Creatives & Artists

A Therapist Who Gets the Creative Life

Before becoming a therapist my first career was in the entertainment industry, in both creative and production capacities. I have firsthand experiences with the ups and downs of the creative process, navigating relationships, the balancing and interconnectedness of work and life, and exploring identity connected to who you are and what you create.

While I had my own creative pursuits, I also spent six years working at MusiCares, a charitable arm of the Recording Academy and the GRAMMYs. Our team supported thousands of industry professionals through crisis, substance use recovery, preventive care, and I saw firsthand the toll that the entertainment industry can take on mental, physical, relational, and financial health. It was that work that ultimately led me to clinical psychology.

So when I say I understand the creative life, I mean it. Not from a textbook — from lived experience. And that matters, because the creative industry has its own culture and its own pressures. It makes a difference to work with a therapist that gets what it's like to have your livelihood depend on something as unpredictable as inspiration.

The Unique Pressures of Creative Work

Creative work is not like other work. The emotional demands are different, the rhythms are different, and the relationship between your inner world and your professional output is intimately entangled. Here are some of the challenges I see most often in my work with creatives:

Creative Blocks

You sit down to work and nothing comes. Or something comes, but you worry it's not good enough. Or you can't even get yourself to sit down in the first place. Creative blocks are rarely about a lack of talent or ideas — they're usually about fear, perfectionism, burnout, or unprocessed experiences that are clogging the channels. In therapy, we can explore what's actually in the way and create the conditions for your creativity to flow again.

Impostor Syndrome

That persistent feeling that you're faking it. Worry that everyone else is more talented, more deserving, more legitimate. Fear that it's only a matter of time before someone exposes you. Impostor syndrome is rampant among creatives, and it can be paralyzing. It stops people from submitting their work, performing, applying for opportunities, or charging what they're worth. We can work on understanding where it comes from and loosen its grip.

Touring and the Road

The physical and emotional toll of touring is massive and widely underestimated. Common experiences of disrupted sleep, poor nutrition, isolation from family and community, the pressure to perform when you're running on empty, the substance use that often accompanies. These aren't minor inconveniences, they're real stressors that compound over time. I help touring musicians develop sustainable practices and process the accumulated impact of life on the road.

Professional Collaborations

Creative partnerships, whether it's a band, a writing room, a production team, or a co-founder relationship, carry a unique emotional intensity. You're vulnerable with each other in ways that most professional relationships don't require. When these partnerships go well, they're magical. When they don't, the fallout can be devastating on personal, creative, and financial levels. I help clients navigate the complex dynamics of creative collaboration, set boundaries, and process the complex feelings that can accompany when a partnership ends.

Identity and Self-Worth

When your work is an expression of who you are, rejection of your work can feel like rejection of you. It's easy to fall into the trap of tying your value as a person to your output, your success, or your relevance in a fickle industry. This is compounded for creatives who hold marginalized identities, including queer artists, BIPOC artists, disabled artists, who often face additional barriers to recognition and belonging. In therapy, we work on building a sense of self that can hold your art without being consumed by it.

Industry Pressures and Exploitation

The entertainment industry runs on passion and exclusivity, and that can often be a powder keg for unwelcome pressure, and exploitation. So many creatives navigate unpaid labor requests disguised as "exposure," abusive power dynamics, contracts that benefit everyone except the artist, and cultures of silence around harassment and abuse. I help clients recognize and respond to these dynamics, set boundaries, and process the anger and grief that can accompany contending with these experiences.

What to Expect

In our first session, I'll ask about what's bringing you in, what your creative life looks like right now, and what you want to be different. I'll also want to understand your personal history, and the experiences that shaped you as both a person and an artist. From there, we'll work together at your pace, using trauma-informed, evidence-based approaches including EMDR when it's a good fit.

I see clients in my Pasadena office and via telehealth throughout California. I understand that creative schedules are unpredictable, and I do my best to accommodate.

Is This Right for You?

Working with me might be a good fit if:

1. You're a musician, writer, artist, comedian, filmmaker, or other creative professional
2. You're experiencing creative blocks, burnout, or impostor syndrome and want to understand what's underneath them
3. You're navigating the emotional toll of touring, performing, or public-facing creative work
4. You're dealing with a difficult creative partnership or industry relationship
5. You've tied your self-worth to your creative output and it's not sustainable
6. You're navigating substance use or recovery in the context of industry culture
7. You're going through a career transition either pivoting, evolving, or leaving the industry
8. You want a therapist who's been in the industry and understands it from the inside

Your art matters. And so do you - apart from what you create. If you're ready to explore that, book a free 15-minute consultation and let's talk.