Therapy for Artists and Creatives | San Francisco

Emotional sensitivities can offer exquisite openings for experiencing and translating one’s unique perspective of the world in a way that is transformative for both the artist and the viewer. 

Because this process is so deeply personal and often intimately linked to an individual’s sense of self worth, perceived failure or lack of productivity can feel devastating. Depressive tendencies and poor self-esteem can make accessing and manifesting one's innate talent a challenge that might seem insurmountable. 

The work of self-understanding is critical to making impactful work and requires the inner strength to proceed with confidence.  Creative blocks arise when the essential work of self examination is neglected and the issues that most need attention require confrontation that feels too difficult, disruptive, or painful to attempt. 

We may feel a void - that sense of “nothingness” that comes up when the one thing we really need to address is ignored but refuses to go away, occupying the space where ideas would otherwise freely travel. We can’t get to a place of creative flow because something is in the way, demanding our attention, even as we attempt to turn away. 

Psychotherapy for artists is an opportunity to engage in self reflection that allows your authentic creative spirit to come to light in all of its multiplicity so you can manifest the work that is uniquely yours, however it takes shape.

Learning to listen to oneself is crucial to identifying and exploring one’s artistic voice. For many creative individuals, their work is inextricably tied to the meaning of their existence. By understanding ourselves better, we come to understand our creative potential and expand our capacity to produce work that feels authentic, unique, and impactful, which in turn makes our lives ever more fulfilling. 

Confronting our wounds, as individuals, artists, writers and thinkers, is a necessary precursor to vulnerability and the subsequent opening of inspiration. For people who are drawn to create and invent, share their stories, and translate the world via their unique perspective, the intersection of personal and professional is the place where innovation comes to fruition. To know ourselves, our histories and our potentialities, is to know the future direction of our work as thinkers, makers, and writers. The more personal the depths to which we delve, the more universal the work becomes.

At times, an image, idea or fragment of a song still unwritten will show up seemingly without effort, appearing almost of its own accord, and before we understand how or why. Slowing down to listen to and explore the meaning of this new material can be an expansive process for the spirit and intellect through which we come to know ourselves better, making the work of art an endeavor of enlightenment that works in both directions. The deeper our understanding of ourselves, the richer our work becomes and the more nuance with which we see our work, the fuller and more dynamic the picture of our humanness becomes. 

I am a psychodynamic therapist with an academic and professional background in fine art. Prior to becoming a psychotherapist, I earned an MFA from Bard College in a graduate program at the International Center of Photography that emphasized photography as conceptual art. I spent the years that followed as a struggling artist working in contemporary art galleries in New York City. My sense that the work was in vain, that it didn't mean anything and that as a result, I didn't mean anything, was the wall I repeatedly came up against as my productivity slowed to halt.

When I arrived in San Francisco to begin the work of my own personal healing, one of the most transformative things that happened was the realization that my creativity had the power to help others heal. I have since been a therapist for artists in the counseling department of the San Francisco Art Institute, where I once was an art student myself, working with practitioners of all genres, media and disciplines to examine their past, heal their wounds, improve self awareness, and create work that is vibrant and meaningful. 

I love nothing more than to work with clients who want to use words and images to think deeply about who they are and what their work means to them, to their audience and to our culture. Integrating the process of personal exploration with the creative process has the power to exponentially improve the quality of your work.

It is my honor to walk with you along the circuitous and magical path of the artist’s way, uncovering your hidden or forgotten talents, finding integration in diverse disciplines and breathing new meaning into your work. I offer individual sessions as well as private workshops for small groups of collaborators in written word, visual arts, interdisciplinary studies and new media. 

My office is in Tiburon, CA with easy proximity to Mill Valley, Sausalito and San Francisco. I see clients for therapy in person and online.