It will be easy for you to see why Sharona Jacobs is truly unique among visual artists. You see, she is trained as both a photographer and psychologist.

As a former scientist and academic, she is best positioned to address the topic of mental health among freelancers. It shouldn't come as a surprise that when one's mental health suffers, so does the capacity to be creative and truly in love with what one is doing.

Lucky for us, Sharona is teaching at Inspire Photo Retreats this year. Her class description says it all:

“This class will provide individualized tools for every photographer who has had moments of feeling overwhelmed ? and who hasn’t? Topics will include: types of stress (some help us, some hurt us), self?talk, traits that perpetuate anxiety, and tools such as relaxation, visualization, and coping mechanisms. By the end of the class, each person will have their own individualized systemic approach to reducing stress based on their own particular stressors.”

Photographers face a delicate balancing act every day as we navigate our roles as artists, small business owners, caretakers and family members. Stress is inevitable, but unhappiness is not.

As a photographer who has been affected by stress, I was curious to know more from Sharona about how one went about tracking mental health among freelancers and what coping tools she could offer for stressed out photographers.

Here's our short interview:

Though Sharona isn't teaching a photography class at Inspire, I insisted that she send me some examples of her work. As a portrait photographer, I was intrigued by her approach and her niche as “Boston's Literary Photographer.” So, take a look below:

Inspire Photo Retreats runs from tomorrow, February 8 through February 10th in Newport, Rhode Island.