Creativity Counselling: For Success, Meaning and Harmony

Creative people benefit from guidance and support from others who understand the path and process to faciliate their own development.  My work with creative clients adds focus, meaning, wellness and career success to their lives.

Creativity is a personality trait - something that some people have more than others, with some consistency in an individual across time and situations.  It is also a state- it can be cultivated by relationships, profound experiences and guided engagement in the process of creating.  It can be enhanced through counselling that understands creative people and states and values the creative process, integrating it into practice.

Creativity is related to both mental health and illness.  Engagement and absoption in the creative process is a journey of self development that demands openness.  Sometimes that journey leads to difficulty or just uniqueness in the way a person experiences their identity, education, relationships and carer.  The sensitivity and emotional intensity that can contribute to achievement in the arts is not common to others and can lead to (at times) feeling confused, misunderstood, invalidated or even rejected and alientated from others.

Many creative people with high potential are underachievers earlier in life.  Later creativity is related to optimal functioning, achievement, and deeper personal understanding of the meaning of life - even richer relationships.  

Gifted adults: Plenty of people have a misunderstanding of what giftedness is, because they measure it by "output", by creative "products" and how they have or haven't been successful in producing something that the masses have valued.  But giftedness is a complex way of being in the world, that combines sensitive reactivity with complex and unusual ways of thinking, feeling and doing things.  So gifted and creative people are often misunderstood rather then applauded.  Likewise their achievements are sometimes misunderstood.  Add to the misunderstanding and sometimes rejection they experience, they often have many ideas and ambitions and go from one career to another, or geographical location to another, etc.  They thrive on novelty and change, so it can be hard to pick something, or stick to something long enough to experience fulfillment, satisfaction and success.  Counselling can help identify, explain and re-direct a gifted adult to improve self-esteem, focus, decision making, and ultimately success in relationships and career.  Often gifted adults need support and coaching in order to identify their strenghs, focus on their goals, change their negative beliefs about themselfs, and not sweat the small stuff.