We recently connected with Danielle Turner, LCSW and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Danielle, thanks for joining us today. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.

The defining moment in my career was realizing that I needed to open my private mental health practice to serve those in my community where they could heal their inner child in a safe environment, where they could be heard, seen, validated and understood. See I have had my own mental health challenges and it was difficulty for me to find a therapist that I could relate to and feel safe. After working in child protection for over 15 years, I changed career paths and began working in an adult mental health clinic. It was in that role, that I began to feel like I was now that therapist that was not relating to her clients. It was scary to start my own business but with the support of my family I was able to push pass my fears so that I could be the therapist that my community needed.

Danielle, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am the owner and CEO of Inner You Clinical Services LLC which was born in 2018 due to my own mental health challenges and wanting to create a safe space for others in my community to get needed mental health services. I am a licensed clinical social worker and provide individual therapy to adults. My mission is to help individuals heal their inner child wounds and see the value of self-care when dealing with mental health challenges.

I am most proud of being the host of The Purple Butterfly Podcast, which is a mental health, self-care and overall wellness podcast with weekly guest. I enjoy interviewing others who are experts in their fields as it relates to wellness. I learn so much from my guest. My mission for my podcast is to be a voice for those who are struggling with self-care. I want the information that listeners receive to leave an impact in a healthy and productive way.

I am very big on self-care. Self-care is my vibe. I am often called the self-care lady when out in public. As humans we do not do enough self-care and I want to change that. I saw the benefits of self-care when dealing with depression and anxiety. I encourage everyone to take the time to make sure they are doing something for themselves on a regular basis. I am creating a series of self-care workbooks and journals to help everyone get on track with their self-care. I currently have 2 workbooks in the series thus far published and available for purchase. The Ultimate Inner You 60-Day Self-Care Workbook and The Ultimate Inner You 60-Day Morning Mindset Workbook.

My brand is about transformation and growth. Henceforth I use purple butterflies in my logo and in the name of my podcast. Butterflies transform in each stage of their life and growth cycles. They struggle to turn into something beautiful. I have been on that path of struggling and turned my life into something beautiful. That is my superpower, that I am relatable. My clients know that I am a human and have had struggles and sometimes still have bouts of anxiety. I am able to give them the blueprint of what I have done, for them to follow or use as a guide. One way that I also impact others is when speaking at women empowerment events in the community on self-care. This give me joy to be able to share my knowledge, gifts and voice with other women.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

For me it has been being authentic, being able to ask for help, being coachable and being pushed out of my comfort zone by friends, family, peers and my coaches. I am not the typical therapist you see on television, where I sit with a note pad and keep asking my client how does that make you feel. I engage with my clients, I am transparent with my clients, and I let them know I am a human. I will not beat around the bush with them or tell them what they want to hear. I hold space for them to laugh, cry, rejoice, be angry and/or explore whatever emotion they are feeling at the time. I start with them where they are. I am consistent with my message and hold myself accountable. I not only talk about healing and self-care, I practice self-care daily to maintain my healing process. I learn from my clients as much as they learn from me. I make mistakes and I am ok with acknowledging them, for instances, when recording my podcast I don’t edit out when I fumble over words, because I am real and I want people to see the real me.

Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?

Right out of high school I wanted to be a paralegal and went to college for a degree in legal studies. Upon graduating I was unable to find a job in the legal field and ended up working as a secretary for the state’s child protection agency. While working there I learned about a weekend program to obtain a bachelor’s degree in human services and started working as a social worker after graduating from the program. I realized I was good at what I did and wanted to grow within my career, so I worked towards getting my licensure hours, took the exam and became licensed as a clinical social worker. I feel like I fell into my career and love it. I would not have thought as a child I would be able to help so many people the way I have and would not change it for the world.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.inneryoullc.com
• Instagram: inneryouclinicalservicesllc
• Facebook: inneryouclinicalservicesllc
• Linkedin: Danielle Turner
• Other: https://anchor.fm/danielle-turner-lcsw
• The Ultimate Inner You Morning Mindset 60-Day Workbook https://a.co/d/1hZ80iL
• The Ultimate Inner You Self-Care Workbook: Heal Your Soul Through Self-Care https://a.co/d/64Kxd9G

Image Credits
Lesile Gomez LMG Photography