Therapy for Creatives & Artists
Support for performance anxiety, creative blocks, trauma, and nervous-system regulation in LA’s creative and entertainment community
What Our Creative Clients Often Say
“I can’t start because it won’t be perfect.”
“I just feel stuck and can’t find my flow.”
“I’m scared to be seen and scared to be invisible.”
“The hustle never lets my nervous system rest.”
“I’ve lost the joy; it all feels like output.”
The Pressure of the Creative Life
If you’re a creative professional in Los Angeles, such as an actor, content creator, musician, designer, filmmaker, or artist—you know that your work asks everything of you: your body, emotions, intuition, and presence. It’s not just what you do, it’s who you are. In an industry that demands vulnerability, excellence, and constant reinvention, creative professionals often live with invisible stress. This environment can heighten perfectionism, self-criticism, and burnout. Over time, your creative flow, confidence, and sense of meaning start to fade. Therapy can help you return to yourself so that the grounded, present version of you creates from truth instead of fear.
At Oak & Stone Therapy, our therapists for creatives at the Koreatown office, Highland Park office, Pasadena office, and virtually across California and Washington, specialize in helping creatives, performers, and entertainers move through the inner blocks that hold them back—from anxiety and burnout to perfectionism and creative paralysis.
Creative Stress often shows up in the following ways:
Performing through anxiety or fear of judgment, rejection, or failure
Feeling disconnected from your art or identity after a creative dry spell
Caught between visibility and safety—wanting to be seen, but afraid of exposure
Managing chronic body tension (tight jaw, voice strain, gut knots, shallow breathing)
Overthinking or over-editing your work until it loses its spark
Comparing yourself constantly, even when you’re doing well
Struggling to rest, feeling guilt or panic when you’re not producing
Performance & Auditions
Performing in front of others means exposing your inner world to judgment. For many artists and actors, the body remembers every shaky audition, blanked line, or critical stare. Even when you “know your stuff,” your nervous system can interpret visibility as danger. You might find yourself freezing, forgetting, or over-preparing to feel safe. Therapy helps you find safety in being seen so your presence feels alive, not guarded. The rush that once felt exhilarating starts to feel like survival mode. Therapy helps your system relearn safety in visibility so you can bring your full, grounded presence to your work — not just your practiced performance.
At Oak & Stone Therapy, our team of therapists for creatives help your nervous system unlearn fear responses under pressure—so presence, flow, and authenticity replace panic and overthinking.
Many of our creative clients Tell us:
“I nail it in rehearsal, but I freeze when it counts.”
“My body knows the lines, but my voice won’t come out.”
“The moment the camera turns on, my breath disappears.”
Creative Blocks & Perfectionism
Creativity requires freedom — yet perfectionism builds invisible cages. You may love your craft deeply but still hesitate to begin, finish, or share. The voice inside whispers, It’s not ready. It’s not good enough. What looks like “procrastination” is often a nervous system protecting you from the vulnerability of being seen, shame, or failure. In therapy, we explore how self-criticism, fear of failure, and old messages about worth get stored in the body. As you learn to regulate and trust your impulses again, creative flow can flow again without the weight of self-critique and becomes less about control and more about connection.
At Oak & Stone Therapy, our therapists for creatives explore how self-criticism and fear of failure live in the body, softening perfectionism and reopening access to curiosity, play, and creative flow.
Many of our creative clients Tell us:
“I keep starting and stopping—it’s never good enough.”
“I have a hundred ideas and can’t move on any of them.”
“I over-edit everything until it feels lifeless.”
Comparisons & Visibility
Los Angeles is full of talented people — which can make even success feel fragile. Constant exposure to other people’s highlight reels can distort your sense of self. In a city full of talent, comparison is almost reflexive. Success and exposure can feel both thrilling and threatening, especially if visibility has ever been linked to rejection, jealousy, or cultural pressure. Therapy helps you reclaim visibility as self-expression, not self-protection.
You might find yourself shrinking when praised, or deflecting compliments because attention feels unsafe. Visibility activates old wounds about belonging and identity. Therapy offers a space to unpack the deeper emotional layers behind comparison: longing, shame, the need to be seen and the fear of it. Over time, visibility can shift from threat to expression — a place where you’re allowed to take up space.
At Oak & Stone Therapy, our therapists for creatives help you examine the deeper fears behind comparison and being seen—rebuilding steadiness so visibility feels empowering, not exposing.
Many of our creative clients Tell us:
“Everyone else is booking—what’s wrong with me?”
“I’m scared to be seen and scared to disappear.”
“I shrink when people praise me—it feels unsafe.”
Rejection & Industry Stress
In creative industries, rejection isn’t personal — but it always feels personal. Each “no,” each silence, each almost-made-it moment lands in the body. Over time, resilience wears thin, and you may start bracing for disappointment before it happens.
Therapy can help you process the emotional residue of these experiences and build capacity to stay open, hopeful, and self-anchored. Together, we work on strengthening your nervous system’s ability to recover quickly — so you can meet feedback, risk, and change without losing your center.
At Oak & Stone Therapy, our therapists for creatives help you process the residue of rejection and uncertainty in the body, restoring resilience and self-trust so feedback and “no’s” don’t derail your worth or purpose.
Many of our creative clients Tell us:
“I brace for the no before I even submit.”
“One piece of feedback can ruin my whole week.”
“I’m tired of pretending rejection doesn’t hurt.”
Body / Voice & Somatic Symptoms
Your instrument is your body. When stress accumulates, it doesn’t just live in your thoughts — it shows up in tension, pain, constriction, or loss of flow. Maybe your throat tightens before you sing. Your breath shortens before the camera rolls. Your jaw aches after every take. Through somatic and Brainspotting work, we trace these signals back to their roots — helping your body release what it’s holding so your voice, expression, and movement can feel open again. Healing becomes not just emotional, but physical and creative.
At Oak & Stone Therapy, our therapists for creatives use Somatic and Brainspotting methods to release stored tension—freeing breath, voice, and movement for more grounded, embodied performance.
Many of our creative clients Tell us:
“My throat tightens right before I sing.”
“My jaw locks the second I step on stage.”
“My body goes numb when I perform.”
Burnout & Career Longevity
The creative life often swings between extremes: intensity and emptiness, inspiration and exhaustion. When your art is tied to income, identity, or visibility, it’s easy to forget how to rest. Many creatives only stop when their body forces them to. Therapy helps you redefine success beyond constant output — teaching your nervous system that rest, play, and joy are not threats to productivity but fuel for longevity. Our goal isn’t just short-term relief; rather, it’s sustainable artistry: a career and inner life that can evolve as you do.
At Oak & Stone Therapy, our therapists for creatives help you recalibrate output and restoration, teaching body-based pacing so your art and nervous system can thrive for the long run.
Many of our creative clients Tell us:
“I only rest when I crash.”
“If I stop, I’ll lose everything I’ve built.”
“I love what I do, but I don’t feel joy anymore.”
What Our Clients say after therapy with us
After creative-focused therapy, many clients describe feeling reconnected—to their bodies, their craft, and the parts of themselves that went quiet under pressure. They begin to understand that blocks, anxiety, and burnout weren’t personal failures, but protective nervous-system patterns that can be worked with. Rather than pushing harder or perfecting more, they learn to create from regulation and self-trust. Over time, they notice clearer communication, steadier presence in high-stakes moments, and a return to play and flow. It’s not about becoming someone else—it’s about unlearning what they were never meant to carry and building rhythms that truly support who they are as artists and humans. At Oak & Stone Therapy, our team of therapists for creatives are honored to walk alongside that journey.
Clients often describe their growth not just as “feeling better,” but as feeling freer—in their art, in their relationships, and in their sense of self. They leave therapy with tools to regulate their nervous system, trust their instincts, and create from authenticity rather than adrenaline.
Many of Our Creative clients tell US:
“I finally feel safe in my body again.”
“I can walk into an audition without the pit in my stomach.”
“I’m writing and performing from honesty, not pressure.”
“My anxiety isn’t gone—it just doesn’t run the show anymore.”
“I can actually rest without guilt.”
“I don’t have to suffer for my art anymore.”
“My creativity feels playful again.”
“I don’t overthink every note, word, or take—I trust myself.”
“I can tell the difference between my intuition and my fear.”
“I’m not chasing validation anymore. I’m creating because I love it.”
“I feel more present with my work, my people, and myself.”