, ask the client to rate their stress from 0 to 10, and start only if the number is in a range they can manage.

1. 1
   Choose an age together. Steer toward a time that felt ordinary or only mildly hard, such as a first day of school or a summer afternoon. Leave the most painful periods out of this activity.
2. 2
   Draw the younger self as a stick figure, a detailed portrait or a symbol such as a small animal. The client can add where the child is and what they are doing.
3. 3
   Notice what the child needed. Around the figure, the client writes or draws what that child could have used more of: safety, play, rest, someone to listen, praise, a hug.
4. 4
   Respond from the adult self. The client picks one way to offer care.

   • Draw the adult self beside the child doing something kind, such as sitting with them, holding an umbrella or sharing a snack.
   • Write a short note to the child, three to six sentences, in the voice they would use with a child they love.
   • Add a speech bubble with one thing the child needed to hear.
5. 5
   Come back to the present. Have the client say today's date, their current age and three things they can see in the room, then rate their stress again.
6. 6
   Decide where the work goes: home with the client, in the office folder, or photographed and put away.

• During: What is the child in your drawing doing? What might they be feeling?
• During: What do you notice in yourself as you draw them?
• After: What did this child need more of?
• After: When you look at the child now, what do you feel toward them? If it's harsh, whose voice does that sound like?
• After: What would you say to a friend's child who was in the same spot?
• After: What is one small piece of that care you could offer yourself this week?

• Kids: Use a "smaller me" drawing from a year or two ago, focused on something the child has learned since, like riding a bike or making a new friend.
• Teens: Offer a note to their eight-year-old self about something they have figured out, or a two-panel comic of older and younger self. Keep it light unless the teen leads deeper.
• Adults: The full version fits here. With self-critical clients, compare the tone of the note to the child with the tone of their everyday self-talk.
• Groups: Use only a positive version: members draw a younger self doing something they loved and share one sentence about what that child enjoyed. Keep memories of harm out of the group setting.

• Trauma: For clients with childhood trauma or abuse histories, this activity can open memories fast. Use it only with clients who are stable and have coping skills in place, and only when the clinician can contain strong reactions. Reworking specific childhood memories belongs to structured treatments such as imagery rescripting, which has its own detailed protocol (Arntz & Weertman, 1999); use those only with the matching training.
• Dissociation: Watch for a glazed look, long silences, a younger-sounding voice or lost time. Stop, orient the client to the present (date, room, current age) and ground before going on. With clients who have a dissociative disorder, skip this activity unless it is part of a plan made with a clinician trained in that work.
• Flooding and grounding: If stress rises past the agreed level, turn the drawing face down, have the client press their feet into the floor and hold the grounding object, slow the breathing, and use the grounding tool before closing.
• When to stop: Stop if the client says they feel unsafe or reports urges to self-harm or suicidal thoughts, and move to a risk check and safety planning. If the client discloses abuse, follow your reporting duties for any child or vulnerable adult currently at risk.
• No diagnostic interpretation: Do not read the drawing for signs of abuse, and avoid suggesting what the child in the picture went through. The client decides what the picture means.

A 41-year-old client working on harsh self-criticism at work drew herself at about nine, sitting alone at a kitchen table with a math worksheet. Around the figure she wrote that the girl needed someone to say it was okay to get things wrong. Her first note to the child came out stiff and full of advice, so the clinician asked her to read it aloud and notice the tone. She laughed: it sounded like her manager. She rewrote it in the voice she uses with her niece, and her stress rating went from 5 at the start to 3 at the end. Before the next session she agreed to say one line from the note to herself after any mistake at work.