
Dr. Tiffany McBride
Priestess. Muse. Medicine Woman.

Expressive Arts Therapy & Inner Child Healing
Creativity • Embodiment • Nervous System Release • Soul Repair
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Expressive Arts Therapy is a gentle, trauma-informed approach that helps you access the deeper layers of your emotional world through movement, creativity, imagery, sound, breath, and storytelling.
It bypasses the thinking mind and gives voice to the parts of you that never had words — especially the inner child, the inner teen, and the parts that learned to hide, perform, or survive.
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Inner Child Healing is the process of reconnecting with the tender, playful, wounded, creative, or silenced parts of you from childhood and adolescence.
These parts often carry:
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unmet needs
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old fears
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emotional imprints
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beliefs formed in survival
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the creativity you abandoned
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the joy you lost
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the magic you forgot
Expressive Arts + Inner Child work reconnects you to your true self — not through talk alone, but through the language of your body, intuition, and imagination.
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This work is powerful, liberating, and deeply restorative…
because sometimes your healing doesn’t live in words — it lives in expression.
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What Expressive Arts & Inner Child Healing Help With
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This work is effective for:
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Childhood emotional neglect
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Shame & self-criticism
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Grief, numbness, or emotional shutdown
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Anxiety, overwhelm, and fear
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Perfectionism & people-pleasing
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Identity confusion
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Low self-worth or feeling “not enough”
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Creativity blocks
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Trauma stored in the body
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Parts of you that feel stuck, young, scared, or silenced
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Inner teen wounds: rejection, heartbreak, abandonment
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Rebuilding trust in your emotions
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Reclaiming joy, play, imagination, and intuition
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This work is especially powerful if you're someone who can talk about your trauma but can’t seem to feel, process, or move it.
What Sessions Can Include
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Sessions are completely individualized, but may weave together:
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Creative expression (drawing, painting, clay, collage)
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Somatic practices (movement, breath, grounding)
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Bilateral stimulation + rhythmic movement
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Journaling + letter writing to parts
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Symbolic imagery + archetype exploration
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Music, singing bowls, voice freeing
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Ritual + ceremony (when desired)
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Inner child and inner teen dialogs
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IFS-inspired parts exploration
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Guided visualization + storytelling
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Embodied processing of emotions
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Reparenting and nurturing practices
You don’t have to be “creative” or know how to make art.
Your body and imagination already know what to do.
Expressive Arts & Inner Child Healing FAQ
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1. Do I need to be artistic or creative to do expressive arts therapy?
Not at all. This is not about skill or talent — it’s about expression, movement, and emotional release. Anyone can do it.
2. What if I don’t remember much from my childhood?
You don’t need to.
Your body, nervous system, and inner child parts remember.
We work with what arises naturally, without forcing memories.
3. Will I have to revisit painful childhood stories?
Not in a retraumatizing way.
We move gently, slowly, and at your pace — focusing on what your nervous system is ready for.
4. How does expressive arts help trauma?
Creative expression bypasses the analytical mind and taps into the parts of your brain where trauma is stored.
This creates a safe pathway for release, insight, and integration.
5. What’s the difference between inner child work and “parts work”?
Inner child work is one type of parts work.
IFS-informed parts work may include:
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protector parts
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inner teens
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creative parts
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wounded parts
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inner critics
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joyful/playful parts
They all get attention in this process.
6. Can expressive arts be done virtually?
Yes — beautifully.
We use whatever materials you have: pens, markers, paper, journals, music, or movement.
7. Do you integrate this with other modalities?
Yes. Tiffany blends Expressive Arts + Inner Child work with:
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Somatic Experiencing
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EMDR
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Breathwork
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IFS
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Bilateral rhythmic work
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Ritual and intuitive embodiment (optional)
This creates an integrative, whole-person healing experience.
8. Do you offer this work outside Illinois?
Expressive Arts Therapy is offered as psychotherapy to clients in Illinois.
For clients outside IL, I offer expressive arts coaching and inner child healing.
Trusted Resources for Expressive Arts & Inner Child Healing
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Natalie Rogers, Person-Centered Expressive Arts
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Trauma-Informed Expressive Arts — Cathy Malchiodi
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The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
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Your Brain on Art by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross
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The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron (However a little outdated for our times, see my Creative Recovery Program.)
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Somatic + expressive trauma trainings (NICABM)
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Polyvagal Theory resources for nervous system understanding