From the Green Velvet Couch | A Conversation with Danette Mahabeer-Turner
What does mindfulness and healing after trauma actually look like when you are starting over from rock bottom? What small, free, everyday practices can help a person rebuild not just their routine, but their entire sense of self?
On her podcast, From the Green Velvet Couch, Shelly sat down with Danette Mahabeer-Turner, Mrs. Kentucky Petite USA 2025, a domestic violence survivor, published author, serial entrepreneur, and host of the TV show Voices of Victory. Danette brings a rare combination of warmth, honesty, and practical wisdom to a conversation about healing, and her story is a reminder that the most powerful wellness tools are often the simplest ones.
Here are the moments worth holding onto.
Turning Pain Into Purpose
Danette opened with a brief overview of her current work, and the scope alone is impressive. She is preparing for a national pageant in Chicago. She has published a book called Leave Alive: Surviving Domestic Violence. She hosts a television show that interviews judges, advocates, psychologists, and survivors to raise awareness about abuse and remove the stigma so many victims carry. She runs multiple businesses and is in the early planning stages of a new wellness facility in Paducah, Kentucky.
None of this was the life she imagined for herself. Danette is a domestic violence survivor who found herself uprooted to a new state, seven months pregnant, with no car, no job, and very little hope. What she did have was a family, a church community, and access to resources like legal aid, advocacy centers, and counseling. Those resources gave her the space to begin again, and she made a decision that has shaped every day since. She would take her pain and turn it into purpose.
Starting Over With a Blank Canvas
One of the most powerful images Danette shared was the idea of a blank canvas. Every single day, she said, she gets to wake up and decide what her story looks like. That perspective did not come easily. It came after counseling, after healing, after picking up the pieces of a life that had been shattered. But once she claimed it, the canvas became hers to paint however she wanted.
Shelly reflected something she has long observed in her therapy practice. In abusive relationships, the abuser holds all the power. Recovery is not just about leaving. It is about taking that power back, one decision at a time. Danette’s use of the word “recreate” captured something important. Healing is not about returning to who you were before. It is about building someone new, someone stronger, someone whose life reflects the choices you are finally free to make.
This kind of deep rebuilding is one of the reasons Shelly’s wellness specialist practice for founders, executives, and high-profile clients focuses so heavily on whole-person care, because recovery reaches into every corner of a person’s life.
Mindfulness Is Not a Luxury
When Shelly asked Danette what practices helped her heal, the answer came back to mindfulness. Both women agreed that the word can sound a little woo-woo at first, but the reality is far more practical. Mindfulness is about being present. It is about safety. It is about noticing the world around you instead of moving through it on autopilot. People who practice it make better decisions, have fewer accidents, and enjoy their lives more deeply.
Shelly shared a reminder she gives clients often. When you are loading groceries into your car, put your phone down. When you are walking from one task to the next, actually walk. Presence is a form of self-protection as much as it is a form of self-care. It also regulates your nervous system, which is one of the most important things any person recovering from trauma can learn to do.
Wellness Without a Price Tag
One of the most valuable parts of the conversation was Danette’s insistence that wellness does not require money. She was a single mother in survival mode when she first discovered this, and she has made it a core message of her work.
She practices yoga from free YouTube videos. She takes five-minute mindfulness breaks using guided audio. She Googles “free self-care ideas” when she needs fresh inspiration. She takes longer-than-usual showers, lights a candle, plays jazz music, and turns an ordinary daily routine into a small ritual. She takes walks, picks flowers from her garden, and notices the birds. None of it costs a dime, and all of it nourishes her.
Shelly added one of her own favorites from her single-mom years. She used to visit open houses on Sunday afternoons, especially log homes, which she found fascinating. It cost nothing, taught her something new, and gave her mind something hopeful to focus on instead of spiraling into worry. Years later, when she remarried, her husband happened to own a log home. She laughed as she told the story, because it felt like a small act of manifestation.
The deeper point is this. The more Shelly looked for free ways to care for herself, the more she found. Wellness is not about access to resources. It is about attention, creativity, and the decision to put something good into your own day.
This approach is exactly what Shelly helps clients build through her performance mentoring work with leaders and high performers, where sustainable daily practices matter far more than expensive programs.
The Power of Manifestation and Affirmation
Danette is a firm believer in manifestation, and she spoke about it in a refreshingly grounded way. For her, manifestation is not magic. It is intentional self-talk. It is writing down what you want your life to look like. It is repeating affirmations that remind you of who you are becoming.
Her favorite is a simple one. The best is yet to come. Even when she is standing on stage receiving an award, she reminds herself that the best is still ahead. This is not about being dismissive of the present moment. It is about holding a steady posture of hope, because hope is what carries survivors forward.
Shelly loved the phrase and added her own practice. She keeps a photo album on her phone filled with images that make her feel good, pictures of her family, her horses, places she loves. Every morning before she gets out of bed, she scrolls through them. Those images send positive signals to her brain, helping it produce the chemistry that supports her mood and mindset for the day. It costs nothing, takes less than five minutes, and sets the tone for everything that follows.
Journaling as a Mindfulness Practice
Danette also offered journaling as another low-cost, high-impact practice. You can pick up a notebook at the dollar store or find a guided journal online that prompts you with questions like “What was your high today?” or “How did you feel this morning?” The format does not matter. What matters is the act of slowing down long enough to notice your own life.
Journaling is mindfulness in written form. It helps you see your patterns, name your emotions, and celebrate the small wins you might otherwise miss. For survivors of trauma especially, it can be a quiet way of reclaiming your own voice on your own page.
Getting Healthy Before Life Gets Easier
Toward the end of the conversation, Shelly made an observation that stopped Danette in her tracks. Most people think they will get healthy when life finally gets better. Danette did the opposite. She got healthy when life was still hard, and that is precisely how she was able to build the life she has now.
This is one of the most important truths about wellness. You do not wait for the storm to pass before you start taking care of yourself. You take care of yourself so you can move through the storm with more strength, more clarity, and more grace. The practices you build in the hardest seasons become the foundation you stand on when the sun finally comes out.
This kind of resilient, proactive wellness building is at the heart of Shelly’s wellness consulting work for organizations and leadership teams, where healthy habits are taught as a daily practice rather than an emergency response.
🎧 Join the Conversation
If this post sparked something in you, the full episode is waiting with even more warmth and thoughtful insight.
✨ Listen to the full conversation on the From the Green Velvet Couch podcast. Visit the Podcast page to discover more episodes focused on resilience, leadership wellbeing, and holistic wellness.
Let this be your invitation to slow down, breathe deeply, and step into a well-grounded life full of growth and intention.
