This is a quick start guide to what Create Me Free is all about. The About page offers more detail. The Table of Contents will guide you to all of the writing.
Create Me Free explores the complex relationship between health and creativity. We move beyond the tired “tortured artist” trope and the oversimplified “art is always therapy” narrative to examine the rich, nuanced middle ground where most creative lives actually exist.
If you have been making things for years and something in that relationship has shifted, this is the place to understand it.
This work is built upon nearly two decades of lived experience as a full-time creative living with mental health challenges, interviews with hundreds of artists across disciplines, and deep research into the intersection of psychology and art.
Work With Me
I work with artists and other creatives directly through Creative Health Mapping and Navigation: a personal, in-depth process for established creatives who sense that their health and their practice are in conversation but haven't been able to see exactly how.
Through guided conversation, I build a detailed map of your creative health landscape, then we work through what it reveals together. You may leave with clarity about what's actually happening, language for patterns you've felt but couldn't name, and concrete directions toward where you want to be in your creative life.
How This Substack Supports That Work
The Create Me Free Substack supplements these services by providing:
Research-based insights from my ongoing exploration of how health impacts creative process, productivity, medium choice, content, identity, and business
Interview features with contemporary artists sharing their experiences navigating health and creativity
Framework breakdowns and practical tools you can apply independently
Community connection with other creatives on similar journeys
Free and affordable resources for self-guided explorations of how art and health intersect
Additional material for paying subscribers including podcast episodes, artist deep dives and How To Guides for creatives
Who This Is For
You're in the right place if you're an artist, writer, maker, crafter, musician, performer, creative who:
Has ever wondered "Am I broken or is this just how creativity works for me?"
Notices your anxiety, depression, or other symptoms showing up in your art (or stopping it entirely)
Is tired of productivity advice that assumes everyone's brain works the same way
Wants honest conversations about the messy reality of making art with mental health challenges
Has felt like you're the only artist struggling with stuff everyone else seems to handle easily
Is curious about the parts of creativity that Instagram posts don't show
Craves permission to work at your own pace instead of forcing yourself through creative blocks
Wants to understand your patterns instead of just pushing through them and hoping for the best
Has been making things for years and senses that health or circumstance has shifted something in that practice
Is ready to go deeper than inspiration and into the actual terrain of your creative life
What’s Next?
This work is designed to meet you where you are. You don't need to read everything at once. In fact, you don’t need to read everything at all. Take what serves you, bookmark what intrigues you, and return when you're ready. Your creative journey, and your relationship with this content, gets to unfold at your own pace.
Ready to dive deeper? Choose your path below.
Want a little more detail? Read the About Page.
Want to better understand my framework? Check out What is Creative Health Cartography or the Framework Overview
Ready for action? Order a Creative Health Map.
Want to start with a self-guided tool? Get the Creative Health Cartography Workbook.
Ready to read? Browse by interest using the full Table of Contents.
This is really so spot on and connects with the current project I am part of at St Pancras Hospital for Mental Health. The new exhibition is for War Veterans with PTSD Curated by The Arts Project in London. I participate by creating art and also performing , however this time round I have been asked to help create the alcove entrance and later in September to host / facilitate an hour open mic type event with the artists all veterans. All in progress. Seeds of Hope: A New Dawn.
Discovering your work is a true gift. 🌱 Thankyou. Lucinda 🌱
I hadn't seen that library pic yet, and I really like it! That's a cool image.
I'm not sure I know anyone here on Substack who writes more than I do, except you. I also really love the Substack tithe idea (I think I've mentioned this to you before), and once I've started building up a significant number of subs, I think I'm gonna do the same thing. Right now, my expenses aren't quite covered, but soon.