Inner child therapy in Charlotte, North Carolina

Is there an inner child therapist in Charlotte?

Yes. Laura Bass is a psychotherapist whose main practice is in Charlotte, and she offers inner child work as part of individual counseling with adults. People usually come to it because a familiar pattern keeps returning, such as a flood of shame over a small mistake, a fear of being left, or an urge to keep everyone happy at any cost, and they suspect the roots go back to childhood.

Inner child work is the name many people use for paying attention to those early roots with care. It is a popular, informal idea rather than a diagnosis or a single standardized therapy, and the guide to what inner child work is explains where the term comes from and what it does and does not mean. If you would like to talk about whether it suits you, call 704-706-3264 or use the contact page.

What inner child work looks like in a Charlotte practice

Most inner child work is quieter than people expect. It is conversation, mostly: noticing when a reaction seems bigger or younger than the situation in front of you, getting curious about what that part of you learned early on, and practicing a kinder, steadier response to it. Some people find it useful to imagine speaking to themselves at a particular age. Others prefer to stay with present-day relationships and let the history come in where it fits.

Laura describes her approach as holistic and integrative. She works with the whole person, mind, body and spirit, and the client chooses what to include. For some people that means talk therapy alone. Others want to add grounding, journaling or, if they choose it, the spiritual and Emotion Code work Laura is trained in; the page on inner child work and the Emotion Code explains how those fit together and where the limits are.

There is no single method called inner child therapy, so it is fair to ask any therapist, Laura included, how they work with early experiences, how they pace it and what a typical session looks like. Ask Laura directly; she can describe her approach in her own words.

Why people in Charlotte look for this kind of work

Charlotte had 874,579 residents at the 2020 Census, and Mecklenburg County more than 1.1 million. A large share of the people who live here grew up somewhere else. That shapes how childhood shows up in therapy. Some clients are far from the family they grew up in and only notice the old patterns when a visit home, a holiday or a parent's illness brings them back to the surface.

Others notice it through the life the city asks of them. A demanding job can reward exactly the habits a hard childhood taught, such as never asking for help, staying alert to other people's moods, or measuring your worth by output. The page on people-pleasing and the inner child looks at that pattern in more depth.

The CDC describes adverse childhood experiences as potentially traumatic events that happen between birth and age 17, and notes that conditions at home such as substance use, mental health problems and parental separation can undermine a child's sense of safety and stability. You do not need a dramatic story to benefit from looking back, though. Many people come in simply because something feels stuck and they want to understand it.

• New parents who find their own childhood coming back to them as they raise a child.
• People in a new relationship, or a long one, who keep hitting the same wall.
• Adults who moved to Charlotte for work and feel successful but oddly empty.
• Anyone whose inner critic is loud enough to get in the way of ordinary life.

Getting to the practice: Charlotte traffic and timing

The practice is in south Charlotte, toward Ballantyne. Distance is rarely the obstacle in this city; traffic is. A short trip at two in the afternoon can be a long one at half past five, and inner child work tends to go best with a steady rhythm of sessions rather than appointments squeezed in and canceled. When you first get in touch, think about which times you could keep week after week, and say so.

By road, Ballantyne is about 16 miles from uptown Charlotte by I-485 and I-77, roughly 25 minutes without heavy traffic, according to a public route planner. The Charlotte area page describes the neighborhoods and towns closest to the practice. The street address is given when you book, and Laura can tell you exactly where she sees clients.

If you live in Charlotte but spend time in Polk County, Laura also has a part-time office at The Healing Cottage in Columbus, about 83 miles away by I-85 and US 74. The Tryon and Polk County page covers that office.

How to choose an inner child therapist in Mecklenburg County

A big city means a long list of options, and that can make choosing harder rather than easier. A few practical checks narrow it down.

• Check the license. North Carolina licenses social workers through the NC Social Work Certification and Licensure Board at ncswboard.gov, and counselors through the NC Board of Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselors at ncblcmhc.org. Both let you look up a clinician.
• Ask how they work with childhood material and trauma, and how they keep sessions from becoming overwhelming.
• Ask what happens if strong feelings come up between sessions.
• Notice whether you feel safe enough to be honest. Fit matters as much as method in this kind of work.

Support in Charlotte between sessions, and in a crisis

Therapy is one support among several. NAMI Charlotte runs peer support and education groups, including NAMI Connection recovery groups and family support groups, listed on its own site. Adult Children of Alcoholics and Dysfunctional Families (ACA) is a twelve-step fellowship whose literature talks openly about the inner child and becoming your own loving parent; its website has a meeting finder. The page on inner child support groups and resources in the Carolinas gathers more.

Laura's practice is not a crisis service. If you are in danger, call 911. For a mental health crisis, call or text 988 at any hour. In Mecklenburg County, Alliance Health, which manages public behavioral health services for the county, lists a 24-hour behavioral health crisis line at 877-223-4617.

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