Stella Stories

Insights on Trauma-Informed Inner Child Healing, Emotional Growth & Self-Reclamation

Welcome to Stella Stories - a living archive of trauma-informed reflections for the healing heart.

Here you’ll find essays on inner child healing, emotional recalibration, boundaries, and the psychology of self-reclamation. Each piece blends somatic insight with soulful storytelling — guiding you to understand not just what you feel, but why you feel it.

Begin with the foundations: discover why childhood trauma alters brain development, explore what it means to be a medicine woman, or reflect on what is gaslighting.

These are not quick fixes, but invitations to return home to yourself - with depth, compassion, and courage.

Stella Dove, Inner Child Healing and Emotional Recalibration specialist in London, with contemplative expression under dramatic lighting, representing shadow work, trauma integration, and nervous system healing. Text reads: "Your Shadow Self Is Nothing To Fear." Dark background.

What Is The Shadow Self?

What is the shadow self? Learn how the hidden parts of your personality form through childhood trauma, emotional suppression, and survival conditioning. This trauma-informed guide explains shadow work and shows how Emotional Recalibration Therapy and Inner Child Healing help you integrate the shadow self, regulate your nervous system, and begin your path toward emotional freedom.

Oct 148 min read

Stella Dove, next to the caption "The Truth About Narcissists & Empaths" She is wearing a black tuxedo against a wooden background, a trauma-informed exploration of narcissists and empaths — why these dynamics form, how trauma bonds are created, and how healing begins through inner-child work. 🕊️

What Is a Narcissist?

What is a narcissist? Learn how narcissistic traits form, why empaths are drawn to them, and how to break free from trauma bonds and emotional manipulation.

Oct 615 min read

Busting the Twin Flame Myth

Many people ask how to find their twin flame, not realising they’re seeking safety, not a soulmate. This trauma-informed reflection reveals the truth behind the twin flame illusion — how early attachment wounds, spiritual gaslighting, and longing for the unavailable keep us chasing intensity that hurts. Discover how to return to self-partnership and forge your own fire.

Oct 313 min read

Stella Dove PDCH MBSCH, trauma-informed Inner Child Healer, stands next to the caption "Psychological Impact of being a Highly Sensitive Person" reflecting on nervous-system awareness, empathy, and the beauty of feeling deeply.

What Is a Highly Sensitive Person?

Heightened sensitivity is not a flaw but a finely tuned nervous system response. Stella Dove, trauma-informed Inner Child Healer, explains how understanding sensory depth and emotional attunement can turn overwhelm into inner wisdom.

Sep 269 min read

Stella Dove MBCH PDSCH, trauma-informed Inner Child Healer, stands next to the caption "Psychological Impact Of Gaslighting From Confusion To Clarity" explaining the psychological and neurological effects of gaslighting

What Is Gaslighting?

Gaslighting is more than lying — it’s a systematic erosion of your reality. It leaves you doubting your memory, mistrusting your emotions, and questioning your very self. This piece explores what gaslighting is, how it impacts the nervous system and inner child, and why healing means reclaiming your truth, your voice, and your self-trust.

Sep 2015 min read

Stella Dove MBCH PDCH, trauma-informed inner child healer, in her Emotional Therapy practice, in front of wall of books and behind her lap top and ring light, cosy secure atmosphere demonstrating a calm professional environment. Text on image reads "Why Struggling to Find Words Could be a Trauma Response" indeed it could be Adult Selective Mutism.

What Is Adult Selective Mutism?

Selective mutism is not shyness, rudeness, or avoidance. It is silence as survival — a nervous system strategy that locks the voice when speaking feels unsafe. For some, the words are there, oceans of them, but the throat closes and nothing comes out. This blog explores selective mutism through lived experience, poetry, and trauma-informed healing, with gentle prompts for reflection and reconnection.

Sep 310 min read

Inner Child Healing Exercise

We all carry the echoes of our younger selves — the child who laughed, cried, and longed to be accepted. This gentle inner child healing exercise uses a childhood photo, breathwork, and presence to help you reconnect with that younger you. It isn’t about rushing through a quick fix, but about taking time to listen, promise, and remember joy. A tender doorway into emotional recalibration, it offers a way to meet yourself with compassion and begin restoring authenticity.

Sep 15 min read

Stella Dove stands on a stage wearing light pink trousers and a light pink blouse, speaking into a microphone with a large photo of her face projected behind her, exploring how school testing and performance pressure shape self-worth, and how Emotional Recalibration helps untangle identity from achievement to restore self-acceptance and inner confidence.

Your Worth Is Not Measured in Grades

From phonics checks to GCSEs, children in the UK face more than a dozen formal assessments before 17. Each test whispers that performance equals worth. But your worth is not measured in grades. Many who didn’t thrive in school grow into the most resilient, creative, and compassionate adults — the square pegs we need now more than ever. Emotional Recalibration helps untangle self-worth from old labels and remind you: you are not broken, you are becoming.

Aug 269 min read

Stella Dove, trauma-informed inner child healer in London, wearing a colourful pattered coat, green feathered hat and lilac sunglasses, smiling warmly to camera, embodying the spirit of "If I Had Three Lives by Sarah Russell

If I Had Three Lives

If I had three lives, I’d marry you in two… Sarah Russell’s poem captures the longing for alternate selves — the lives we imagine but don’t live. In this reflection, I explore what those “unlived lives” can teach us about healing, why pausing is essential for recovery, and how Emotional Recalibration invites us to live this one life more fully.

Aug 257 min read

Stained Glass

In the quiet of a chapel, grief and grace collide. Stained Glass reflects on the lifelong imprint of the absent father wound — how early separation shapes attachment, trust, and identity — and how trauma-informed inner child healing offers the safety, reparenting, and emotional recalibration needed to mend the unseen fractures of love withheld.

Aug 149 min read

What Is A Medicine Woman?

A medicine woman isn’t here to fix you — she knows you’re not broken. She walks with you through grief, trauma, and change, holding space for your body, mind, and soul to remember their own healing. This is complementary care: slow, steady, and sacred.

Aug 128 min read

Photograph of Melancholia by sculptor Albert György — a hollow bronze figure seated in sorrow, symbolising grief, absence, and emotional emptiness. Healing the Father Wound, a trauma-informed reflection on the impact of paternal absence and emotional neglect, exploring how inner child healing, emotional courage, and compassionate witnessing restore trust and belonging.

💔 Healing the Father Wound

The father wound is not simply the grief of a man not being present... Healing the father wound requires emotional courage, inner child healing, and compassionate witnessing.

Jul 56 min read

Black-and-white image of a couple sitting apart, showing emotional disconnection. The man rests his chin on his hand and looks away while the woman sits in the foreground holding a mug, her expression downcast. The Inner Critic and the Sensitising Event: Healing the Voice in Your Head — a trauma-informed reflection by Stella Dove exploring how early emotional wounds shape the inner critic and how Emotional Recalibration Therapy helps rewire self-worth and restore inner safety.

The Inner Critic and the Sensitising Event: Healing the Voice in Your Head

Discover how childhood emotional wounds create limiting beliefs and subconscious filters that fuel anxiety, low self-worth, and the inner critic. In this post, trauma-informed therapist Stella Dove explores the roots of self-doubt, the impact of early sensitising events, and how Emotional Recalibration Therapy can help you heal from the inside out. If you’re ready to stop feeling not enough and start reclaiming your voice, this reflection is for you.

Jul 26 min read

Stella Dove, trauma-informed Inner Child Healer, explains how childhood trauma alters brain development. The on-screen text reads “Neurological Impact of Childhood Trauma From Confusion to Clarity,” highlighting how emotional pain reshapes neural pathways — and how healing through awareness and emotional recalibration restores balance.

The Neurological Impact Of Childhood Trauma

Childhood trauma doesn't just leave emotional scars — it physically alters the developing brain. In this trauma-informed reflection, we explore how early distress impacts the amygdala and prefrontal cortex, shaping everything from emotional regulation to impulsivity. If you’ve ever wondered why you struggle with focus, boundaries, or nervous system overwhelm, this may be the missing piece. Healing is possible — and it begins with understanding the link between early pain and

Jun 198 min read

The Absent Father Wound

When a father is emotionally unavailable, his absence shapes more than memory — it imprints the nervous system. The Absent Father Wound leaves many women over-giving, under-seen, and aching for safety. Through trauma-informed inner child healing and Emotional Recalibration Therapy, you can rewrite the story from longing to self-worth.

Jun 36 min read

Stella Dove stands before a bush of bright flowers wearing lilac sunglasses and black clothing, long hair streaked with silver, reflecting on Your Inner Critic. The pin links to the blog exploring the roots of self-criticism and how Emotional Recalibration Therapy helps you reclaim your voice, peace, and power.

Your Inner Critic

Are you tired of the voice that calls you unlovable, pathetic, or never enough? This blog explores the origins of the harsh inner critic, how it sabotages your growth, and how Emotional Recalibration Therapy can help you reclaim your voice, your peace, and your power.

Mar 104 min read

The Road of Life

The Road of Life can get a bit bumpy from time to time can't it? It's easy to feel that all is against you when this happens.

Mar 4, 20246 min read

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