Becoming a "Good Enough" Mother to Your Inner Child: A Therapist's Journey Through Inner Child Healing
How AI-generated imagery became a powerful catalyst for reparenting work and inner child therapy
The Moment That Changed Everything
Last night, I stayed up late creating AI-generated images of me holding my younger self using Gemini AI. Some didn't look quite right. The woman was all wrong—she didn't look enough like me. I couldn't find the right photo. It had to be current. She had to be the fullest, most recent iteration of myself. She couldn't be from 2019 or 2021. And then she did. And my heart felt warm.
This simple exercise became a profound moment of inner child healing—one that reminded me of the transformative power of reparenting work in therapy.
Understanding the "Good Enough" Mother Concept in Inner Child Work
I am not a perfect mother to myself. I always have been and I always will be a "good enough" mother. But I haven't always seen it that way, because of the grip that what psychologists call the "Death Mother" has had on my psyche—the self-criticism, the self-judgment, the powerful and all-mighty inner critic that acts as an authoritarian parent with no remorse.
The concept of the "good enough" mother, first introduced by psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott, is revolutionary in inner child therapy. It suggests that perfection isn't the goal—consistent, attuned care is. When we learn to become good enough mothers to our inner child, we begin to heal attachment wounds and develop self-compassion.
The Inner Critic vs. The Nurturing Internal Parent
That inner critic develops out of fear, out of need for survival, out of grief that had nowhere to be but inward into self-annihilation. But as I've worked with clients and in my own healing journey, I've discovered that this critical voice has less of a hold on our psyche as we unwind the pain that our little inner child could not metabolize on their own.
In parts work therapy, we learn to distinguish between:
The inner critic (often representing internalized parental voices)
The wounded inner child (carrying unprocessed pain)
The nurturing internal parent (the healed, wise part that can provide care)
The Healing Power of Witnessing Your Inner Child
Through inner child therapy work, we learn that our inner child has trusted us to hold their pain and to soothe their fears. To witness them in a way that only a mother could. This witnessing is at the heart of trauma-informed therapy approaches.
On this Scorpio moon—as a Scorpio moon mama holding her Scorpio moon baby—I'm reminded that this work happens in the depths, in the underworld of our psyche, in those dimly lit spaces where transformation occurs.
Creating Safe Spaces for Inner Child Work
In my practice, I work with people in what feels like the underworld and the cosmos every day. My office is a converted closet with dimmers in every room—creating the kind of safe, womb-like environment where the inner child feels safe to emerge.
When the little girl inside feels safe with this mama, this nurturing therapist part of ourselves, she can finally express what she's always wanted: space to read, play dress up, and simply be seen. And when we can provide this safety, we can begin to slay the demons of trauma with our light.
A Practical Exercise: Creating Your Own Inner Child Images
Want to try this healing visualization yourself? Here's the AI prompt I used that opened up this profound healing experience:
"Make an image that looks like it was taken with a Polaroid camera. It should feel like an ordinary, candid photo with no prominent subjects or props. And a slight blur and keep a consistent light source, like a flash in a dark room, diffused across the entire frame. Do not alter the faces. Replace the background behind the two people with white curtains, with the woman hugging the child."
This exercise can be a powerful starting point for inner child work, helping you visualize the relationship between your current self and your younger self.
Signs You Might Benefit from Inner Child Therapy
Inner child therapy can be particularly helpful if you experience:
Persistent self-criticism and harsh inner dialogue
Difficulty with self-compassion and self-care
Patterns of people-pleasing or perfectionism
Challenges in relationships and attachment
Unresolved childhood trauma or neglect
Feeling disconnected from your authentic self
The Journey of Reparenting: From Survival to Thriving
Reparenting work in therapy isn't about blame or dwelling in the past. It's about learning to provide for yourself what you needed but didn't receive in childhood. It's about becoming the good enough parent to your inner child—offering consistency, attunement, protection, and unconditional positive regard.
This work allows us to move from survival mode—where the Death Mother's critical voice keeps us small and afraid—to a place of thriving, where we can nurture both our inner child and our adult self with compassion and wisdom.
Finding the Right Therapist for Inner Child Work
If this post resonates with you, you might be ready to begin your own inner child healing journey. Look for a therapist who specializes in:
Trauma-informed therapy approaches
Parts work
Attachment therapy
Somatic therapy techniques
Depth psychology approaches
The relationship with your therapist should feel safe, attuned, and non-judgmental—much like the "good enough mother" relationship we're working to develop internally.
Ready to Begin Your Inner Child Healing Journey?
As a depth therapist specializing in inner child work, I understand the courage it takes to begin this profound healing journey. If you're ready to explore reparenting work, process childhood trauma, or develop a more compassionate relationship with yourself, I invite you to take the next step.
I'm currently accepting new clients for inner child therapy and depth work. Book your consultation today to begin your healing journey.
The little girl or boy inside you has been waiting patiently to be seen, heard, and held with the love they've always deserved. Together, we can help you become the good enough parent your inner child needs to heal and thrive.
Ready to schedule? Book your consultation here and begin your inner child healing journey.