Today we’d like to introduce you to Dana Kirkpatrick.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’ve worked in mental health since 1998, but the real reason I do this work goes back much further. I grew up watching my family struggle with cancer, financial stress, and a lack of resources, and with no real understanding of the options available to us. What carried us through was community. I’ve spent my career trying to be that kind of support for other people.
I studied Communication and American Sign Language at the University of Pittsburgh, then earned my master’s in Community and Agency Counseling at California University of Pennsylvania. My early career was in the trenches of community mental health. I provided in-home therapy for children and families, supported families through special-needs adoptions and foster care, and worked with kids with autism and adolescents with serious mental health diagnoses. From there I moved into outpatient work and spent twelve years as a psychotherapist and clinical director.
Along the way, I specialized in sex therapy. I wanted to strengthen my work with couples and be a better ally to underserved clients, especially people whose needs often get overlooked in therapy. I became an AASECT Certified Sex Therapist in 2011 and a Certified Sex Therapy Supervisor in 2018.
In June 2020, I opened Calm Pittsburgh. I wanted a practice where clinicians, clients, and staff all feel genuinely valued and supported, built from everything I’d lived through.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The hardest chapter of my life came at 31, I was diagnosed with Stage 2B breast cancer, younger than my mom had been.
Beyond the illness itself, the diagnosis exposed a serious problem in my field. At the time I was working as an outpatient therapist and was an independent contractor, so I had no sick time and no FMLA protection. My family found ourselves reliving the financial stress I grew up with. To keep us afloat, I worked through most of my chemotherapy and went back to work quickly after my surgeries.
I remember thinking that the people whose job is caring for others had no safety net when they needed care themselves. That realization stayed with me, and it ultimately became the reason Calm Pittsburgh exists.
When I finally opened the practice in June 2020, it wasn’t easy. I was building a business in the middle of a pandemic, when everything about how we delivered care was changing. Pushing through those years took everything I’d learned about resilience, and I’m proud of what we built on the other side of it.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Calm Pittsburgh?
Calm Pittsburgh is a multi-specialty group practice in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh with about 20 therapists and staff. We provide therapy to individuals, couples, and families both in the office and through teletherapy.
What makes us different is how we support our clinicians. I founded Calm Pittsburgh as a private practice that operates with the safety net of community mental health. Our therapists are employees, not contractors. They can be sick, take time off, and focus on their clients instead of seeing every appointment as a paycheck. When clinicians are cared for, clients get better care.
Our team also truly practices what we preach. Many of us are survivors of domestic violence, suicide loss, gun violence, medical and religious trauma, and racial trauma. Many of us live with our own neurodivergence or mental health concerns. That lived experience shapes the compassion our clients feel.
I’m also passionate about teaching. I’ve presented at the American Counseling Association, the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision, the Pennsylvania Counseling Association, and other conferences. I teach “Sex Therapy for Non-Sex Therapists” and “The Stuck Couples Toolkit” through PESI.
Looking ahead, I’m excited to do even more teaching. I want to help therapists bring these concepts into their own work and grow the field of sex therapy. Sexuality is part of being human, and addressing it is part of truly holistic mental health. I’m also focused on mentoring the next generation of therapists, growing our internship program, and expanding our support for the community.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I grew up in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. When I was five, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer at 33. This came shortly after her older sister died of cervical cancer at 40, and two teenagers came to live with our family. My dad was a print typesetter, a profession that was disappearing, so he faced layoff after layoff. Our household carried a lot: financial strain, family dysfunction, and mental illness that no one had a name for yet.
I also had ADHD, though I wouldn’t be diagnosed until much later. In that environment it became a survival tool. I learned to read people and to mask and code-switch at a very young age. Looking back, my ADHD also gave me some of my greatest strengths. It made me curious, and bold enough to ask people questions. It gave me a strong sense of justice and the drive to stand up for what’s right. Most of all, it strengthened my belief that my life’s work should be about reducing suffering.
What I remember just as clearly is how our community showed up. The Lawrenceville community and a cancer community that was hard to find back then both gave us support. So did the VFW, where my grandmother was deeply involved. Through her, I got to serve proudly as their “Poppy Girl.” I was even invited to dinner at the home of Mayor Caliguiri, who was beloved by this city.
My grandmother was one of the most important people in my life. She championed my love of helping others, and she taught me that service is a way of showing love. She also taught me that sometimes caring for people means saying the uncomfortable things. Those lessons have guided everything I’ve done since.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.calmpittsburgh.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/calm_pittsburgh?igshid=MmJiY2I4NDBkZg%3D%3D
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Calmpittsburgh#
