Dr. Danna Bodenheimer, LCSW, writes about clinical social work topics. Danna is the author of Real World Clinical Social Work: Find Your Voice and Find Your Way and On Clinical Social Work: Meditations and Truths From the Field (The New Social Worker Press).
Danna is the founder of Walnut Psychotherapy Center, and the executive director of the Walnut Wellness Fund. A teacher, author, consultant, supervisor, and businessperson, Danna is above all else a therapist at heart. She lives in Philadelphia with her wife and two children.
Danna graduated from Smith College, earning her bachelor’s degree in Women’s Studies. After wholeheartedly planning on attending a Ph.D. program in psychology, going so far as to get her post-baccalaureate degree in psychology from Columbia University, Danna discovered the intricate beauty and possibility that social work offers. Turning down psychology programs to receive her MSW from Smith College, and returning to her educational roots in Northampton, Danna found her clinical self. After completing two internships in Philadelphia, one in a partial day treatment program and another at a school for psychoanalysis, Danna began her career at the Tuttleman Counseling Center at Temple University.
Three years later, while in the middle of her doctoral studies at the University of Pennsylvania, where she received her DSW, Danna began a teaching career and her own private practice. She has taught at Rutgers, Temple, the University of Pennsylvania, and Bryn Mawr’s Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research.
In 2015, Danna founded Walnut Psychotherapy Center to address the need for long-term trauma-informed psychotherapy for the LGBTQ community. The practice took off, and is now a leader in Philadelphia for its work supporting LGBTQ mental health. Danna’s newest project is the Walnut Wellness Fund, a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to providing financial support to LGBTQ people seeking mental health treatment. Learn more about her work here: www.walnutwellnessfund.com.
Danna received the 2011-2012 Award for Excellence in Teaching from the University of Pennsylvania. She was also selected as a fellow for the American Psychoanalytic Association for 2012-2013. In 2018, she was a semi-finalist for Philadelphia Magazine’s Health Hero Award for her work with the LGBTQ community at Walnut Psychotherapy Center.