When I work with artists I pay attention to the ways they use art to deal with their issues. I harness the skills they already have in dredging from their depths something unclear but important and creating from it something meaningful to help them re-imagine and recreate their lives. I point out that they, too, are on a hero’s path; that simply by choosing to be artists they have already veered out of safe territory and into the unknown or uncreated. As with addicts, I help them find models for moving forward, help them find their place in the monomyth, and then invent the steps they need in order to move forward. I often use the Miracle Question, borrowed from brief, solution-focused therapy, as a way to put them temporarily into this more full life and more realized version of themselves.

One way I work with artists or with people who are hoping to develop more creative lives is with groups I call “Cultivating Your Creative Self.” I create a temporary, supportive co mmunity in which people envision the lives they want to live and use the power and imagination of the group to get there. See the “Groups” page of my website for more information on “Cultivating Your Creative Self” groups and related workshops.