I’m Danae Powers, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist providing online therapy for adults and couples navigating anxiety, relationship challenges, life transitions, and the patterns that leave them feeling stuck. With more than 16 years of clinical experience, I bring a practical, direct, and compassionate approach to helping clients create meaningful change.
I am dedicated to helping adults dampen anxiety, women thrive through peripartum challenges, and men recover from past traumas impacting their current relationships. Focusing on working with professionals, I utilize mind/body integrated approaches to generate lasting change in your overall well-being. Because I’m passionate about using mindfulness-based strategies to help you with a variety of concerns, I’ve completed specialized training in integrating mindfulness principles and techniques into my clinical practice as a Certified Mindfulness-Informed Professional (CMIP).
Clinical Experience
I’ve worked as a clinician in multiple community mental health and school settings since 2009 and have been in private practice since 2012. I began my therapy career as a practicum student in 2009 and promoted *through the ranks* to Director of Clinical Services and Training for a community mental health agency with 4 locations. I’ve also worked as a Clinical Supervisor in a variety of community mental health and private practice settings for clinicians working toward licensure in various disciplines (i.e., LMFT, LPCC, LCSW, PsyD, PhD) since 2014.
Therapy Approach
My approach is practical, collaborative, and personalized to who you are and what you want to change. I believe therapy works best when you feel comfortable being honest, challenged, and understood. That means we can have difficult conversations while also making room for humor, curiosity, and the occasional moment of “well…that was not what we expected.”
We all experience the challenges of life in different ways but are able to heal in similar ways. You bring your own strengths (no matter how long unused or forgotten) to our work together. We’ll work together to identify these strengths, add new ones, and minimize (or eliminate) the patterns that keep you stuck.
I draw from evidence-based and relational approaches including:
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Emotionally-Focused Couples Therapy (EFCT)
- Gestalt Therapy
- Gottman Therapy
- Narrative Therapy
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Strategic Therapy
- Structural Therapy
I typically start with CBT which has a short-term focus on symptom relief. I’ll often move to multi-generational or psychodynamic therapies for a longer term focus on how your past is impacting your present as you progress in treatment. As specific concerns present, I use many that are informed by, or work in alignment with, these models. Depending on which therapy model we’re using, there may be more or less clinically-oriented self-disclosure on my part. And I’ll check in with you frequently to make sure our way of working together is working for you!
My Role as Your Clinician
At the same time, or at different times, I may be:
✔ a sounding board for your thoughts and feelings
✔ a container to hold your pain when you cannot
✔ an educator in what is normal about your thoughts and feelings
✔ an educator in what is allowed, or expected, behavior in some area of life
✔ a coach for skill-building
✔ a model for communication and boundaries
✔ a reality-checker of your thoughts and behavior
✔ a cheerleader of your accomplishments
I am always a student of your experiences.
How I Can Help
“Wait… you want me to open my deepest, darkest self to a STRANGER?!?”
If you’ve never been in therapy, or you’ve had a bad experience, the idea of starting therapy can seem very scary.
The most important part of therapy is to find a clinician who *fits* you. That’s why I offer a Discovery Call so that you can ask some basic questions before scheduling an intake session. This is not a therapy session and we don’t work on changing anything during this time. It’s an opportunity for you to get a sense of how I communicate and ask questions. I’ll also use this time to determine if I believe I’m a good fit for you and your therapy goals.
The foundation of therapy is the relationship built between us. This relationship allows for a supportive, safe place for you to be able to challenge yourself to heal and change. Clients often speak of their change being related to having someone they can talk to who is not invested in the outcome of any problem other than their best interest.
Life is about relationships… Make yours GROW!
I love to learn and teach. To me, that is what being a clinician is about.
As a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, I specialize in assisting you as you work through relational issues. I am able to assist you with a multitude of concerns as everything we experience impacts our relationships. My job is to “talk myself out of a job!” I’ll introduce you to different ways of being, all in alignment with your values. Most importantly, I come to learn of your experiences, feelings, and thoughts. My goal is to truly be in partnership with you along the way.
There is nothing more rewarding to me than those moments when you come to believe that you really do have what it takes to change! Maybe it’s an aspect of yourself, your relationship, career, or other part of life. Or maybe it’s just that you now know how to get “unstuck” and move forward.
I continue to be amazed by how strong you are (even when you don’t see it). I rejoice in the times when I can remind you of your strength. It is exciting to be a partner in planting the seeds for healing and positive change. I don’t always get to see the bloom as you move forward outside of therapy. But, you’ll build on the strength and skills you brought to treatment. And, you’ll combine those with the skills and knowledge you take from it.
Clinical Education
• Master of Science, Psychology (emphasis on Marriage & Family Therapy)
• Bachelor of Arts, Behavioral Sciences
• Associate of Arts, Social & Behavioral Sciences
California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, Clinical Life Member
Certified Mindfulness Informed Professional