Dana DeDonato

Dana DeDonato is a licensed clinical social worker with a passion for helping people navigate life’s most difficult challenges. Throughout her career, she has dedicated herself to supporting individuals and families coping with illness, loss, and major life transitions. Whether working alongside patients managing complex medical conditions or guiding families through times of change, she strives to create a safe, compassionate space where people feel understood and supported.

Dana holds a Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania, where she was awarded the prestigious Dorothy Kramer Bergstein Oncology Fellowship. She brings extensive experience in medical social work, providing psychosocial support and counseling to individuals across the lifespan, including those facing terminal illness. Dana is a published author and has been an invited speaker for organizations such as Living Beyond Breast Cancer and the American Psychosocial Oncology Society.

Dana enjoys working with a diverse population of young adults, adults, couples, and families, supporting them in achieving meaningful, personalized treatment goals. Her areas of focus include anxiety, depression, grief, relationship issues, low self-esteem and confidence, parenting, and major life transitions. She practices from a trauma-informed, strengths-based perspective, drawing from evidence-based theories and techniques tailored to the needs of the individual client. Her approach is grounded in empathy and a commitment to meeting people where they are, fostering a collaborative and empowering therapeutic experience through person-centered and solution-focused frameworks. She is devoted to walking alongside clients as they discover new ways to heal and move forward.

She believes deeply in the power of human connection and brings both professional expertise and genuine care to the work she does.

Your first therapy session can feel like a big step, and it’s normal to feel a mix of hope, nerves, or even uncertainty. Think of it as a gentle starting point rather than something you need to “get right.”

In that first meeting, your therapist will likely spend time getting to know you—asking about what brought you in, what you’d like to work on, and a little about your background. There’s no pressure to share everything at once; you set the pace. The therapist’s role is to listen without judgment, to create a safe and supportive space where you can be honest, even if you’re not quite sure where to begin.

You might leave the session feeling lighter from simply being heard, or you might leave with new questions to think about. Both are completely okay. What matters is that it’s the start of a process designed to support you. Over time, these sessions can become a steady place to explore, heal, and grow—with someone walking alongside you in that journey.