Danielle Levanas, Relationship Coach and Drama Therapist
I am a Licensed Creative Arts Therapist and Registered Drama Therapist/Board-Certified Trainer based in Los Angeles.
My work focuses on family systems, vicarious trauma, intersectional identities, anti-racism, and relational healing.
10/01/2025
I have been lucky to be a part of Walking the Beat, a devised theater process at under the leadership of Theo Perkins and Elizabeth Youth Theater Project, for the past 5 years. Tonight we saw the final performance of this year’s cast of teens and police officers who collaborated on a deeply moving piece about Democracy. Didn’t think I’d be feeling such hope at this stage in 2025, but damn this ensemble represents everything good in our world! Through community, not through uniformity of ideas or beliefs, we can find our way out of the mess we are in. Keep meeting in person, folx. Keep talking, creating, sharing, making food, taking care of each other. Keep gathering in person. ❤️ We can be so powerful.
09/28/2025
09/27/2025
So this is what it feels like most of the time these days. Life is full and rich with urgency (mostly others needing me RIGHT NOW for another Dino nugget or bandaid or hug or deep chat). Life is not very abundant in rest or ease. Life is a mess, and I often feel like I’m at the center of the storm just hanging on as all the beautiful people and events and feelings and stories and meals and connections and relationships and challenges spin on by. I’m grateful AND it’s a lot. I’m happy AND I’m filled with anxiety and discontent. I’m open AND I’m just too tired. I’m ready AND I’m scared. So many contradictions. So many uncertainties. So many unknowns. And we ride the in-between.
09/17/2025
Saturday October 4th from 10-12pm! Join us for a conversation about Grief and Love and Sudden Loss and Joy. I’ll be reading a bit from my essay featured in .us ‘s magazine “it’s ok to try” and we will share coffee and chat and connect and try to make some glimmers in this shattering time. Gathering at in Lincoln Heights ❤️
02/14/2025
Today for Valentine’s Day: Revisiting Home. A piece I wrote for MOM WORLD on the proximity to loss and the structures that hold us ❤️🩹 .us
Link in bio.
01/28/2025
Read on Substack. Link in bio
01/28/2025
Read on Substack. Link in bio.
09/21/2021
The Artist’s Grief Deck • I pull a card or two or 3 each day. • I sit with the images. I read the prompts. I breathe. ❤️🩹
08/19/2021
A few of my favorite things: second sale mugs, linen sheets, lazy mornings (after the mad rush of “off-to-school” gets out the door), dystopian sci-fi, bread boxes, jibberish conversations, Voxer, and fog. 👍🏼
08/14/2021
As a drama therapist, I work with the assumption that we are not seeking to find “one true self.” From a post-modern approach, this work acknowledges the multiple parts (or roles) of our personality that combine to create who we are.
By learning to tolerate the places where we inevitably contradict ourselves, and moving away from binaries of good/bad or right/wrong, we can move into self acceptance and growth. Flexibility, curiosity, playfulness all contribute to an approach that can heal old wounds and allow ourselves to expand into the complex and confident people we are meant to be.
Good-enough is always preferred to perfect. Good-enough completes the task, shows up in the midst of challenges, integrates learning, and can adapt! Anxiety and self-judgment stem from unrealistic expectations. We acknowledge the critic in our head and introduce new voices that can bring a more balanced and supportive point of view.
Address
3205 Ocean Park Boulevard Suite 240 Santa Monica, CA 90405
Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Danielle Levanas, Relationship Coach and Drama Therapist posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Contact The Practice
Send a message to Danielle Levanas, Relationship Coach and Drama Therapist:
We all play roles in our lives – Some we choose, some are given to us, and some we embody fully. Some we object to but cannot seem to avoid. Others we are forced to play by our families or society.
In Drama Therapy, health is viewed as the ability to fluidly transition between roles – even roles that seem to be in contradiction to each other. For example, I can be the competent professional, the anxious one, and the warrior in my life all at the same time.
Being stuck in unhealthy patterns, likewise, can be viewed as being restricted to a small cluster of similar roles. For example, if I only see myself as the depressed one, the lost child, and the outcast, I probably won’t find myself with the resources needed to lead a balanced, healthy life.
Drama Therapy can help us identify the roles we play and start to create meaning around our story. We try to move away from the binaries of right/wrong or good/bad, and instead see ourselves as constantly changing, complex, and dynamic individuals in relationship to the world around us. Drama Therapy can serve individuals of all ages dealing with trauma, depression, anxiety, addiction, relationship ruptures, life goal blocks, and social/behavioral challenges.
As a creative arts therapist, educator, and performer activist, my work is fundamentally collaborative and relational. Through creative expression, embodied play, and counseling techniques, I work with clients to help them discover a greater sense of flexibility and empowerment in their own lives.
