Something For The Inner Adolescent: A Book for the Conversations We Were Never Taught to Have
August 5th, 2026 —I’ve looked high and low—on Amazon, used bookstores, and thrift stores; I’ve asked around, and I have not found the book that I wished I had, one I wanted to have on hand for my clients.
So I decided to write it myself, and once I decided to do so, the ideas came fast and furious.
The book I wanted had to have:
A solid description of the essential nature of Adolescence;
An introduction to the concepts of Internal Family Systems;
Creative journaling prompts—so creative that I didn’t want them to be called ‘prompts’;
Numerous opportunities for the reader to use their imagination and go wandering a bit;
Invitations for the reader to find their way to encounters with their Inner Adolescent parts;
And ultimately trailheads and maps to healing some of what might need to be healed from the readers’ Adolescence.
The book needed to be for adults not teenagers, and it needed to address adolescence and the Inner Adolescent not childhood and the Inner Child. This has been essential. The book fills a deep void in the journaling workbook genre. There is no other book that fits that bill, as far as I have been able to find. It’s a book that needed to be written.
Is this just another journaling workbook?
I actually am not a fan of the journaling workbook format. While it works for many people, it’s never worked for me personally. And I didn’t think we needed another one. This book isn’t really a journaling workbook; it is a book of creative journaling encounters. It’s more than a journaling workbook. It’s a creative writing book but it’s more than that, too. In my experience and personal opinion, Adolescent parts need something that’s a bit more on the edge, not so much a part of popular culture. Here’s one explanation from the current draft of why I offer ‘encounters’ rather than ‘prompts’:
Most likely because my Adolescent parts are almost always animated and informing most aspects of my days—I’m either fully entertaining them or struggling with the tension as other parts pull against the Inner Adolescents—I tend to resist if a thing leans toward mainstream, inside the bell curve, is centrist in nature, or seems to be too prescribed. I chafe at the well-grooved paths and want to set out on those that present more of a challenge.
Paradoxically, I suspect, too, that with some journal prompts, the borders of the path aren’t clear enough, and I get overwhelmed at the directions that a simple journal prompt can take me. For some of my Adolescent and creative parts, the creative writing encounters give just enough of a direction forward that then allows the vulnerability which can come from deeper layers of creativity, those which have bypassed Inner Editors and Critics.
Why I think this book is needed
We live in a culture that teaches us to optimize ourselves. Improve yourself. Fix yourself. Heal yourself. Become your best self. Even our healing can become another achievement project. But our inner worlds don't usually respond well to being managed into wellness. Our parts don't need another performance review. They need someone willing to listen.
The choices available for doing Inner Child work and meeting those young parts who are waiting for someone to listen are boundless. Meanwhile, our Inner Adolescent parts have been waiting for a long time. Too often the Child and Adolescent are conflated, seen and approached as one and the same. They are not. The difference between them is vast. We do a terrible disservice when we throw them together, believing that we are meeting the needs of both.
An invitation…
Over the coming months, I'll be sharing glimpses of this project here. Some posts will explore ideas from Internal Family Systems. Some will talk about creativity. Some will include short writing encounters you can try yourself. Some may simply tell stories from the winding path of bringing this book into the world.
My hope is that, long before the book is published, this space becomes a place where we can wonder together about what it means to become better companions to our Inner Adolescents, and, as a result, better companions to the adolescents in our lives. Every part of us has a story waiting to be told and waiting to be received.
Because underneath all of this is one conviction that continues to deepen the more I write—our Adolescent parts, whether they are exiles or protectors, whether they are burdened or Self-led, need Self to show up and be with them. They need to feel they belong in the world, and the world needs their gifts.
I'm grateful you're here at the beginning of this journey. I can't wait to share where it leads.
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