Meet Dani Sullivan, LCSW | Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Educator and Author ; CEO and Founder of Intentions Therapy

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dani Sullivan, LCSW and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dani, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I established Intentions Therapy in November of 2020 after working as a social worker for over 8 years and a therapist for 4 years in treatment centers, crisis response, and community mental health environments. When establishing my business in Florida, I knew that I wanted to focus on serving the LGBTQIA+ community and I was thrilled to be able to use my own identity-informed and interdisciplinary therapeutic approach in working with clients. I was most excited to work with clients who were willing and excited to make changes in their lives and engage in an intentional therapeutic relationship.

A big reason I began exploring self employment and started Intentions Therapy was because I struggled sustain my own mental, emotional, and embodied wellbeing in previous work environments. I am a chronically ill, multiply neurodivergent, invisibly disabled, non-binary trans therapist. These intersecting identities and experiences inform my clinical approach and have required I structure my practice in a way that honors my unique needs, accommodates my differences, and centers my values as well as making my healing offerings sustainable to my community.

3 years ago, I started offering virtual individual therapy to one client, and over time that one client became two, then three. I had no idea how my practice would take shape and was not prepared for the ways this work would shape me. I am elated to see that choosing to align with myself in my work has opened doors I didn’t know existed. Claiming the neurodivergent and queer parts of myself that have been shunned or left out of the industry and embracing my trans identity while serving the trans, gender expansive, and LGBtQIA+ community has been one of the most profound acts of self-love in my life.

3 years later, I am now licensed as a clinical social worker in Florida and Illinois. I have expanded my range of virtual services to serve couples, families and groups, as well as offering therapy and professional consultation to other therapists, coaches and care workers looking to embrace their truth, accommodate their body-minds and center their values in their work.

In August 2023, my first published book “Intention: 10 Ways to Manifest a More Purposeful Life” was released by Welbeck publishing. This 10 chapter therapeutic guide supports the reader in understanding their needs and boundaries, and living with clarity. “Intention” is a low-cost book that can be found that combines practical techniques, reflection prompts, transformative exercises, and inspirational stories to guide the reader into a deeper relationship with themself. By incorporating the teachings within this book, you will find greater clarity, connection, and self-compassion in your life.

As a therapist, I wanted to include my favorite tools and resources that I use to support my clients who are healing from trauma and chronic stress. I wanted to make the most potent parts of therapy accessible through this book and its exercises. If you are in therapy, or on your own self-healing journey, this book will accompany you on your healing journey, offering space for hopeful reflection.

Every human is worthy and deserving of care, time and space to discern their path, so I write to teach individuals to offer this care, time and space to themselves. my blog can be accessed for free at intentionstherapy.ccom/blog and “Intention’ is widely available for purchase through many online retailers, including bookshop.org and thriftbooks.com. I encourage you to purchase your copy through an independent or local bookstore, or to get one of my limited signed author copies at intentionstherapy.com/intention

What should our readers know about your business?
I am a non-binary and neurodivergent licensed therapist. I offer therapy services to clients located in Illinois and Florida and I offer relationship and embodiment coaching virtually worldwide. I am here to teach inner healing as a tool for collective liberation. My educational and clinical social work centers the needs of people in marginalized bodies and identities while practicing from a non-pathologizing perspective. This means that I do not view groups of symptoms, behaviors, conditions and experiences as inherently abnormal, unhealthy and disordered. There is no inherent wrong or bad, just natural diversity. I see the full spectrum of humanity and we are as diverse, complex and abundantly creative as the natural world we come from.

I am passionate about embracing self-acceptance and attuning to the most vulnerable parts of self with radical compassion, non-judgement and dignity. My roots as a social worker are in storytelling, community organizing, and restorative justice. My work seeks to challenge narratives of division, separation, fear and hopelessness by holding space for people to embrace the fullness of their identity, expression and experience.

I teach folks from all walks of life to slow down, listen inwards, meet their body, and clarify a healing path through whatever stands in their way. Living with intention feels aligned, attuned, and grounded in the truth of our needs, ambitions, limitations, and circumstances.

Allowing myself to be seen as a therapist in my marginalized identities and to speak openly and without shame about my own mental health has involved much vulnerability and trust in self. The risk of sharing my authentic truth has paid off in abundance, as it has led me to work with clients who not only know me and see me in my humanity, but who also share similarly beautiful and complex life experiences with me. This is a distinct privilege: to be able to embrace the fullness of myself in my work. I know this practice is made possible through self employment.

My clients are my peers and they are the experts in their own experience. I treat each person I meet with the inherent dignity and respect that they deserve. I started out in the field of social work with a focus on vulnerable populations, runaway and homeless youth, LGBTQIA+ students and emerging adults, community violence, and s*x and gender justice. My work has always been about holding space for people to speak their truth and grow in solidarity with one another. I have immense gratitude that I am able to use these lived experiences to fuel inner and interpersonal healing and transformation in my life and the lives of those around me.

If you asked me what I wanted to be when I was in elementary school, my answer would be “an artist”. I wanted to express, create, and make something that didn’t exist before.

My 7 year old self would be shocked to find out that I spend most of my week in therapy and coaching sessions, as well as cultivating educational and healing resources for my own business. I see my work within the Intentions Therapy practice as part of a creative, multidisciplinary career. I am a therapist and coach, an educator, an author of a published book, and a community member. My work challenges binaries and doesn’t fit neatly into any boxes.

To celebrate pride month in 2023, I collaborated with a friend and local artist, Lawrence Chappe, on a collection of art exploring the themes of visibility and healing in connection. Titled “Be Seen” & “ Bear Witness”. The Intentions x Chappe Collection celebrates the healing power of being known in our truth and raised mutual aid funds for trans individuals in Florida through the Transinclusive Group. To learn more about this project and to shop the collection, visit shop.chappe.studio/collections/chappe-x-intentions

I believe that to explore the inner world and generate interventions to support individuals, couples and groups in addressing their needs, desires and limitations is an act of creativity. Therapy requires imagination. Healing engages mystery, it asks us to look outside of the patterns keeping us stuck to explore fresh perspectives and solutions.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If in vail, check out rocky mountain racclette for an unforgettable meal, if in denver, head to Liberty puzzles for a one of kind wooden puzzle (completing puzzles is a great form of meditation!)

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
The simple realization that I can not do this work alone has been integral in my success. One thing folks may not recognize about private practice therapy work is that it can be profoundly isolating to provide care if you do not have a network of care for yourself. We need one another. I want to call in the important work of the Kintsugi Therapist Collective, a community for therapists and aligned care workers dedicated to building embodied and liberatory practices of care. KTC was founded by Onyx Fujii and Asher Pandjiri. Their work, building a network of support is monumental in offering space for me and so many others to show up fully as the therapists and care workers we want to embody. The single decision that has contributed most to my success has been seeking out peer support, consultation, and community with other therapists, social workers and care workers. Sharing the load.

I attend multiple virtual peer support groups to offer and receive support with other therapists where we discuss our work, share resources, and consult on challenging cases. I meet 1:1 with my therapist friends and colleagues in my network to remember I am not alone in this work. I lean on my queer and trans community, my family and chosen family. I remember a rich history of change makers, rebels and healers that have been doing this work for centuries and it enlivens me.

Website: https://www.intentionstherapy.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/intentionstherapy/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sullydanni/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/intentionstherapyheals

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/intentions-therapy-delray-beach

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkcXXL409Ox9uFHmRDd6N8Q

Other: pride 2023 Intentions x Chappe Collection – https://shop.chappe.studio/collections/chappe-x-intentions

Image Credits
all photos mine