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Therapy for Women Healing from Childhood Emotional Neglect

When your emotional needs were consistently ignored, minimized, or dismissed growing up, it can leave deep, lasting wounds that show up in adulthood—even if you can't quite name them. You may appear strong and high-functioning on the outside, but inside, you often feel empty, misunderstood, or deeply flawed.

Emotional neglect isn’t about what did happen—it’s about what didn’t. The love, attunement, and emotional safety you needed may have been absent, leaving you to figure things out on your own. Now, you may struggle with trust, connection, and a harsh inner critic that never seems to let up.

I specialize in supporting women who are healing from childhood emotional neglect. Together, we can gently explore the origins of your emotional struggles, develop greater self-understanding, and begin building the kind of inner safety and compassion you’ve always deserved.

Common Signs of Emotional Neglect

If you identify with several of the experiences below, therapy can offer a powerful space to explore and heal from emotional neglect:

  • Persistent feelings of emptiness or emotional numbness

  • Chronic self-doubt, guilt, shame, or self-blame

  • Feeling deeply flawed or “different” from others

  • Struggling to trust others or ask for help

  • High sensitivity to rejection or criticism

  • Difficulty identifying, expressing, or managing emotions

  • Lack of assertiveness or weak personal boundaries

  • Putting others’ needs ahead of your own

  • Rejecting compliments or kindness

  • Apathy, low motivation, or difficulty identifying life goals

  • Inner critic that is much harsher than you'd ever be to a friend

  • Feeling overwhelmed by your emotions—or like they’re missing altogether

How Therapy Helps

Therapy for emotional neglect isn’t about blame—it’s about recognition, repair, and reconnection with your emotional self. Together, we’ll explore how your past has shaped your patterns of self-worth, relationships, and emotional regulation. This process can help you:

  • Build emotional awareness and self-compassion

  • Reconnect with your needs and desires

  • Set and maintain healthy boundaries

  • Learn to receive care and support without shame

  • Heal inner wounds through re-parenting and inner child work

Childhood Emotional Neglect | Praus Guidance & Healing | Minneapolis, MN.jpg

My Approach to Treating Emotional Neglect

I use an integrative, trauma-informed approach to help you heal from emotional neglect at a pace that feels right for you. Some of the therapeutic modalities I incorporate include:

  • Compassion-Focused Therapy – to quiet the inner critic and build self-kindness

  • Inner Child Work & Re-Parenting – to heal unmet emotional needs from childhood

  • Psychoeducation & Psychotherapy – to help you understand what you’re experiencing and why it matters

  • Holistic Therapy – to support healing of mind, body, and spirit

  • Attachment-Focused Strategies – to address relational wounds and support healthy connection

Inner Child Work & Re-Parenting

 

When healing emotional neglect, we often need to return to the parts of ourselves that never felt fully seen, heard, or nurtured. Inner child work helps you connect with those younger emotional parts, offer them compassion, and begin to meet the needs that were once unmet.

This work may involve:

  • Establishing emotional safety and trust

  • Practicing self-compassion and emotional expression

  • Grieving what you didn’t receive

  • Learning to advocate for your needs with confidence and care

  • Rewriting the narratives of shame, inadequacy, or invisibility

I’ll guide you through this process with gentleness and intention, helping you reconnect with your emotional self in ways that foster lasting change.

Ready to Begin Your Healing?

You don’t have to keep pushing your emotions aside or pretending you're fine. You deserve to be heard, understood, and supported—especially by yourself. If you're ready to begin healing from emotional neglect, I invite you to schedule a free 15-minute consultation. Let’s talk about how therapy can help you reconnect with your inner voice and reclaim your sense of self.

If you are ready to take the next step, I invite you to connect with me. I offer a free 15-minute phone or video consultation so you can get a feel for whether I am a good fit for your unique needs.

 

If you’re interested in learning more, contact me. I'd love to help you get started!

Praus Guidance & Healing

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Praus Guidance & Healing proudly supports women throughout Minnesota with convenient virtual therapy. Whether you’re in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Edina, Rochester, Duluth, or smaller communities like Eden Prairie, Hopkins, Chanhassen, or Waconia, help is just a click away. Wherever you are in the state, I’m here to provide compassionate, professional care tailored to your needs.

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Contact Information

Praus Guidance & Healing
Minneapolis, MN 55437

507-668-1200

samantha@prausguidanceandhealing.com

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