Danielle Boland knew that she wanted to help people, though in what capacity she couldn't say. It was her college counselor who saw something in her and suggested the path. Over the past decade, Boland has worked in many different settings across Connecticut's mental health landscape. The specifics have shifted with the seasons of her life, particularly after having children. But beneath all the changes, one thing has held steady: her commitment to giving people the tools they need to make meaningful change in their own lives. Now in private practice, she finds herself thinking less about the particular room she's working in and more about what it means to invest in the future. "I believe that investing in our children is an integral part of improving communities and the foundation for all of our futures," she says. The greatest impact she's making right now, she adds, is at home.
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There's a peculiar kind of helplessness that comes with working in healthcare. You see clearly what needs to happen, what could help, what might save someone, and then you watch as systems and restrictions and lack of resources get in the way. Boland has had plenty of moments like this, times when she's questioned what kind of impact or change she can actually make.
But those aren't the moments she remembers. When she thinks about the past ten years, what surfaces are different scenes entirely. A client having a meaningful breakthrough. Someone making a decision that alters the course of their life. These moments, born from mutual work, from showing up week after week, are what stay with her. "Watching others persevere, in spite of all of life's heartbreak and pain, is a very special and sacred thing to be a part of," she reflects.
The word "sacred" is not one you hear often in discussions of healthcare policy or insurance restrictions. But it points to something Boland has learned about the actual substance of her work. Being a healthcare professional, she notes, is easily broken down by the title itself: taking care of others' health, mental and physical, regardless of age, sex, race, ability, or finances. Yet for her, it's always been about more than the immediate problem in front of her. Healthcare is more than one appointment or one interaction. Her mission is to look at the broader systems, to understand how they impact the care she can provide, to think about what supports need to be in place for long-term success.
This broader view makes the current state of things particularly painful. Working in healthcare is becoming increasingly difficult, Boland observes, due to insurance restrictions, lack of support for professionals, and cuts to programs that lower-income populations rely on. She's watched the pattern repeat itself: a smaller issue ignored because of lack of funds quickly becomes a much larger and more costly one. Preventative care, identifying risk factors early, could greatly reduce long-term costs and help people with fewer resources maintain better overall health.
After a decade in the field, Boland has come to understand two things as essential. The first is that self-care and work-life balance are the fundamental requirements for maintaining your own mental and physical health. Without them, you can't provide the level of care your patients and clients deserve. "It's really easy to fall into a pattern of overworking and putting yourself last," she says, "but all that does is reduce your capacity to show up for the people you are meant to serve."
The second thing she's learned is that it's okay to change your mind about what type of work you want to be doing. The beauty of social work and healthcare generally, she points out, is that there are so many different environments and roles available. You're never stuck. There will always be a need for healthcare professionals, and that need creates freedom, the ability to explore different avenues while still serving the same fundamental purpose.
Boland's hope for the next generation of healthcare workers is straightforward. She wants them to continue the fight to break down barriers that prevent care. She wants them to never forget that this hard work is for those who need help the most. It's a simple hope, really, but simple doesn't mean easy. It means showing up, again and again, even when the systems make you question what kind of impact you can actually make. It means remembering not the moments of helplessness but the breakthroughs, the perseverance, the sacred work of watching someone change the course of their own life.