Meet Danielle Burnham

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

Danielle, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

My resilience comes from not only life experiences, but it’s part of my DNA. My mom & her father, my grandfather, are the ones who passed this onto me genetically, as they did my dark hair & fair skin. It’s part of what I’ve always seen as their strong, Irish heritage. Their mental & emotional strength is as solid as the Blarney Stone itself. I grew up witnessing them rise up & move forward in life after significant challenges & profound loss. It started when my mom was a child. Her maternal grandfather died by suicide when she was five. At eight, her eleven-month-old sister died to medical complications from a freak illness. My mom & grandfather endured years of mental & emotional distress from my grandmother’s chronic depression & suicidality, & mental health hospitalizations. My grandmother, like her father before her, died by suicide when I was seven. This & the divorce of my parents when I was three, were my first experiences with loss & trauma, but also with learning how to move on & grow in life despite them. Through my life, my resiliency has grown from being challenged. My younger brother’s suicide attempt when I was twenty-five, my estranged father’s frequent suicide attempts & chronic mental health issues, & a devastating miscarriage are a few of the challenges. Looking back, I don’t know how I got through those moments when I was anxiety ridden & grieving so deeply, I could barely breathe. Surprisingly, I came out on the other side of those moments, stronger than before, like when a broken bone mends & it’s stronger in that spot. As an art therapist, a trauma informed yoga teacher, as a mother, friend, you name it, I focus a lot on the importance of resilience & teach people steps to establishing & nurturing it. Some people are lucky like me to have those genetic predisposition & good teachers. I know that resilience can be learned. It just takes a little know how & practice.

I’m grateful that I can watch my seventy-three-year-old mom be just as strong as she was when she was twenty-three. What a gift to be cut from that kind of cloth.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I’ve been an art therapist for twenty-seven years. It is my purpose & I truly love it. Being able to give people an opportunity to explore & express their thoughts & emotions this modality is extraordinary. As someone who works with the adult population, the last five & a half in corrections system, I find it very rewarding to give people a voice when they feel they have none. Creating art provides a unique opportunity for this often underserved, stigmatized group a chance to be seen, heard & understood. So many of the incarcerated men & women I have worked with have experienced profound childhood trauma & loss that went untreated or recognized. My first encounters with them are also their first time experiencing any kind of mental health treatment. Once they get past their initial fears/concerns about art therapy, therapy in general, & trust is developed, they really utilize artistic & verbal expression as tools to communicate, cope & grow. I’m truly humbled for each person I’ve had the privilege to share in this experience.

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

I’’d have to say my skills/abilities that have been most impactful are my authenticity, my ability to listen & my ability to create & hold a safe, nurturing space for people, especially those who are struggling mentally/emotionally.

I think we need to hone in our skills or talents & spend time growing them.

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?

As a person who has experienced anxiety for much of my life, I’ve had to build my own coping skills box.. I exercise every day, I write daily in a gratitude journal, I try to be present by focusing on my breath (hence my yoga practice). I spend as much time outdoors, specifically hiking or walking with my husband. I love cooking for my family & friends.
I feel like my own experience with yoga has had an enormous influence on how I approach people in therapy. I have that awareness & sensitivity about it.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: burnhamdanielle
• Facebook: Danielle Burnham

Image Credits

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