Hurts experienced in our youth, be they traumas or trials, might get stowed away, yet our inner child remembers. It doesn’t matter how much time passes or how mature we become; such hurts can eventually cause friction in our daily lives, casting a long shadow over our relationships with ourselves, our loved ones, and our God.

Written in a compassionate and pastoral tone by licensed marriage and family therapist Brya Hanan, Befriending Your Inner Child: A Catholic Approach to Inner Healing invites you to venture deep into your heart and befriend your hurts, emotional wounds, and childish behavior—or in the world of psychotherapy, your “inner child”—to reclaim your truest self, experience inner wholeness and healing, and strengthen your relationship with God and others.

Part one of the book explains why it is essential to befriend your inner child as well as the wounds and self-protections that this “child within” holds. Through this discovery, you will learn how to transform your deepest hurts into opportunities for healing and integration. Part two of the book offers practical tools to tend to your inner child compassionately.

Through Hanan’s practical “5 A’s,” you will learn how to

1. anchor yourself in God and in your God-given body;
2. acknowledge your feelings and where you notice them showing up in your body;
3. attune to your deepest wounds, core beliefs, and distressing feelings;
4. ask God to show you what you need and how to participate in his healing work; and
5. act consistently with loving compassion toward yourself.

Hanan vulnerably shares her own journey of “reparenting” her inner child with God and offers additional case studies from her clinical practice that highlight how different life stories and life stages can respond to befriending their inner child. Each chapter includes charts, lists, and “Befriend Work” exercises that challenge readers to reflect further on the content.

If you long to experience more fulfillment and wholeness, this book is for you.