The Nesting Dolls Intervention: Integrating Parts of Self, Emotional Regulation, and Memory Networks
What if the “big reaction” your client is having to everyday things isn’t manipulation, defiance, or attention-seeking… but a younger part stepping forward asking for care and trying to protect?
In this episode of The Gettin’ Gritty Podcast for Mental Health Therapists, we walk you through one of our favorite trauma-informed interventions: the nesting dolls intervention for working with younger parts of self, attachment wounds, shame, and emotional triggers.
Using simple stacking dolls, we explain how therapists can help both children and adults begin making sense of why certain situations pull them into “kid logic,” dysregulation, or deeply wounded emotional states.
This is not about pathologizing clients or diving straight into trauma processing. It’s about building insight, compassion, regulation, and a cohesive narrative before the deeper work begins.
Inside this episode, you’ll learn:
✨ How to introduce the nesting dolls intervention with kids and adults
✨ The difference between parts of self and dissociation
✨ Why “triggered” behavior often comes from younger wounded parts
✨ How this intervention reduces shame and builds self-compassion
✨ Ways to incorporate attachment-focused resourcing and EMDR concepts
✨ Tips for using this intervention with parents in the room
✨ Practical “pro tips” for choosing and using nesting dolls in session
We also share how this intervention naturally bridges into EMDR resourcing, attachment repair, and building therapist confidence in trauma work.
You'll find that this intervention will help clients understand the younger parts of themselves that still need safety, attunement, and connection. 💛
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