--- title: "Counseling for Artists in NC" url: https://jamesrevelscounseling.com/who-i-help/artists description: "Telehealth counseling for professional artists and makers across North Carolina, with a counselor at home in creative work and what it costs to sustain it." lang: en --- Skip to content Who I Help # For people whose work is the making. I am especially at home with professional artists. Not as a subject I read about, but as a way of working I have taken seriously for a very long time. Why This Group ## The work and the person are not separable. Writers, musicians, painters, makers, people who build things for a living and cannot describe what they do as a job without it sounding wrong. The usual advice about work and life balance does not fit, because the two were never separate to begin with. That brings difficulties other professions do not have in the same shape. Reception, and the silence that is not the same as rejection. Income that arrives in irregular blocks. Long stretches between finished things, during which the question of what you are is genuinely open. It also brings a suspicion of therapy, and a reasonable one: the fear that a counselor will tidy you up until the interesting part is gone. I have no interest in that outcome and I will not pursue it. What People Bring ## Blocks, and the things underneath them. A piece that will not start. A body of work that has stopped meaning anything to the person who made it. Success that arrived and then failed to feel like anything, which is a specific and disorienting kind of grief. Also the ordinary material, arriving in a particular key: anxiety before a release or an opening, flatness after one, the exhaustion of sustaining a practice for decades, a relationship carrying the cost of the work. And the money question, which comes up more honestly here than almost anywhere else, because a life in the arts asks you to keep choosing it. How We Work ## Creative Expression & Authentic Action Creative Expression & Authentic Action is one of the five core pillars I work with, so the making is inside the therapy rather than parked outside it. The part of you that makes things is the same part that mends, and we put it to work. Practically, I begin every session with conversation, taking time to meet and hear from you, then we look at what is here, then we work. Sometimes that is the block itself. Sometimes it is the older material the block is standing on. Sometimes it is a straight conversation about what your life is for now that the early ambition has been either met or outlived. I am trained in cognitive behavioral work, psychodynamic work, somatic approaches, mindfulness-based therapy and the humanistic and existential traditions, and I use what fits you rather than running a protocol. Practical ## How the work runs. Sessions are 60 minutes by secure video, anywhere in North Carolina, which suits touring, residencies and unpredictable studio hours better than a fixed office would. Most people begin weekly. Availability is Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Adults 18 and over, most of my clients between 30 and 75. The fee is $180 and there is a free consultation first, which costs you nothing but the conversation. I do not treat addictions or eating disorders. If either is the primary concern I will refer you to someone who specializes in it rather than treat it as part of a creative life. Keep Reading ## Where To Next - Who I Help, the full picture (https://jamesrevelscounseling.com/who-i-help) The people this practice is built for, and the practical details. - Creative Expression & Authentic Action (https://jamesrevelscounseling.com/approach/creativity) Making treated as a working part of the therapy rather than a pastime. - Meaning, purpose and midlife (https://jamesrevelscounseling.com/specialties/meaning-purpose-and-midlife) What the second half is for once the early ambition has been answered. - Counseling for athletes (https://jamesrevelscounseling.com/who-i-help/athletes) The other group where identity and performance are difficult to separate. ## When you are ready, I am here. A free, confidential 15 to 20 minute conversation. No pressure and no paperwork, just a chance to hear each other out. Schedule a Free Consultation: https://care.headway.co/providers/james-revels Send a message: https://jamesrevelscounseling.com/contact ## Structured data ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Person", "@id": "https://jamesrevelscounseling.com/#james-revels", "name": "James Carl Revels", "honorificSuffix": "MA, LCMHC", "jobTitle": "Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor", "url": "https://jamesrevelscounseling.com", "sameAs": [ "https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/james-carl-revels-asheville-nc/1677149" ], "hasCredential": { "@type": "EducationalOccupationalCredential", "credentialCategory": "MA, LCMHC" } }, { "@type": "ProfessionalService", "@id": "https://jamesrevelscounseling.com/#practice", "name": "James Revels Counseling", "url": "https://jamesrevelscounseling.com", "priceRange": "$180", "areaServed": { "@type": "State", "name": "North Carolina" }, "provider": { "@id": "https://jamesrevelscounseling.com/#james-revels" }, "availableService": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Individual Counseling" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://jamesrevelscounseling.com/who-i-help/artists", "url": "https://jamesrevelscounseling.com/who-i-help/artists", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://jamesrevelscounseling.com/#practice" } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://jamesrevelscounseling.com/who-i-help/artists#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://jamesrevelscounseling.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Who I Help", "item": "https://jamesrevelscounseling.com/who-i-help" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Artists", "item": "https://jamesrevelscounseling.com/who-i-help/artists" } ] }, { "@type": "Service", "@id": "https://jamesrevelscounseling.com/who-i-help/artists#service", "name": "Counseling for Professional Artists", "description": "Telehealth counseling for professional artists and makers across North Carolina, with a counselor at home in creative work and what it costs to sustain it.", "serviceType": "Counseling for Professional Artists", "provider": { "@id": "https://jamesrevelscounseling.com/#james-revels" }, "areaServed": { "@type": "State", "name": "North Carolina" }, "availableChannel": { "@type": "ServiceChannel", "serviceUrl": "https://jamesrevelscounseling.com/who-i-help/artists", "availableLanguage": "en-US" } } ] } ```