Seeing the Person, Not the Problem

Early in her training, Danielle Weiss had experiences in a hospital psychiatric unit and a domestic violence program that helped shape the therapist she would become.

In settings where it could be easy to focus primarily on diagnoses, symptoms, or problems, Danielle found herself looking for the person underneath them.

She could see potential. She wanted to understand what someone had experienced, connect with them as a human being, and help them grow without sacrificing their dignity in the process.

Sometimes, she noticed a stark difference between that perspective and the way people receiving mental health care were treated around her.

Danielle remembers thinking there had to be a better way.

That belief—that people deserve mental health care that recognizes their humanity, not just their struggles—still shapes her work today.

An Unexpected Path to Therapy

Becoming a therapist wasn’t Danielle’s original plan.

What she did know was that she wanted to help people—and that she loved creating things.

She initially studied graphic design before taking what she describes as a long shot and earning a place in a competitive dental hygiene program. Halfway through, she realized it wasn’t the right direction.

So she returned to her first love: art.

While exploring ways to combine creativity with helping others, Danielle discovered creative arts therapy. She earned her bachelor’s degree in creative arts therapy and entered the mental health field, later pursuing a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling.

In some ways, it brought together threads that had been present throughout her life.

Danielle had participated in community outreach from a young age, including volunteering in homeless shelters and soup kitchens and supporting fundraising and outreach for domestic violence shelters.

Before beginning her mental health career, she also worked in the food industry throughout high school and college and briefly in business-to-business sales.

Her first professional role in behavioral health was in admissions and case management at a substance use treatment center.

From there, the direction became increasingly clear.

Mental Health Care With Dignity

Danielle’s early clinical experiences had a lasting influence on the way she thinks about mental health.

She doesn’t want therapy to become an exercise in identifying everything that’s “wrong” with someone.

Instead, she’s interested in the whole person.

What happened to them?

How did they learn to survive it?

What strengths are already there?

And what might help now?

That perspective is particularly important in Danielle’s work with trauma.

Behaviors that look like problems from the outside can make much more sense when we understand what a person’s brain has learned to do in response to difficult experiences.

Danielle sees trauma responses as evidence of something remarkable: the brain’s ability to adapt and survive.

The goal isn’t to criticize the brain for doing what it learned to do.

It’s to recognize when those once-protective responses are interfering with life now—and help someone develop ways of responding that work better for the life they’re living today.

What Is Therapy With Danielle Like?

Danielle describes herself in the therapy room as friendly, conversational, laid-back, direct, and sometimes humorous.

She’s willing to follow wherever a client needs the session to go.

That doesn’t mean she’ll avoid difficult conversations.

Danielle values honesty and will be direct with clients when she believes it’s helpful. But she also pays attention to how something is communicated, striving to say things in a way the person sitting across from her can actually receive.

She hopes clients experience her as compassionate and caring, but also clear.

Most importantly, she wants to be an ally in someone’s process—not the person who swoops in to “fix” them.

Because Danielle doesn’t believe people come to therapy to be fixed.

“How Was Your Week?”

Clients don’t need to walk into Danielle’s office knowing exactly what they want to discuss.

She usually begins with something much simpler:

“How was your week? What’s new?”

What’s happening in someone’s life right now often provides clues to the larger themes they’re working through.

A frustrating interaction. An anxious moment. A relationship conflict. Something that went surprisingly well.

Those everyday experiences give Danielle and her clients something real and immediate to explore—and remove the pressure to arrive at therapy with a perfectly prepared topic.

There may also be humor along the way.

Danielle believes finding humor in life’s challenges can be valuable. She uses memorable phrases, silly ways of remembering therapeutic skills, and whatever else helps an idea stick after someone leaves the room.

Because what happens outside the therapy room matters tremendously.

As Danielle puts it:

“The magic happens between sessions.”

Therapy Isn’t One Size Fits All

Danielle may be an especially good fit for someone who isn’t entirely convinced about therapy yet.

In fact, she wants clients to tell her when something isn’t working.

If you don’t like the way therapy is going, say so.

If an approach isn’t helpful, they can try something else.

If Danielle isn’t the right therapist, they can talk about finding someone who may be a better match.

She doesn’t believe there is one correct way to do therapy—or one therapist who is right for everybody.

That openness is part of what Danielle believes creates a strong therapeutic relationship.

For her, the foundation is human connection.

The more genuine the relationship and the greater the trust between therapist and client, the more room there is for honesty—and for meaningful work.

Women’s Mental Health, Motherhood, and Trauma

Danielle works with teens, adults, and older adults and has particular clinical interests in anxiety, trauma, relationships, depression, life transitions, perinatal mental health, and women’s mental health.

She feels an especially strong clinical connection with women navigating early motherhood alongside a history of trauma.

Danielle believes experiences and emotions that have been pushed aside don’t simply disappear.

Therapy can offer a place to understand them without reducing someone to what happened to them.

Her interest in women’s mental health also intersects naturally with her broader approach to trauma: understanding the ways people have adapted, respecting the purpose those adaptations once served, and helping clients decide what they want to carry forward.

Creativity Still Has a Place

Danielle may not have become a graphic designer or pursued fine art as a career, but creativity never really disappeared from her life.

She still enjoys making music, creating things, learning new skills, and working with her hands.

That creative background influences the flexibility she brings into therapy.

There doesn’t have to be one prescribed route from where someone is now to where they want to be.

Sometimes the work involves experimenting, looking at something differently, finding language that finally makes sense, or discovering an approach that fits this particular person rather than simply following a formula.

The Goal Is Eventually Not to Need Therapy

Danielle has a clear idea of what she ultimately hopes clients take from their work together.

She wants them to learn how to “therapize” themselves.

Therapy isn’t supposed to make someone permanently dependent on a therapist.

It’s an opportunity to understand yourself, practice new ways of responding, build skills, and learn what you need so that you can navigate future challenges more independently.

New problems will happen.

Difficult emotions will happen.

Life will change.

Danielle hopes her clients eventually leave therapy knowing they have tools they can carry with them when it does.

The goal of therapy, ultimately, is to get out of therapy.