- Online Therapy For Toronto And Throughout Ontario
- 865 York Mills Rd #20, Toronto, ON M3B 1Y6
- Online Therapy For Toronto And Throughout Ontario
- 865 York Mills Rd #20, Toronto, ON M3B 1Y6
Save Time on Commute
No Waitlist
Evenings and Weekends Availability
Affordable Therapy Available
Therapists are also available in BC, Edmonton, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba
You do not have to keep carrying old hurts alone. Therapy here moves at the pace your nervous system sets, and nothing is forced.
Book a Free 20-Minute Consultation
No forms, no intake, no obligation.
Secure online sessions across Ontario, from Toronto and the GTA to rural communities. Registered psychotherapy, trauma-informed throughout.
What is inner child therapy?
01 / The foundationInner child therapy is a form of trauma-informed psychotherapy that works with the younger parts of you still carrying unmet needs, fear or shame from early life. The inner child is not a metaphor so much as a shorthand: it describes the parts of your emotional system that were shaped before you had words or choices.
Why those parts still have a say
When something happened early and nothing came to help, that part of you organised around it. Decades later it still reads the room the same way. That is why insight alone rarely settles it. You can understand exactly where the pattern came from and still find yourself apologising for existing.
What reparenting actually means
Reparenting is the part people misunderstand. It is not pretending to be your own parent or performing self-care. It is learning to offer those younger parts the steadiness, protection and permission they needed at the time, from the adult you are now. Done well, self-criticism starts to soften into something closer to care.
Where it sits alongside other work
Inner child work is one strand of trauma therapy. It pairs naturally with EMDR, Deep Brain Reorienting and complex trauma work, and is often the piece that makes the rest of the work hold.
01
Understand the wound
Name what happened and what was missing, without needing to relive it in detail.
02
Meet the protector
Get to know the strategies that kept you safe, rather than trying to argue them away.
03
Offer what was missing
Reparenting: steadiness, protection and permission, given from the adult you are now.
04
Build new patterns
Boundaries, self-worth and room for joy, carried out of the room and into daily life.
How we support inner child healing
GENTLE · PACED · TRAUMA-INFORMEDWe pair inner child work with mind-body trauma therapies, because early wounds are held in the nervous system as much as in memory. Your therapist will draw on more than one of these.
01 / Parts work
Getting to know the protective parts of you rather than trying to override them.
Every protective strategy was once useful. Parts work approaches them with curiosity instead of judgment, which is usually what allows them to relax their grip. This is the backbone of inner child therapy at Sky Therapies.
02 / EMDR for childhood trauma
Reprocesses early memories and the beliefs that formed alongside them.
Bilateral stimulation helps the brain finish processing what it could not at the time. Particularly useful for the beliefs laid down in childhood, the ones that still sound like fact. More on EMDR
03 / Deep Brain Reorienting
Reaches preverbal trauma and attachment rupture, before the emotional flood arrives.
DBR follows the sequence the brainstem ran in the first moments of a shock, which is why it is often chosen for very early wounds and emotional neglect: the material that predates words. More on DBR
04 / Guided imagery
A structured way to meet the younger part and offer what was missing.
Visualization is used carefully and never as a set script. You stay in charge of how close you get and how long you stay, and we stop long before anything becomes overwhelming.
05 / Mind-body approaches
For when childhood trauma is showing up physically.
Chronic tension, pain or gut symptoms often trace back to a nervous system that learned early to stay braced. Somatic work addresses that directly. More on somatic therapy
Signs your inner child may need attention
02 / Who we supportNone of these are character flaws. They are survival strategies a younger version of you built, and they made sense at the time.
01
People-pleasing and perfectionism
Anticipating what everyone else needs, holding yourself to a standard you would never apply to anyone else.
02
Fear of abandonment or rejection
Bracing for people to leave, reading small silences as evidence, difficulty trusting that closeness will hold.
03
Strong reactions to criticism
A comment lands far harder than it should, and the size of the reaction surprises even you.
04
Over-responsibility and burnout
Carrying more than is yours to carry, with no clear sense of where you are allowed to put it down.
05
Numbness or shutdown
Feeling far away from your own emotions, or going through the motions without much reaching you.
06
Repeating relationship patterns
Ending up in the same dynamic with different people, in ways that echo something older.
07
Symptoms in the body
Chronic anxiety, overthinking, tension, or gut symptoms that flare with stress. Chronic pain therapy
What to expect in an inner child session
03 / Your journeyThis work goes somewhere tender, so the pacing matters more than the technique. Nothing happens before you have somewhere steady to stand.
Consultation call
A short phone call. What brings you here, what you are hoping for, and any questions. No history-taking and no obligation.
Building safety first
Before we go anywhere near a younger part, we build the ground to stand on: grounding skills, and a clear sense that you can stop at any point.
Meeting the younger part
Through guided imagery or parts work, we approach the part carrying the weight. Sometimes a memory surfaces. Sometimes it is only a feeling.
Reparenting
Offering that part the steadiness and protection it needed, from the adult you are now. This is where the shift usually happens.
New patterns
Boundaries get easier. Self-criticism quiets. Relationships change shape. We review progress with you openly.
Why clients choose Sky Therapies
Healing needs safety before anything else, and our trauma-informed practice is built around that. Our team includes Registered Psychotherapists and a Registered Social Worker (RSW), so we can match you to a clinician your benefits plan actually covers. Our founder’s dual training in psychotherapy and dietetics brings particular insight when early trauma is showing up physically.
Sessions are online across Ontario. We work with clients in Toronto and the GTA, Ottawa, Hamilton, and rural communities, so inner child therapy in Toronto is available to you wherever in the province you live.
Inner child therapy questions
04 / Questions people ask firstWhat actually is the inner child?+
It is shorthand for the parts of your emotional system shaped by early experience, before you had language or choice. Not a separate self, and not a metaphor to be taken literally. It is a practical way of describing why certain reactions feel much older than the situation in front of you.
What is reparenting?+
Offering a younger part of yourself the steadiness, protection and permission it needed at the time, from the adult you are now. It is not pretending to be your own parent, and it is not affirmations. In practice it is slow, specific and often quiet work.
Do I need to remember my childhood for this to work?+
No. Many people have patchy memories of early years, particularly where things were difficult. We can work from the feeling and the pattern without a clear narrative. If something surfaces you are not ready for, we slow down.
Is inner child work evidence-based?+
Inner child work is not a single standardised protocol, so it has not been trialled as one. The approaches we combine it with, EMDR in particular, have substantial evidence behind them for childhood and complex trauma. We are straightforward about which parts of the work carry stronger research support.
Will this make me blame my parents?+
That is not the purpose and it is rarely what happens. The work is about what a younger you needed and did not get, which is a different question from who is at fault. Many people find their understanding of their parents becomes more complicated, not more hostile.
How is this different from regular talk therapy?+
Talk therapy tends to work at the level of insight and meaning. Inner child work adds direct contact with the part still carrying the charge, usually alongside body-based methods. That is why people who can explain their history perfectly well still find something shifts here.
How many sessions will I need?+
It depends on whether we are working with one clear wound or a pattern laid down over years. Repeated early trauma usually needs a longer arc, because safety and stabilization come first. We review openly rather than committing you to a number upfront.
How much does inner child therapy cost in Ontario?+
Fees vary by clinician. Sky Therapies also runs a reduced-rate stream at $120 per session, delivered by a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) working under clinical supervision. Current rates are confirmed on your free consultation call.
Is it covered by insurance?+
Psychotherapy delivered by a Registered Psychotherapist or Registered Social Worker is covered by most extended health plans in Ontario. OHIP does not cover psychotherapy in private practice. Check whether your plan lists either designation, and we can provide receipts.
Does inner child therapy work online?+
Yes. Sessions run over secure video across Ontario. For this work in particular, many people find their own home a steadier place to go somewhere vulnerable than an unfamiliar office.
How do I start at Sky Therapies?+
Book a free 20-minute consultation. It is a short call to hear what you are dealing with and work out whether we are the right fit. There is no obligation, and if another approach would serve you better we will say so.
Related therapy services
Inner child work is one strand of a broader approach. These pages cover the methods and conditions most often worked on alongside it.
05 / Begin
Healing begins with a single step
Your inner child is not a burden. It is the part of you asking for attention. If you are ready to begin, or just curious what this work looks like, a free 20-minute call is the easiest place to start.
Sky Therapies provides virtual psychotherapy across Ontario. We do not diagnose medical conditions or prescribe medication, and psychotherapy is not a crisis service. If you are in immediate distress, contact 9-8-8 (Suicide Crisis Helpline, available 24/7 in Canada) or go to your nearest emergency department.
CLINICALLY REVIEWED
Written and clinically reviewed by Anna Skomorovskaia, Registered Social Worker (RSW) and Registered Dietitian, founder of Sky Therapies. Registration verifiable on the OCSWSSW online register.
LAST UPDATED
10 August 2026. Reviewed at least twice a year and whenever our clinical approaches or fees change.
SCOPE OF PRACTICE
Psychotherapy is a controlled act in Ontario. We provide psychotherapy only. We do not diagnose medical conditions or prescribe medication.
Serving the following areas: Toronto, Ontario, North York, Ontario, Markham, Ontario, Ottawa, Ontario, Vaughan, Ontario, Guelph, Ontario, Brampton, Ontario, Windsor, Ontario, St. Catharines, Ontario, Oshawa, Ontario, Kingston, Ontario, Timmins, Ontario, Scarborough, Ontario, Oakville, Ontario, Peterborough, Ontario, RIchmond Hill, Ontario, Whitby, Ontario, and all of Ontario online
