For Artists

A Unique Therapy for a Unique Life

Artists are different. Often times that difference causes conflict, stress, and anxiety, especially in relationships with others. It can also cause conflict in the very execution of the artist’s specific talents, such as in performance anxiety or stage fright. Sometimes artists do just fine interfacing with the world, and sometimes it can be a bit confusing, daunting, and fearful.

I am an artist as well.

I began my obsession with music when I was very young, like most artists do. I struggled through adolescence, and then young adulthood, driven by forces that were magical and beautiful but also overwhelming and at times scary and confusing. I know what it is like.

Along with all of the unexplainable and rather metaphysical aspects of being an artist there are at times totally confusing practical and objective issues that affect the artist who wishes to make a living creating their art.

There is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost.

~Martha Graham

But if you are like most artists, you love what you do (or at least love the “thought” of doing it), and you can’t imagine doing anything else in your life. In fact, it really isn’t even something that you “do” but rather something that you “are.” There isn’t much of a distinction between the self you call “you” and the art you are immersed in.

Still, you live in a real world filled with relationships that force you to come down from the more ethereal realm of your art and engage with that material relationship world in an expected and pragmatic manner. Some people have no problem with this, but others do seem to struggle with it, either quite a bit, or just enough to make it more difficult to do what it is they are supposed to do.

My work with artists is two pronged. I assist in grappling with the objective world and helping make sense of it and how it integrates with the artist’s life, including business, relationships, money, and work (such as in dealing with the aforementioned performance anxiety). And secondly my client and I move into the world of the unconscious together to discover what light can be shed on various aspects of the artist’s life, or issues the artist is confronting.

Here we can discuss a variety of things, such as, but not limited to, creative block, procrastination, depression, self-doubt, inability to finish a work in progress, being overwhelmed with creative ideas, ultra sensitivity to environment, relationships with spouses, partners, and family, performance anxiety, and reconciling a creative life with a personal and universal spiritual expression.

Creativity is certainly not limited to what our culture calls “art.” If you have read this far you are clearly a creative person possibly still looking for some sort of outlet for your creativity. Maybe you need a bit of help exploring the potential avenues for your creative forces to express in the world. With any of these possible situations the type and flavour of the counselling and therapy I offer will help a client grapple with the confusions, dissonances, and anxieties associated with bringing any idea, thought, or internal energy, into the manifest world through some form of physical expression. Please book an appointment, call me ((416) 712-1476) or email me for more information or to discuss your particular situation.