Ali McKleroy, M.A., LMFT

Founder • Art Therapist • Author • Artist

Hi, I’m Ali. I’m a licensed art therapist of 20 years, and the founder of Center for Spark®.

Burnout didn’t come crashing in. It happened slowly, over time.

Back-to-back sessions with little time to breathe.

The way I stopped making art for myself.

The way I lost my humor.

The way my joy felt so diminished.

The way my body carried a heavy tiredness.

It showed up in the small compromises like skipping walks and yoga classes, pushing through fatigue, setting aside my own needs - until I barely recognized myself.

Private practice had once felt like freedom, like possibility. But gradually, my light had begun to seriously fade.

My creativity went quiet and the spark that once fueled my sense of aliveness dimmed.

This is how burnout often comes to therapists. It’s not always a single breaking point, but often a slow erosion of joy and vitality.

And yet, what I’ve discovered is that our radiance never truly disappears (thank goodness!). It waits for us in the places we’ve forgotten to look: in art, in ritual, in breath, in community.

That’s why I created Restoring the Radiant Healer - a monthly sanctuary where we return to our own medicine:

🌙 Creative practices that awaken expression, joy and flow.
🌙 Soulful rituals that replenish the nervous system and ground.
🌙 Community with therapists who truly see and understand you.

Because creative joy is not a luxury. It’s truly the wellspring of aliveness. And when we reclaim it, our work and our lives begin to light up again.