Therapy For Creatives
Are Fear And Self-Doubt Impacting Your Creative Vision?
Are you an artist, musician, writer, dancer, designer, or other creative struggling to feel confident in your craft? Have you been living your life in comparison mode, measuring your success against others in your in industry? Have you lost the joy of creating? Performance anxiety and imposter syndrome are nothing new for artists.
Being a touring musician myself, I know firsthand what it is like to experience these blocks. Many of us live with a harsh inner critic that discourages us from creating, performing, or sharing our work. Somewhere along the line, we lost that fearless part of ourselves that once propelled us into creativity.
I am here to tell you that a new way of embracing and reconnecting with your creative identity is possible. At Mindful Self Therapy, I specialize in working with fellow artists, musicians, and other creatives who are struggling to feel confident in themselves and their craft. Working together in counseling, you can develop the skills you need to reduce performance anxiety, struggles with perfectionism, and that nagging feeling that you aren’t enough.
There Are Many Barriers In The Way Of Creative Success
Some of the world’s most revered artists, writers, and musicians throughout history experienced obstacles to their mental health. Creative outputs can be polarizing, misunderstood, and hard to quantify in terms of “success.” Artists themselves may have a hard time recognizing just how far they have come, creating space for an inner critic to plant its roots and slowly take over.
Social media worsens this perception as we compare ourselves to others and criticize ourselves for not generating enough of the same quality work we scroll through online. Creative industries themselves can limit meaningful opportunities if we don’t maintain the “right” connections.
Furthermore, our work as creatives is often undervalued in a capitalistic, productivity-obsessed society. Many of us have to battle the message that all forms of creative expression are “hobbies” and won’t lead us to financially stable lifestyles. This often puts pressure on us to prove the worth of our art, rather than embracing it.
As an artist, it can feel discouraging or even shameful to have these experiences, let alone discuss them out loud. Yet the more we give these thoughts and feelings weight, the more likely they are to overpower our sense of confidence, eventually obscuring what drove our creative desires in the first place: a love for our craft.
Therapy offers creatives of all kinds a place to explore and express fears in a way that sheds insight into our deepest values, abilities, and dreams. Working with a therapist, you can begin to discuss your creative fears and blocks openly, which is the first step to overcoming them.
Mindful Self Therapy Is A Place For Creatives To Thrive
Creatives don’t get many opportunities to discuss our vision in a safe, unbiased, and nonjudgmental atmosphere. That’s why therapy is so vital. It’s the gateway to a healthier, more objective perspective on ourselves and our work.
At Mindful Self Therapy, creatives of all kinds are welcome to the counseling space, where I will tailor our sessions to align with your particular issues and goals. As a musician myself, I can relate to some of the struggles you experience and have utilized many of the skills shared in sessions for my own personal Self.
What To Expect
At the beginning of counseling, I will help you identify the triggers that lead to performance anxiety, perfectionism, and low self-esteem. Once we have a better understanding of your creative blocks, we will navigate them using visualizations, body-based exercises, and behavioral therapy interventions. Through this process, you will become more aware of your thoughts and feelings and how they fuel your creative doubts.
From there, we can begin tracing fears and doubts back to their origins. Looking into your history and experiences, we will identify how, where, when, and why your inner critic developed and what messages you’ve internalized about your creative drive and abilities. I will teach you to gently challenge that inner voice and repurpose it for good, fostering more self-understanding and compassion.
My Approach
I use a particularly effective combination of Internal Family Systems (IFS), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Brainspotting when working with creatives, as these approaches encourage curiosity and healing at a deeper level. IFS gives clients an opportunity to better understand their “parts”—including their inner critic, while ACT can help clarify and connect behaviors to values. The highly effective, body-based method of Brainspotting is useful for targeting and reprocessing core traumas and negative self-beliefs.
Instead of viewing your fears and anxieties with frustration or despondence, I will encourage you to view your fears through a lens of compassion and curiosity. I’ve found that these perspectives can actually open up your window of tolerating discomfort, making space for a new, more affirming relationship with your craft.
You are considering therapy because a part of you feels stuck, doubtful, and afraid to fully express your creative self. That is just one part of you. Another part also exists—it’s the one that is free of fear and judgment. Counseling provides you the opportunity to access that part and give it more power so that you can meaningfully make space for the inspired, capable artist within.
Perhaps You Have Questions About Counseling Through Mindful Self Therapy…
As a struggling artist, I don’t have the money for therapy.
I completely understand that as a musician, artist, or other type of creative, money for expenses like therapy is limited and not always guaranteed. That is why I aim to make my practice as accessible to creatives as possible. If you aren’t able to afford the standard rate, I offer a sliding scale. I can also help create treatment plans that are time-limited and focused purely on short-term goals. For transparency, I only have a few sliding scale slots available, so please inquire. I am also pleased to partner with Backline, which is a nonprofit that specifically connects musicians and people in the music industry to mental health care.
Therapy sounds time-consuming.
It might feel like you have no space for therapy, but the best gift you can give yourself on your creative journey is time. Of course, there may be logistical barriers to making time for therapy each week, but I operate my practice with a lot of flexibility. If you can’t make a commitment to a specific time slot every week, I am more than willing to schedule sessions based on your availability and offer biweekly sessions as needed. It's also important to note that my lifestyle as a musician requires flexibility as well—there may be times when clients have to work around my touring schedule, so I want to offer that same courtesy when working around their schedules.
I don’t think that a therapist can help change my circumstances.
This is an incredibly common fear among creatives considering therapy. Of course, I can’t guarantee what will happen, but I fully believe that as long as both of us are invested in the work, positive change can take place. The way I see it, your fear is actually a great jumping-off point for our work together—after all, your fear is trying to protect you from disappointment and failure. Working together in counseling, I can help you explore your inner criticism, self-doubt, and perfectionism, as well as identify the areas where you might be feeling “stuck.”
Embrace Your Creative Talents And Identity
Mindful Self Therapy specializes in counseling for creatives of all kinds. Working together, you can overcome blocks and thrive as an artist. To find out more or schedule a session, please contact me.