Inspired by Betsy Selvam’s talk on Art as a Therapeutic Tool, delivered at Stimpunks Seeds of Cope event 17th May 2025, and the amazing Neuroqueering Your Creative Practice Course I am on with KR Moorhead, Marta Rose and Meg Max.
Burnout can creep into our lives as a type of deep exhaustion that won’t lift, no matter how much sleep you have. It can leave you feeling lost, disconnected from joy and leaving you with no energy or capacity to keep pushing through. For many neurodivergent people, the demands of conforming to normative expectations around work, rest, and productivity make us especially vulnerable to burnout. Healing from burnout is not just about stopping everything, when you are ready it is also about reconnecting with ourselves and resting in meaningful ways that work for us, not against us. One of the most powerful ways to do that for some people may be through creative flow.
Flow as Restorative Resistance
In her presentation on Art as a Therapeutic Tool, Betsy Selvam spoke about the transformative power of creative expression in healing. Betsy said creative practices and, “art opens up space for healing and a way of reclaiming your own narrative.” This idea resonated deeply with me, using art, writing and creative practice to connect with others in the community can help rewrite the stories written for us by systems that have never understood us as Autistic people.
Letting go of how we should rest or should work opens up a pathway towards restorative flow. When we’re in flow, when we are completely absorbed and immersed in our monotropic interests and passions, may be in a creative activity, something shifts. Engaging with your interests if you are Autistic is about more than simply having a hobby, it is a core part of being monotropic, it enables us to be present, to feel, to flow and liberate ourselves from other demands. Finding time and pockets of flow is essential for everyone’s well being to help prevent, and also heal from burnout.
Burnout Recovery Through Creative Practice
Engaging in creative flow, whether through art, writing, dancing, crafting, or other joyful sensory activities, can be really cathartic.
Flow helps by:
- Offering a soothing rhythm for overwhelmed sensory and nervous systems
- Supporting regulation and reconnection with our bodily needs
- Fostering a sense of purpose and empowerment outside capitalist demands of neuronormative expectations of productivity
- Reignites curiosity, imagination, and playfulness and can bring joy!
- Creates connections with others and opens up opportunities for collaboration.
Burnout recovery isn’t about returning back to “normal”, I think it’s about creating a new rhythm of being that honours your flow, your natural fluctuations of energy, your attention, and your authentic story. Creative practice provides one of the few spaces where this is possible, it enables a space where you can be present with yourself without judgment or pressure . You don’t have to be good at art, craft, writing or dancing, it is the process that is important, the taking part and joining in rather than the end product.
Reclaiming Rest
In the dominant neuronormative culture, rest is often framed as a reward for hard work or as a pause before getting “back on track.” For neurodivergent people, especially Autistic and ADHD people, rest needs to be understood differently. Rest isn’t just a break, it’s re-balancing. Engaging in flow states can be deeply restorative and energising and help with resting in a meaningful way that replenishes energy.
I have explored ways of reclaiming rest and affirming flow states and energy cycles in my article here – Reclaiming Rest.
Collective Flow
While individual creative practices are powerful, shared flow can be just as healing and even more transformative for some people. When we come together in collective flow and creativity by body doubling, co-writing, co-making and co-creating without pressure it is at these times we can build community and strengthen our connections. Shared flow can help remind us that we’re not alone in our experiences, they allow us to share regulation, joy, and foster interdependence where people can co-create meaning together and create a shared sense of belonging. Collective flow allows for a shared rhythm where when one person’s flow may be slow and they’re finding things difficult, another person’s flow can support them and relieve some of the pressure. Flexible, neurodivergent friendly approaches to work and creativity are helpful for this – things like body doubling and asynchronous working have transformed my life and enabled more room for creativity at times that work for me.
Reclaim Your Narrative
A common barrier to engaging in creative flow is the belief that you have to be ‘good’ at it. Healing through creativity isn’t about skill, I think it is more about presence, it’s about expression and letting go of expectations. You can scribble, collage, sew, move, doodle, dance or journal as a way of discovering more about yourself, there’s no wrong way to create.
As Betsy reminded us, art and creative practices can help you reclaim your narrative. It’s not about being productive; it’s about connecting and reconnecting with yourself, giving yourself permission to explore and to be creative in ways that work for you, finding ways of rewriting your narrative and constructing your own ways of being. Giving your self permission to try new things, experiment and explore.
Engaging in flow, letting go of expectations of how we ‘should’ rest and ‘should’ be working, can be really cathartic. It can help you cope, help prevent burnout and also support the recovery journey.
Explore more:
- Reclaiming Rest: Autistic Rhythms and Neurodivergent Time
- Understanding and Recovering from Burnout
- Monotropism and Collective Flow
