TORI ALLBRIGHT Creative Resilience: Story, Music, Art, Therapy
Dr. Tori Allbright is a multidisciplinary artist, author, musician, and counselor whose work celebrates resilience, healing, and the courage to reclaim your voice.
Through a unique blend of storytelling, music, art, and therapeutic practice, enjoy a safe and supportive space to build resilience and foster deep personal transformation.
Silenced as a child and beginning adulthood with only an eighth-grade education, she defied expectations by earning a Ph.D. in Counseling and an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults. After 199 rejections, she secured literary representation and continues to share stories of hope with the world.
Her original music and award-winning artwork reflect a lifelong journey from pain to purpose, including recognition at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum with the Gold Award for Excellence.
Today, while studying at the Milan Art Institute, Tori creates art that inspires others to persevere through adversity, provides a sanctuary for viewers to heal from the past and step forward with newfound purpose, courage, and inner strength.
Education
Ph.D. Barry University
Specialization: Counseling/Marriage and Family Therapy
M.F.A. Vermont College of Fine Arts
Specialization: Writing for Children and Young Adults
M.S. Stetson University
Specialization: Mental Health Counseling
B.A. Appalachian State University
Major: Psychology
Minor: International Business
President and Founder of Central Florida Mental Health
Over 25 years of clinical experience
Ph.D. Level Licensed Mental Health Counselor
491 Board Certified Qualified Clinical Supervisor of Mental Health Counseling Interns and Marriage and Family Therapist Interns
Photo credit: Golden Ribbon Photography
“After 199 rejections, I finally earned a contract with a literary agent!”
Story
As someone who survived an abusive and unusual childhood, I have heaps of stories to share with the world.
The story I’m most proud of, is how I returned to the States at 18 with only an 8th-grade education, and went on to earn a Ph.D. I’ve written a memoir in verse chronicling my education at a different school for every grade, including Italian public school.
After being on both sides of the couch as therapist and a patient, I have unique insight into complex relationships and their effects. This, combined with a passion to share what I’ve learned, has been my driving force toward publication.
Once I had several polished manuscripts, I pursued representation by a literary agent, but that was met with 199 rejections! Feeling discouraged, I literally turned those No’s into a YES by printing my rejection letters and dipping them into paint to spell out the answer I wanted.
I earned an agent on the 200th query! But sadly, the search for an editor to champion my debut manuscript was met with more No’s.
Until I got a YES!
But that yes was for a small contract offering only 100 copies, which would never have put it into the hands of the kids who needed it. The desperate and abused kids like me.
I went back to school and earned my Masters in Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. I worked really hard and VCFA helped me become an even better writer!
After graduation, I left my agent and started querying new agents. After about 50 more “Not for me’s,” I found my agent-soulmate, Joyce Sweeney of The Seymour Agency!
Music
“Stop singing, Tori. Your voice is hurting my ears!” –Mother
Can you imagine telling this little face that?
Well, my mother did. Clearly, she has a lot of unresolved issues of her own. My story could have ended there.
But it didn’t.
I felt the fear and pressed on when new lyrics and melodies were waking me in the middle of the night. I persisted through major anxiety after I found a producer willing to work with me and I had to sing in front of an actual human with actual ears.
Two albums later, I’ve learned how to say EVERTHING I need to say.
Even though my mother silenced me as a child, I found the courage to reclaim my voice. Now I help others find theirs.
Life never stops sending you obstacles. This is how we grow. That’s why they’re called growing pains!
I’ve particularly experienced a lot of growing pains.
After releasing two albums of my original music, Beautiful Pain and True to You under the name Tori, I became very frustrated because the algorithms assigned my music to Grammy-winner, Tori Kelly. The people who needed my stories of resilience and transformation couldn’t find them.
Even though my name is also Tori Kelley (2 E’s), I had to make the difficult decision to start over again with a new name. Tori Allbright.
I’ve taken down my old music and am starting fresh. My debut single, Have Courage Be Kind, releases August 14th!
Watch for my new releases to hit every 4-6 weeks after that leading up to my two new album releases titled, “Through The Storm” and “Into The Light.” My songs will be available everywhere soon!
Be sure to hit Save on Tori Allbright in your music accounts.
NEW SINGLE!
Have Courage Be Kind, New Single Drops 8/14/26
Photo Credit: Golden Ribbon Photography
Art
When I was in middle school, I proudly came home with the results of a career test they had given us. It said I could be a psychologist, a kindergarten teacher, or an artist. I announced that I was going to become an artist!
Mother grabbed the form and read the other options. She said, “No, you’re going to become a doctor. That way you can take care of me.”
Since I was an obedient little minion, I did earn a doctorate and founded Central Florida Mental Health. For over twenty years, I helped people transform their lives while ignoring my own.
Now, I’ve retired from clinical practice and am dedicating the next half of my life to bringing the creative resilience methods I developed (stumbled upon) to heal myself and lead me to the best life I could ever have imagined.
From being told that I could not do a thing. From being told that I was the academic and my sister was the artist (and she is truly very talented). I defied the odds by not only making my art privately for me, but actually getting to travel with my art globally.
I earned The Gold Award for Excellence for my photo, Flying Through Italy, at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. Was chosen to present two acrylic and mixed-media pieces, “Unlimited” and “Bright Life,” at the Modern Art Museum of Yerevan, where those same pieces gained permanent placements. “Unlimited” at the Aram Khachaturian Museum in Armenia and “Bright Life” at D’Clinic to aid in the healing of hospital patients.
The expanse of exciting art adventures that keep coming have blown me away. All it took was courage and a willingness to learn, work, and rally after being told No. Eventually, if you keep asking, keep trying, a Yes will come.
Photography
Click image to watch
Click to watch
Acrylic/Mixed-Media
Click image to hear the poem
Soft Pastels
Inquire at: [email protected]
Originals of all the above available. High Quality Giclee Prints Available Soon!
- Art Awards and Exhibitions
- Art Palm Beach 2026. “Go Go Go” and “Breathe Breathe Breathe.”
- Art Expo New York 2026. “Felicity” and “Elvis.”
- July 18-24, 2025. Exhibited two paintings, “Bright Life” (Acrylic, 11×14) and “Unlimited” (Acrylic and Mixed-Media, 8×10), at the Yerevan Expo, curated by Nadine Isajanyan and Julienne Johnson, at The Modern Art Museum of Yerevan, Armenia.
- June 6-12, 2025. Earned the Gold Award for Excellence for “Flying Through Italy” (Photography, 11×14), when I represented the United States in the 24th Japan International Art Exchange Exhibition at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, curated by Julienne Johnson, and which is now accepted into the Corporate Collection in Japan to be used in rotating non-profit exhibitions in Japan and China for cultural enrichment of the people and for teaching.
- May 2025. Two artworks accepted for the Life in the Pet Lane Healthy West Orange Arts Center. “Good Blue Dog” (Oil Pastel, 5×7) and “Got Tuna?” (Charcoal, 5×7).
- April 2025. Won Second and Third place for the South Lake Art League Spring Photography Show for “Carnevale Peacock” (18×30) and “Carnevale Peacock Face” (16×20).
- April 19, 2025. Accepted into the Winter Haven Art Festival for soft pastels and mixed-media.
- August 2024. Won First, Second, and Third place for the South Lake Art League Fall Photography Show for “The Power of Red” (16×20), “Carnevale Wedding” (16×20) and “Flying Through Italy” (11×14).
- April 2024. Won Third place for “All We Need Is Love” (Ink, Acrylic and Mixed-Media, 16×20) in the South Lake Art League Spring Art Show.
- Art Teacher of Soft Pastels and Mixed Media Art Journaling Classes at the South Lake Art League and SOBO Art Gallery Winter Garden Art Association.
- Featured Artist of the Month at the South Lake Art League (February 2023 and May 2025).
- RedBubble.com and Etsy. Tori Allbright Artist Store featuring my designs on products for children and adults.
Therapy
Do it.
It took many years to put myself back together after the complex PTSD of my childhood. I’m sure I’ll continue to heal my whole lifelong. If you’ve made it this far on my site, you’ve learned that dreams come true for those who work. And that growing is painful but worth it. Honestly, you’re in pain anyway if you don’t take a good hard look at yourself in the mirror. The best gift you can give yourself, is to get out of your own way. Check your ego and get the Recovering Perfectionist wagon with me. I fall off from time to time, and so will you, but that’s all part of the journey. So long as you have supportive people in your life who will offer a hand to pull you back on, you’ll be A-okay. And when you’re not okay, because sometimes we are all not okay, guess what? It’s okay! Feelings pass. They never stay forever. Hold on and press against the storm (shameless plug for my upcoming single, Press Against the Storm on the Through the Storm album).
Creative Resilience: Story, Music, Art, Therapy came to me after realizing that I needed all the art forms to put myself back together.
Story
I needed stories to inform me of how things could be, even difficult traumatic stories, so I could see possibilities of healing from the safety of my reading nook. I needed the space on a page to tell my own story and see it from a new perspective, in a safe place where I wasn’t in danger anymore and could process what had happened to me, and then decide on what I’d like to be different now, and what power I possessed to make the changes I needed. Reading and writing actually changes your brain structure. In short, when you read and write, it creates new neural pathways, it’s like you’re performing your very own brain surgery!
Music
I needed melodies and the rhythms of music to rewire my neural pathways in all the nooks and crannies that words alone couldn’t access. I needed that deeper level of expression and healing that music provides. Each time I encountered a highly charged emotional event, a song would come and pick me up and dust me off. Writing music and singing my songs has helped to empower my voice and deepened my understanding of life. I’m very grateful to artists like Joni Mitchell, Sara Bareilles, Tracy Chapman, Jewel, and Sarah McLachlan.
Art
I needed the tactile feeling of wet paint as I pushed it around the canvas. The crinkling sound of paper as I balled it up and shaped it. Art gave me the ability to give voice to feelings and thoughts that were long buried and too dangerous to speak aloud. The human body can only contain so much until it leaks into disease. By putting my pain literally Out There on the canvas, on paper, on cereal boxes, and whatever other trash I could get my hands on, I was able to non-surgically remove painful tumors from inside my body, metaphorically, and also I believe, preventatively.
Therapy
I needed to be able to talk to someone objective, who wouldn’t tell my parents all the bad things I needed to say out loud. Someone who could hold space for me to vent, cry, process, express, expel, and release all my stocked shelves of scars. Seriously, I had scars growing over my scars. So while I’ve developed a very tough skin, there comes a point in one’s life where it’s a blessing to be vulnerable.
I used to plan everything, but now I trust myself that I can handle whatever comes and take care of myself as needed.
There are many different therapists and forms of therapy. If you try one and don’t feel like you clicked with them, don’t give up; try another therapist. Remember that they are people and we all have different personalities and clinical styles. Find what works for you.
Throughout my training as a clinician, I learned that a person has to be ready to look in the mirror before they can do the really transformative work. That can take time, be patient with yourself.
There can’t be rainbows without some rain.
Much Love and Light,
