Danielle Dolan, LMHC, DNP

Danielle Dolan, LMHC, DNP is a psychiatrist at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, MN.

What is your practice philosophy? My practice philosophy is to listen deeply to my patients and truly hear what they are saying. I believe that it is imperative to understand patients’ personal experience and their interpretation of life events in order to make good clinical decisions. Listening to one another is also what connects people and allows trust to be built, which is necessary for any sort of therapeutic alliance to take hold and is the foundation for good psychiatric care.

Hometown: Scottsdale, AZ

What are you passionate about? And why? I am passionate about learning and fitness, but I am most passionate about my family and friends many of whom live out of state thus requiring more effort to stay connected. They are the most important part of my life.  

If I wasn’t a provider, I would be a: Journalist because I love asking questions and traveling. 

Why did you become a provider? When did you know this was the career for you? I became a provider because I wanted to merge my experience as a mental health therapist with my love of science. I knew that that this was what I wanted do when I was working as a clinician on a mobile crisis team in New York City in 2010 and had a hard time referring patients for psychiatry due to the dearth of providers. I realized that I wanted to be able to provide this service in addition to therapy so that I could do more to help those with severe mental illness that required medication therapy as well. 

Something I have learned from my patients is: People are incredibly resilient, and sometimes all that they need is to feel heard and understood.