Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Danielle Ireland. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Danielle , appreciate you joining us today. How’s you first get into your field – what was your first job in this field?

My path to working as a therapist was not clear cut. For a long time I envied people who knew what they wanted to be, went to school for that thing, and then went into the world to do it!

My professional career started at 13yrs as a commercial actress, carried me through theatre school for undergrad with big dreams of living in LA. That was the plan.

Soon, reality, culture-shock and a dash of a quarter life crisis hit, and I was back home living with my parents at 22yrs old with an art degree. Then, I became a ballroom dance instructor. This was my job for the next 7yrs. It ticked a lot of boxes that my ego loved. It wasn’t a desk job. People were excited when I talked about it and often responded with, “You teach dance for a living?!” I got to wear sparkly costumes and perform for a living.

After a few years, I started to see that in order for me to make a real life, or a real living, the only way to do that in dance was to either become a world champion and travel the world as a coach, or own a studio. I didn’t want to do either. That knowing was both tremendously powerful and equally terrifying because I had no clue what I was going to do next. I was qualified to pretend being chased by zombies/take a brief pause to check my lottery ticket (a job that I actually did for The Walking Dead and Hoosier Lottery) or teach people to Rumba at wedding receptions.

So, I started applying for jobs that seemed closely related to anything that I liked – fashion, skin care, wellness, etc. I would feel a rush of adrenaline when I’d get hired and then feel a deep sense of dread three months later. This was not where I wanted to be.

Little by little, during all of these twists and turns, I started to compile a list of what I liked about each job, why I liked it, what motivated me and how I wanted to feel. This long and winding road brought me to an application for the IU School of Social Work. I learned after reviewing the application that my theatre degree didn’t provide me with all of the prerequisites I’d need to get into the program.

I took one full-time semester to get the classes I needed, and then applied. I don’t remember a lot of the logistics of this process, just experiencing a lot of stress sweat, and feeling a lot of self-doubt and fear about learning how to site sources in academic research papers.

I was accepted into the program, and along the way had a stroke of luck. I connected with a former dance student who happened to have the same degree I was getting, and she also owned her own private therapy practice. We stayed in touch. I interned there for a year, graduated on a Sunday in May 2015, and began my first day of work as a therapist the very next day.

During graduate school and well into my first few years as a therapist, I was working under this pressure that the “therapy police” were going to find out they had made a terrible mistake and had hired the wrong person. I was worried that I wouldn’t get clients or if I did, they wouldn’t take me seriously.

It was two months into working as a therapist that I realized I needed the very support I was offering to others. Being in therapy made me a better therapist, and at the very least, helped me sweat less.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

In most helping professions, I’ve noticed a trend that a person’s own healing becomes their medicine and their offering to others. That’s definitely true for me. As a therapist I hold space for my clients to trust themselves, sift through the conflicting stories in their head of who they were told they were and they want to be. 90% of the time, when I client comes in, they already know the truth, they just don’t believe they can admit it or act on it yet. This can be as a result of pain, stress, trauma, neglect, internal family systems, gender bias, racial bias, shame, fear… the list can go on for a while.

Most clients come in wanting to either improve communication in a relationship, to gain clarity with their feelings, and/or is managing varying degrees of anxiety and depression. But more simply, they want to know that they’re good inside.

After listening to hundreds of people share their pain and personal struggles, I’ve come to learn that our pain and fear sound VERY similar. And, the way through it is RARELY a lack of critical knowledge. The people I work with are smart. Really smart. The barrier is more often a combination of limiting beliefs, a deeply rooted avoidance of feeling vulnerable, and fear that asking for help means that there’s “something wrong with them.” There isn’t. Their bodies and brain’s are responding appropriately to the realities of being a human on the planet.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

In a world where there are so many certifications, degrees, leading experts, and influencers – I don’t want one more person telling me what to do. What draws me in and tells me I can trust someone, is what they reveal of themselves.

Training is important for a number of reasons – it demonstrates commitment and creates a baseline of understanding as a consumer. But, focusing only on knowledge and training is like being sold something and only being told about the features and benefits. It speaks to logic first and forgets a deeper truth about people. We’re emotional beings who think, not thinking beings who feel. When we make purchases, order food, go on dates, 99% of the time we’re making emotionally driven decisions that we later justify with logic.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I let my story be a part of what I do, rather than compartmentalize my life before my career as a therapist. I’ve also turned my training as a performer as an asset though my social media marketing, public speaking, workshops and my podcast – Don’t Cut Your Own Bangs. Therapy may not feel accessible to everyone, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other ways people can benefit from key concepts and apply them in their life.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://danielleireland.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danielleireland_lcsw/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/danielleireland.LCSW
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/danielleireland
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/show/0VFZulonTvaa2HIPyJa4Tq?si=JyAzazfISPWyg6I11hAylg HTTPS://PODCASTS.APPLE.COM/US/PODCAST/DONT-CUT-YOUR-OWN-BANGS/ID1427579922

Image Credits
Danielle Ireland