Meet Dr Ballou
Dr Eloise Ballou is a psychiatrist, psychotherapist, clinical supervisor and university lecturer.
Her private practice specializes in helping musicians, songwriters and other music industry professionals, as well as creative professionals in the theatre and film industry.
She offers services in Toronto and provides remote services in California and Texas.
She teaches psychodynamic psychotherapy to psychiatry residents at the University of Toronto, where she holds an academic appointment as Adjunct Clinical Lecturer.
She also works as a locum physician, providing emergency and inpatient psychiatric care to remote communities in northern Ontario. She supervises medical trainees at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
She is licensed in California, Texas and Ontario/Quebec (Canada).
She practices medicine in English and French.​​​​
Training
Dr Eloise Ballou completed her undergraduate degree (B.Sc.) in Psychology and Fine Art History at the University of Toronto.
She obtained her Medical Doctorate (MD) at the University of Ottawa and completed her psychiatry residency at the University of Toronto.
She is Board-Certified by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.
​
Why I work as a psychiatrist for musicians
I began my career as a psychiatrist in the emergency department, working with people in acute crisis. Something significant had gone wrong, and they needed help restoring stability quickly. My therapy practice became a different kind of space: one where we could go deeper, think creatively, and still produce real change.
​
I was later invited to offer therapy at a songwriting retreat. The fit was immediate. I saw how directly creative work and psychological life were linked, and how quickly progress happened when both were addressed together.
​
Artists work at high emotional intensity. The pressure is constant and the work is deeply personal. Over time, it became clear that traditional therapy models didn't fit the realities of serious creative lives. Regular weekly sessions often clash with travel, production cycles and periods of intense focus. The artists I worked with were motivated and psychologically attuned, but needed a form of care that matched how they actually live and work.
I developed a flexible, responsive model designed for musicians who are actively creating and pushing their craft forward.
​
As a psychiatrist, I work across the full spectrum of care. I can diagnose and treat psychiatric conditions when needed, and I also work in the grey zone where psychology, performance, and creative identity intersect. This allows me to offer therapy, strategic support, and medical care in an integrated way.
​
The questions we often work on sound like:
-
I have success, but I still feel like an imposter. What's driving that, and how do I resolve it?
-
How do I stay connected to my creative purpose under sustained commercial pressure?
-
How do I build a stable personal life inside a demanding industry?
​
If you're the instrument, my role is to help it function at its highest level.
​
Tell me what's going on, and we'll figure out what needs to shift.
​