Therapy for Creatives, Performers, and Artists

We work with creative professionals...comedians, performers, writers, designers, founder artists

You may find therapy helpful if:

• your creativity feels tied to your self-worth
• the pressure to produce never fully turns off
• success hasn’t reduced the anxiety you expected

Creative careers can be deeply meaningful — but they can also be unpredictable, emotionally intense, and difficult to sustain over time.

Many artists and performers navigate cycles of inspiration and doubt, pressure to constantly produce, financial uncertainty, and relationships that can be strained by irregular schedules or public visibility.

Therapy provides a place to step outside those pressures, understand how your nervous system responds to stress and creative risk, and develop ways to protect both your wellbeing and your creativity.

Therapy here isn’t about making you less intense, less creative, or more ‘normal’ — it’s about helping you sustain the life and work that matter to you.

Common Struggles

Many creatives seek therapy when they are experiencing:

• performance anxiety
• creative blocks or loss of inspiration
• imposter syndrome despite success
• unstable income or career uncertainty
• identity tied strongly to creative work
• difficulty separating self-worth from artistic output
• burnout from constant production or touring cycles
• relationship strain related to schedule or lifestyle
• ADHD or neurodivergent traits affecting focus and workflow
• balancing artistic identity with business demands

We work with many types of creative professionals, including:

• comedians
• actors and performers
• dancers and musicians
• writers and artists
• designers and filmmakers
• creative entrepreneurs and founder-artists

Why Creative Professionals Often Wait Too Long to Seek Therapy

Many creative professionals wait a long time before reaching out for support.

Part of the reason is that the challenges you experience — emotional intensity, irregular schedules, creative cycles, and financial uncertainty — are often seen as simply part of the artistic life.

Many artists also worry that therapy might reduce their creativity or change something essential about who they are.

In reality, therapy is not about dulling creativity or making you more conventional.

It’s about helping you develop the stability and self-understanding that allow creativity to continue without costing your wellbeing.

Many clients tell us they wish they had started sooner.

How Therapy Helps

Therapy for creatives focuses on helping you sustain both creative expression and personal wellbeing.

In therapy we may work on:

• managing performance anxiety and high-pressure environments
• understanding the emotional cycles of creative work
• separating identity from output and external validation
• navigating career transitions and uncertainty
• improving relationship communication and stability
• building routines and structures that support creative flow
• developing healthier ways to manage stress and burnout

The goal is not to change who you are as a creative person, but to help you build a life and career that your nervous system can sustain.

Our Approach

Our work integrates several evidence-based and body-aware approaches that help clients understand both the psychological and physiological side of stress and creativity, including:

• EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)
• Somatic and nervous-system based therapy
• Internal Family Systems (IFS)
• Cognitive behavioral approaches when useful

These methods can help reduce anxiety, process past experiences that affect performance or confidence, and support greater emotional regulation in high-pressure creative environments.

Areas We Serve: Illinois, Indiana & Ohio

Telehealth Therapy for Creatives & Performers in Illinois, Indiana & Ohio

RTPC provides telehealth therapy for artists, comedians, writers, designers, dancers, and creative entrepreneurs throughout Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. We work with creative professionals in Chicago, Evanston, Oak Park, Wicker Park, Logan Square, and the broader Chicago metro area, as well as clients in Indianapolis, Bloomington, Fort Wayne, and South Bend, IN, along with Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Toledo, OH.

Chicago's vibrant comedy, theater, and arts community — from Second City to the independent music and gallery scenes — creates a specific kind of creative pressure that Erin and Sue understand. Telehealth makes it possible to work with clients anywhere in Illinois, Indiana, or Ohio, including those with irregular schedules, touring commitments, or unpredictable creative workflows. Both Sue Shekut, LCPC, SEP and Erin Braden, LCPC are licensed in Illinois and Indiana and have experience supporting creative clients. Sue is also licensed in Ohio and Erin is in the process of obtaining Ohio licensure and will be accepting Ohio clients in the near future.

Schedule a consultation to learn more

If you are a creative professional who wants support navigating the emotional side of your work...

we invite you to schedule a consultation.

All inquiries are confidential.
We respond personally within 1–2 business days.

Telehealth sessions are conducted through secure, HIPAA-compliant platforms.

Common Questions

Please reach us at sue@rtpcpc.com if you cannot find an answer to your question.

Do you specialize in therapy for creatives and performers in Illinois and Indiana?

Yes. Erin Braden, LCPC specializes in therapy for creative professionals throughout Illinois and Indiana via telehealth, including artists, comedians, writers, designers, dancers, musicians, actors, and creative entrepreneurs. She works with clients across Chicago, Evanston, Wicker Park, Logan Square, and the broader Illinois area, as well as Indianapolis, Bloomington, Fort Wayne, and South Bend in Indiana. Erin is also in the process of obtaining Ohio licensure and will be accepting Ohio clients soon.

Is there a therapist who works specifically with comedians?

Yes. Erin Braden, LCPC works with comedians and stand-up performers navigating performance anxiety, imposter syndrome, the emotional demands of public creative work, and the unpredictable lifestyle of a comedy career. As the partner of a stand-up comic, Erin understands that world personally — not just professionally. She knows the grind of open mics, the feast-or-famine income cycle, the late nights, and what it costs emotionally to put yourself on stage and make it look effortless.

Will therapy change my creativity or make me less of an artist?

No. Therapy at RTPC is not about making you less intense, less sensitive, or more conventional. Many artists worry that getting support will somehow flatten what makes their work distinctive. In reality, therapy focuses on helping you build the stability and self-understanding that allows your creativity to continue without costing your wellbeing. Many clients tell us they wish they had started sooner.

What does therapy for creatives actually address?

Common areas of focus include performance anxiety, creative blocks, imposter syndrome despite real success, burnout from constant production cycles, identity and self-worth tied to artistic output, financial stress and career uncertainty, ADHD or neurodivergent traits affecting creative workflow, and relationship strain caused by irregular schedules or the emotional intensity of creative life.

Do you work with Broadway dancers and performing artists?

Yes. RTPC works with dancers, Broadway performers, actors, and other performing artists navigating the specific pressures of a performance career — including the physical and emotional demands of performance, career transitions, audition anxiety, identity questions when roles or seasons end, and the challenge of sustaining a life built around an art form that doesn't always offer stability.

Do you work with creative entrepreneurs and founder-artists?

Yes. Many clients navigate both the artistic and business sides of their work — running a studio, managing clients, building a brand, or trying to monetize their art without losing what makes it meaningful. Erin works with creative entrepreneurs managing the unique overlap of artistic identity and business pressure, including ADHD, perfectionism, and imposter syndrome in self-employed creative work.