We Love Artists!
We understand you may have been drawn into your art as a calling, a sense that little else professionally lights you up as much as your art.
Success in your field requires constant vigilance, in both maintaining an awareness of yourself in your work, and continuing to sharpen your skills. Sometimes the demands of a creative life, especially when your income depends on it, can become physically and mentally exhausting. Sometimes you may find yourself wondering why you even chose this life path.
Your Creative Life Can Be Both Meaningful And Overwhelming
You may love your work and still feel exhausted by what it asks of you.
You may have been drawn to your art as a calling—a sense that little else professionally lights you up in quite the same way. Whether you are an actor, musician, dancer, writer, visual artist, or another kind of creative professional, your work is often much more than a job. It is a meaningful part of who you are.
Yet the demands of a creative life can be physically and mentally exhausting, especially when your income depends on your art. You may spend years sharpening your skills, preparing for auditions, developing projects, or building a career, only to face rejection or uncertainty. Even when you are successful, you might find yourself wondering why you chose this path or whether you can keep up with its demands.
It’s common for artists to experience mental roadblocks that can interfere with their performance, creativity, and ability to advance their careers.
You are probably also all too aware that artists are prone to perfectionism, self-doubt, and feeling like an imposter. At all echelons of the arts, from A-list celebrities to emerging young artists, the highs of your profession can be wonderful, and the lows can be heartbreaking. We also understand that is part of life in the arts.
Reframing Your Creative Life
Society often portrays artists as broke, suffering, struggling, mentally ill, or addicted. There is a persistent idea that pain is necessary for great art, or that an artist must sacrifice personal well-being in order to create meaningful work.
We don’t buy that!
We believe artists can be talented, prolific, successful, inspired, and mentally and physically well. You do not have to choose between taking your art seriously and taking care of yourself.
Your career may require intense training, long hours, self-promotion, and coping with a great deal of rejection. Psychotherapy can help you develop tools to maintain or restore balance through the ups and downs of an artistic career. It can also help you examine the beliefs that may be keeping you stuck, such as the idea that you must always be working, that rest is a sign of weakness, or that your value depends on your latest accomplishment.
Therapy For Artists Can Help You Create A More Sustainable Career
We understand that being an artist is so much more than just a job. We will work with you to explore how your creative identity, personal history, relationships, and professional goals intersect.
Therapy is not about making you less ambitious or asking you to give up your art. It is about helping you pursue what matters to you in a way that supports your well-being.
Over time, our goals may include helping you manage performance anxiety, develop healthier responses to rejection, reduce perfectionism, and reconnect with the joy of creating.
We will also consider how to make room for relationships, rest, and interests outside of your work, so that your career is one meaningful part of a fuller life.
Connect with Us
Identify What You Want From Your Art And Your Life
We may explore the origins of your core beliefs, including what you learned about achievement, success, failure, and self-worth while growing up. We will also look at how these beliefs show up in your current creative life and whether they are helping you move toward the life you want.
You May Still Have Questions About Anxiety Therapy…
The length of therapy depends on your goals, the challenges you are facing, and what feels helpful to you. Some artists seek support around a specific issue, such as an upcoming performance or career transition, while others want to explore longer-standing patterns involving identity, relationships, or self-worth. We can discuss your goals together and revisit them as therapy progresses.
Absolutely. Professional success does not eliminate anxiety, self-doubt, burnout, or personal difficulties. You may be accomplishing your goals while still feeling exhausted, isolated, or unable to enjoy what you have achieved. Therapy can provide space to address these experiences without minimizing your accomplishments or assuming that success should make everything feel okay.
You do not need to have your career figured out before beginning therapy. It can be a place to explore uncertainty, disappointment, changing priorities, or questions about your identity. We will not push you toward staying in the arts or leaving them. Instead, we will help you clarify what matters to you and make decisions that feel aligned with your values.
Therapy can help you explore the thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that contribute to performance anxiety or creative blocks. We may work on perfectionism, fear of judgment, avoidance, or the pressure to produce. The goal is not to eliminate every uncomfortable feeling, but to help you respond to those feelings in ways that allow you to continue creating and performing.
Many artists worry that their creativity depends on emotional intensity or suffering. Therapy is not intended to diminish your sensitivity, imagination, or passion. Instead, it can help you understand your emotional experiences and develop a healthier relationship with them. You can remain deeply connected to your art while learning ways to care for yourself.
Get Started in 3 Easy Steps
1. Reach Out
Message us, call us, or schedule an initial 20 minute consultation directly to our calendars.
2. Let’s get to know each other
We will learn about your goals for therapy and answer your questions.
3. We’ll dive in together
Whether you’re meeting in person, online, or hybrid, your therapy journey begins!
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