Grant Hudson, M.A.
Licensed Professional Counselor
and Psychotherapeutic Artist

M.A., Texas State University, 2012
Texas License No. 69914

When I was a child, I saw myself as a scientist. I had a strong inclination towards uncovering truth and what it truly means to be a conscious human. As I approached adulthood, I realized that I was an artist and that my own way of finding truth lay in creating new things by interacting with the world in new ways, and collaborating with others to uncover truth through the act of creation.  

Claiming the label of artist and living into that truth was not an easy thing for me to do. An artist, in the culture in which I was raised, was not something one defined themself as without risking great sacrifice.  

Even though I had yet to gain the courage to study art or performance in undergraduate school, I followed my interest in what it means to be human through the study of linguistics and history. Through linguistic study I learned about how we share and shape our inner world through language. Through historical study I learned how the choices of past humans have woven together to create the complex tapestry of pain and joy that comprises the current state of humanity, and, accordingly, how our own past experiences create who we are in the present.

While I was completing my bachelor’s degree, I found ways of living into my truth as an artist by pursuing stage acting, as well as writing, singing, performing, and recording music. As time passed, and I began to feel a calling towards a different kind of  art--the art of helping people who are struggling, and collaborating with them to build joyful and purposeful lives.

A musician friend of mine directed me to the Texas School for the Blind. I thrived in the role of serving children with disabilities, and went on to spend 4 years in the role of teaching assistant at the school. I then moved on to work with blind adults, teaching them alternative ways of accomplishing everyday tasks, and helping to prepare them for careers. I enjoyed it, but found that my greatest interest was not in helping my clients to be more functional, but in helping them to come to peace with their inner conflict and turmoil, and and to accept and love themselves just as they are. It was through this work that I realized I wanted to become a psychotherapist.

In 2012, I earned a Master of Arts in Counseling from Texas State University and began my private psychotherapy practice while continuing to work in social service agencies. I spent my first year out of graduate school providing psychotherapy to people living in nursing homes. Through working with the elderly and with the profoundly ill and disabled, I encountered people living with great pain and isolation. But in so doing I learned about the immense strength and love humans can display even when so much of what defines them is stripped away.

After that, I worked on a crisis team with police and paramedics to provide counseling to people calling 911 because of a mental health crisis. Emergency response teams can lack emotional intelligence, so it was challenging and meaningful to bring the perspective of a mental health professional into public safety and medical emergencies. I learned so much about how different people respond to dire circumstances, and I had the great privilege and challenge of helping to repair and strengthen the relationship between Austinites and our Police & Paramedics.

After 5 years of working in social services while building my private practice, I left agency work in 2017 to devote all of my professional time to helping rare birds live into their individual truth with joy and purpose.