Meet Tanya Dantus

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tanya Dantus a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Tanya, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?

When I was sitting in the hospital after giving birth to my son — after a long labor at home that ended in an emergency c-section — it really dawned on me: women are profoundly undervalued in our society. All of the care, thoughtfulness, nurturing, kindness, wholehearted giving we offer is too often unseen, unpaid, or unsupported.

In that moment, I realized I wanted to do everything I could to change that — to support and empower women, to remind them to value and love themselves, to nurture their own needs, and to speak up about how they deserve to be valued (and paid) equally.

Drawing from my background in the arts and the healing arts, I began creating programs that combined movement, storytelling, ritual, and safe community. Over the years this evolved into some of my signature offerings — Motherhood Empowerment Program, The Power of No, Unleash Your Inner RockStar, and ultimately my flagship, Right HerStory.

Through these spaces, I’ve helped women reclaim their time, their voice, and their bodies — not just as individuals, but as part of a greater sisterhood.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I’m a licensed therapist, Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, and coach, and my work blends depth psychology, somatic practices, and the arts. What excites me most is witnessing women reclaim parts of themselves they thought were lost — their voice, their power, their creativity, their right to take up space.

My approach is integrative and body-centered. I use my RIFRA method (Root, Impact, Feel, Reflect, Action) to help clients move beyond old emotional patterns, not just talk about them. Sessions often weave together movement, storytelling, expressive arts, and ritual alongside evidence-based therapy. The result is a kind of transformation that lives in the body, not just in the mind.

I’ve created and led programs like Motherhood Empowerment, The Power of No, Unleash Your Inner Rockstar, and my signature Right HerStory, which has helped women across the U.S. and internationally step into their authentic voice and share their stories in powerful, healing ways. I’ve also spoken at places as far-reaching as the International Court of Human Rights, and I continue to hold workshops and groups that center community and sisterhood.

What I’d love readers to know is that my work is both deeply personal and deeply professional. I draw not only from graduate studies, certifications, and years of training, but also from my lived experience of healing from codependency, trauma, and navigating single motherhood. That gives me a unique ability to sit with others in their struggles — and to walk with them toward something freer, more embodied, and more true.

What’s new: Right now, I’m expanding my private practice and building new offerings that bring together therapy, coaching, and community in accessible, creative ways. I’m excited about developing group programs and eventually retreats that integrate somatic work, expressive arts, and spirituality. My long-term vision is to create a holistic retreat and community center where people can come home to themselves and to each other.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

The three qualities that have been most impactful in my journey are resilience, creativity, and the willingness to do my own inner work.

✨ Resilience (moving from victimhood to empowerment) — I’ve learned there’s little power in focusing on what others are doing wrong. When I get stuck in victimhood, it drains me. True resilience came when I realized the real power is in looking at myself — what I can shift, how I can respond differently, and where I can grow. That shift, from waiting for others to change to reclaiming my own agency, is empowerment.
Advice: Notice when your energy is locked on others. Redirect it to your own choices and growth — that’s where your freedom lives.

✨ Creativity — My background in the arts has always been a bridge. I started out in theater, dance, and writing, and over time wove those into healing work — from yoga and movement studies to Somatic Experiencing. Creativity gave me ways to express what words alone couldn’t, and it’s also what makes my programs unique.
Advice: Protect your creative spark. It doesn’t need to be performance-level art — it can be how you solve problems, cook, or design your life. Creativity is often where your purpose hides.

✨ Doing my own inner work — My path has included getting sober, healing codependency, studying at Columbia and Pacifica, training as a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, and becoming an LMFT. But beyond credentials, what changed everything was facing my own patterns, healing the mother wound, and learning to parent my inner child while raising my son. I could only take clients as far as I was willing to go myself — and that commitment to my own growth has shaped everything I now offer.
Advice: Invest in your own healing. Whether it’s therapy, recovery, or spiritual practice, the more you root into your own growth, the stronger and clearer your work in the world will become.

Tell us what your ideal client would be like?

My ideal clients are women who may be high-functioning on the outside, but inside feel stuck in painful relationship patterns or old emotional loops they can’t quite shake. Many have histories of relational trauma — growing up in families where love felt conditional, boundaries weren’t respected, or they learned to people-please to stay safe.

They’re often creatives, healers, entrepreneurs, or cycle-breakers who know a lot intellectually — they may have read the books, listened to the podcasts, maybe even been to therapy before. But despite all that insight, they still feel caught in the same patterns of anxiety, over-giving, or choosing unavailable partners.

The women I work best with are motivated, self-aware, and ready to go deeper. They’re not just looking for coping skills — they want transformation. They want to feel safe in their own bodies, to trust their voice, to create boundaries without guilt, and to build relationships that actually nourish them.

That’s where my integrative approach — blending somatic work, depth psychology, and transformational coaching — can really catalyze change. I help them not just talk about their story, but actually rewrite it in the body so they can step into a life that feels freer, fuller, and truly their own.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

@LunaZul Photography

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