This powerful episode of The Happier Life Project explores the healing potential of creativity and self-expression with artist, educator, and mental health advocate Liz Atkin — a woman who has transformed her experience of Compulsive Skin Picking and anxiety into extraordinary works of art, compassion, and connection.
Liz’s story is one of resilience and reinvention. Once a dancer, she discovered drawing as a way to self-soothe during her daily commute — a practice that soon became both her therapy and her calling. Through her project #CompulsiveCharcoal, Liz has gifted over 18,000 free charcoal drawings to commuters around the world — from London and New York to Singapore and Cologne — sparking conversations about mental health in the most unexpected places.
Her work has been exhibited internationally and is held permanently in the Wellcome Collection, South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, Derby Museum, and the Bethlem Gallery Collection. Liz also teaches in schools, hospitals, hospices, prisons, and universities, and is an ambassador for The Big Draw, the world’s largest drawing festival celebrating creativity for health and wellbeing.
In this episode, Liz shares her compelling story — from the moment she first realised she was a skin picker to how it affected her quality of life and emotional wellbeing. She also talks about the coping strategies she tried, what led her to begin drawing on public transport to self-soothe, and the birth of her global initiative, #CompulsiveCharcoal. Host Gabby asks Liz about the emotional reality of living with a compulsion, her international work teaching art in schools, hospitals, and prisons, and why creativity is essential for mental health and wellbeing.
A moving and inspiring listen about turning pain into purpose — and how creativity can become one of the most powerful tools for healing and human connection.
To download the free My Possible Self App: https://mypossibleself.app.link/podcast
To follow My Possible Self on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mypossibleself/
To follow Liz Atkin on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liz_atkin/
To check out Liz’s art and information on exhibitions: www.lizatkin.com
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