Empowering Career Growth and Overcoming Burnout | Danielle Avila, BSDH, RDH
Discover the transformative journey of Danielle, a dental hygienist and founder of Diamond Dental Coaching, now known as LD Coaching, as she shares her inspiring career evolution from battling burnout to becoming a passionate advocate for hygienists seeking growth. With 15 years of experience, Danielle emphasizes the pivotal role of coaching and mentorship in overcoming professional challenges. Her coaching program offers a unique opportunity for hygienists to reignite their passion, transition to non-clinical roles, and accelerate their personal and professional growth.
Meet Danielle Avila
Danielle Avila is a writer, speaker, and practicing clinical hygienist with over 14 years of dental experience. She also is the co-founder of Diamond Dental Hygiene Career Coaching, now known as LD Coaching. Her passion is in serving and helping others. She loves to not only educate her patients but also other hygienists, helping them both to gain confidence. As a career coach, she loves to help hygienists reignite their passion for their career and to gain clarity on what it is they truly want.
Esmy:
Hey Danielle, how are you?
Danielle:
I’m great. How are you, Esmy?
Esmy:
I’m doing well. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me about your career and to just talk to us about all things dental hygiene.
Danielle:
Yes, I love it.
Esmy:
Okay, so for the first thing, can you tell the RDH community about who you’re, where you started in your career and where you’re going?
Danielle:
Yeah, absolutely. So I graduated from Massachusetts College Pharmacy, Forsyth back in 2008. So I’ve been a hygienist for a whopping 15 years now, which is pretty crazy. I started out in just a private practice working clinical, 40 hour work week, up until recently. It’s been about a year now that I have implemented and started, and I’m a founder of Diamond Dental Hygiene career coaching, so that’s been really exciting.
Esmy:
Awesome. So what do you guys do as coaches?
Danielle:
Yeah, I love that. So as coaches, we love to help hygienists that are looking for growth within their career or who are feeling that burnt-out feeling and just unsure of what’s next for them in their career, but knowing that they want more. So we really like to dive into their “why”, what they’re passionate about, and help them to reignite their passion, hopefully for clinical or possibly non-clinical roles.
Esmy:
I graduated 10 years ago and I don’t feel like mentorship was ever discussed, let alone getting or investing in a coach, so that’s incredible. Do you think that, did you ever experience burnout prior to being, to becoming a coach, starting a business?
Danielle:
Absolutely, yes, 100%. And that’s kind of what got this kind of ball rolling for my co-founder, Laura, and I: I was totally burnt out in my career, that mid-covid phase there, a lot of uncertainty, unsure of where things were going, and just that hamster wheel and knowing that there’s more for you, just not really sure where to find it. So going through those feelings and those emotions, and being able to use Laura, and Laura using me, to bounce ideas off of each other and helping each other grow in our clinical careers kind of led us to the coaching. We wanted to be able to provide that service for other hygienists that have felt like we felt and been where we have been, and guide them in using the tools that we have used to implement to help us with our personal and professional growth. So that’s really where Diamond Dental, now LD Coaching, was born.
Esmy:
So I would imagine being a clinical hygienist and starting this business – in the beginning it was a lot of doing both, right? Working clinical and then going home and then pouring into your business?
Danielle:
Absolutely. I think that we’re still doing a little bit of that too: kind of slowly gearing up and changing for a little bit more growth coming up in the next few months with some possible collaborations and partnerships with companies, which is really exciting. But definitely a lot of work and obviously good things don’t happen overnight. So spending a lot of time both in the clinical realm and then also working on coaching. Yes, exactly. Like you said, coming home and grinding out till 8:30, 9 o’clock at night. It’s been exhausting, but it’s really paying off.
Esmy:
Awesome. So are you still doing full-time clinical or have you backed off a little bit now that you’ve started your business?
Danielle:
Yeah, I’ve been able to kind of cut back a little bit. So right now I’m just doing three clinical days, hoping to kind of cut down to two eventually, so that’s really exciting. For me personally, I love clinical and I use a new innovation called GBT or guided biofilm therapy that has helped me really to reignite my passion for the clinical role. That oral-systemic wellness has been awesome, really to help me through that burnout phase that I was feeling. So I definitely don’t want to give that up, but I definitely know that I need to cut back to be able to be there and be more present for my clients.
Esmy:
It’s sort of like you’re pouring into hygiene in a different way. Maybe at first it was a patient at a time, but now it’s like you’ll pour all of this into hygienists and then their patients are going to reap the benefits of having a hygienist who’s just super pumped about clinical hygiene again. Right? It is very easy to get burnt out, and typically the burnt out hygienists aren’t the ones and they’re just exhausted, but those typically aren’t the ones who are as clinically-motivated or excited about all of the new technology, all the CE, all the other things…
Danielle:
Yes, absolutely. It does take a mindset shift to jump on board with wanting that growth within yourself and in your career. So we want to find all of those CEs, those wonderful free CEs, that are out there on the web, and to invest in a hygiene coach, it takes a special hygienist, but we’re finding that more and more hygienists are getting on board with the idea, so it’s really exciting.
Esmy:
Awesome. What would you say is the number one thing when you have a call with a client? Are there any trends that you’ve recognized or every hygienist comes to us and they say this one thing, or is it just totally different?
Danielle:
No, it’s kind of very similar. It’s a lot of burnout, a lot of hygienists that are like, I know that I want more for myself. I know that I’m meant for more. I just don’t know where to find that. So helping guide them in that aspect. And a lot are unfortunately coming from private practice where they are just feeling undervalued and overwhelmed with their schedules.
Esmy:
Well, that’s great that they have you guys to turn to for coaching and for mentorship. That is so important. And again, it’s so great to see that that’s become, we talk about investing in good instruments, investing in saddle stools, investing in loupes, but it’s also investing in your personal and professional growth. That’s absolutely going to add some years to your career.
Danielle:
Absolutely. And we’re able to shrink down what we’ve done into a shorter period of time, so you’re not spending all of those years trying to figure it out and trying to figure out what’s next. We’re able to really accelerate that process for you. So joining and signing up, whether that be for a month or three months or whatever is best for you in your schedule, we’re able to really pinpoint what it is that you’re looking for, where you’re looking to go and helping you get there at a faster rate, which is really exciting.
Esmy:
So we’re getting into September, we’re getting into the fall. Are there any big goals you hope to accomplish as 2023 wraps up or anything that you’re looking forward to for 2024?
Danielle:
Yeah, so for Diamond Dental Coaching, we have some really exciting speaking things coming up. We have a webinar with GBT EMSS hopeful October sometime, and then some potentials coming up also in January and February. So that’s really exciting to really ramp up speaking both via webinar and in-person convention. So I’m excited to kind of change gears a little bit and really start getting into that speaking role. So that’s exciting.
Esmy:
How has it been getting into speaking? I feel like it’s one of those things that for so many people, it can seem very glamorous to travel and to get to speak, and you see speakers that do incredible jobs, but I always wonder what it’s like for the speaker, what it’s like to prepare for it. Do you regret it the day before, but then the day after? You’re so glad you went for it. What’s your experience been?
Danielle:
I think it’s all of those things that you said. It’s definitely work. Obviously, to prepare for something like that, you want to make sure that a hundred percent of your materials go into that day. So wanting to be fully prepared takes time the day before and morning of. You’re like, what am I doing? Feeling sick to your stomach? Why did I sign up for this? Who do I think I am? But then once you get on the stage and you start speaking, it’s probably one of the most empowering things that I’ve ever done, most rewarding to be able to inform and educate other hygienists that are looking to grow and educate themselves. So it’s really showing up for that person that’s in that chair that wants to learn from you. So being present for them, and like I said, it’s just so rewarding at the end when it’s over, you’re like, oh my God, I can’t believe I just did that and people were engaged and asking questions and it was exciting. And yeah, it was. We’ve done it one time, I guess in person, mostly webinars, but the in person I feel like is the most satisfying.
Esmy:
Well, I’m excited that you guys are going to start breaking into that more and more, and maybe we’ll see you guys at Under One Roof next year.
Danielle:
To Under One Roof, so we’ll see. That’s exciting.
Esmy:
You did that. So exciting. Fingers crossed.
Danielle:
Yes
Esmy:
So navigating, starting a business, doing all the things that you do. I know you and Laura are so incredibly positive, and that’s why you guys make incredible coaches in humans. But I would imagine there are some days where it’s tough, and I would imagine there are days where you’re filled with self-doubt or you made the point earlier, who am I to be doing this? We all get down about things. So on those days, what do you find gives you the strength to keep moving forward?
Danielle:
Thank you. Yeah, absolutely. I love that question. It’s really all about, for me, going back to my why I became a hygienist, why I became a hygiene coach, and really just sitting with that for a few minutes and knowing that this phase of what I’m feeling is going to pass. I’m doing what I’m doing for a reason, and just to not give up the life that I’m looking to lead in, the hygienist that I’m looking to inspire, right around the corner. So don’t give up. There’s just no option. There’s no option of stopping. I have to just kind of push through those feelings. And again, like I said, knowing that probably tomorrow or next week those feelings will have passed and I’ll be in a better place. And then it’s normal to feel like that. We all have those days where we’re down and out, but to just again, remember why you do what you do and it is truly rewarding.
Esmy:
What are you proudest of so far in your career?
Danielle:
That’s a great question. A couple of things. I would say I’m really proud of myself for getting out of that burnout phase for leaving the office that was causing me to feel burnt out. That was probably the first phase of exploring other opportunities for myself. So that was a huge accomplishment. Just having the willpower to do that, make that move for implementing the guided biofilm therapy into the office that I work in now would probably be another really awesome clinical accomplishment that I’ve made to be able to implement such a great innovative technology to an office that had no idea what it was even about. So that’s been really rewarding. And then obviously being the co-founder of an amazing coaching program has been really, really rewarding to be able to know that I can do something like that and I can make an impact and a difference on other people’s lives and that people do appreciate and watch what we do and listen and take in our mindfulness and the mindset stuff and are the stuff that we’re posting and the content that somebody is absorbing it and it’s helpful for somebody else is really amazing.
Esmy:
What would you say are the top three things you always pack in your work bag for the day to day?
Danielle:
Oh, well, right now that’s hard because I work down the street from my house on most days, so I always have my guided biofilm water bottle here. I always bring my water bottle with me, always have my loupes and always have a snack. That would be my top three. The days that I travel to work, which is once a week, same things, I’m always packing lunch. I’m always prepared for the day. Yeah, I’m trying to think of something else. That’s a good question. But yeah, always my water, always my loupes and always a handy snack because, as hygienists, we don’t have much time to have a snack.
Esmy:
That’s probably the most important thing. Right, having the snack.
Danielle:
Yes
Esmy:
Well, so the last question is what is your personal mantra or do you have one?
Danielle:
I do have one. I love that, and it kind of relates back to those days when you’re feeling down, but I always like to tell myself the life that I’m looking to lead is just around the corner, so don’t give up, keep going.
Esmy:
That’s really powerful. So where can people follow you and support your work?
Danielle:
Yeah, absolutely. So we are on a lot of platforms. We definitely have Instagram the most is kind of where we spend a lot of our time at Diamond Dental Coaching. You can find us there. We have a website, diamonddentalhcc.com. We also have Instagram and Facebook @Diamond Dental Coaching and then also LinkedIn @Diamond at Diamond Dental Coaching. So we’re on all the platforms, but I said most present on Instagram – just seems to be the easiest.
Esmy:
Awesome. Any final words or any final tips or words of encouragement?
Danielle:
Yeah, absolutely. If you’re just feeling down and out, you’re feeling burnt out, you’re feeling like there’s more for you in the dental world, definitely know that there is more for you and you are meant for more. You are an amazing hygienist and there is mentorship out there for you, so seek us out. We want to help, and there’s always room for growth, whether you’re 18, 28, 38, 48, there’s no better time than now.
Esmy:
Awesome. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us. We can’t wait to share this with the RDH community and you’re such an inspiration to so many of us. So thank you so much.
Danielle:
Thank you so much. This was great.
Esmy:
Bye
Danielle:
Bye
{recorded in August 2023}
Follow Danielle Avila’s impactful work on Instagram @diamonddentalcoaching and explore a community dedicated to empowering dental hygienists to thrive in their careers.
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