Healing Your Inner Teen After Complex Trauma

You're likely familiar with Inner Child Work but have you heard of healing your Inner Teen?

Trauma can leave deep scars on our psyche and hinder our ability to move forward. However, by connecting with our inner teen, we open up a powerful pathway to healing that allows us to explore and address the wounds from our past. In this blog post, we will delve into the concept of our inner teen and discuss how working with this aspect of ourselves can foster growth, understanding, and ultimately, healing from trauma.

Understanding Your Inner Teen:

Our inner teen represents the youthful, vulnerable part of ourselves that experienced trauma during our teenage years. This phase of our lives is marked by significant developmental changes, heightened emotions, and a sense of finding our place in the world. Trauma experienced during this period can significantly impact our self-esteem, beliefs, and relationships, even into adulthood.

For many of us with complex trauma, we had already experienced signigicant trauma in early childhood. This is where we address Inner Child work. But as we grow and learn and develop coping mechanisms, we build what will become our inner teen.

If you're like me, you likely developed a lot of anger around the trauma you experienced and this manifested powerfully in your teen years. Our teenage self was who we became in order to protect our inner child.

If our inner child was anxious, our inner teen may become enraged, stonewall people, and/or develop self-harming coping mechanisms.

Recognizing the Impact of Trauma:
It is crucial to understand how this trauma has manifested in our lives and influenced our behaviors and relationships. Unresolved pain from our inner teen can contribute to patterns of self-sabotage, self-doubt, and an inability to establish healthy boundaries.

Inner teen work is about processing the sacred rage and other supressed emotions so that our inner teen doesn't continue to run the show by self-sabotaging.

Connecting and Listening to Your Inner Teen:
The first step in working with your inner teen is to cultivate a compassionate connection with this wounded part of yourself. Create a space where you can listen to your inner teen's thoughts, emotions, and fears. Journaling and creative outlets like art, music, or dance can aid in self-expression and facilitate communication with your inner teen.

Exploring Your Traumatic Experiences:
Delving into your past experiences can be challenging, especially when it involves trauma. However, it is essential to gently explore and process these memories to promote healing. Seeking the support of a coach or therapist who specializes in trauma can provide a safe and nurturing environment to explore your past and build a whole toolbox of resources and real time practices to help regulate and nurture your nervous system.

Rediscovering and Nurturing Your Inner Teen:
As you work through trauma, it's vital to rediscover and nurture the positive aspects of your inner teen. Reconnecting with hobbies, interests, and passions from your teen years can spark joy and help reconnect with your authentic self. Engaging in activities that promote self-care, self-compassion, and self-acceptance can support your journey towards healing.

Reparenting and Healing:
The healing journey involves reparenting your inner teen by providing the care, understanding, and support that may have been lacking during that critical period. Offer love, validation, and empathy to your inner teen through positive self-talk, affirmations, and self-compassion practices. This reparenting process helps to rewire negative self-beliefs and cultivate a healthier relationship with yourself.

Conclusion:
Working with the concept of your inner teen can be a transformative approach to healing from trauma. By exploring and addressing the wounds from your teenage years with compassion and understanding, you can pave the way for growth, self-acceptance, and ultimately, healing. Embrace your inner teen, give yourself the nurturing support you needed back then, and step into a brighter future, free from the shadows of your past.