Miss D.I.Diamond
Meet Your Costume Therapist
My name is D. I. Diamond, I am a professional multi-modality artist, philosopher, and student of alternative healing modalities. I am the creator & founder of the Costume Therapy Method, C.T.M, and first began doing this work under the name ‘Costume Therapy’ in 2021.
Since then there have been multiple costume therapy offerings popping up across the globe but when I first began my research there was little to be found on the internet about the concept.
I grew up training as a pre-professional competitive dancer. I was involved in local theatre & studied photography. I moved to Vancouver in 2009 to study acting and quickly broke into the fashion industry first as a model, then a stylist, and then started designing my own work.
I was creating avant-garde fashion collections and performing in nightclubs and public stages as a drag-based performing artist. My design work was highly original and lead to a career in Vancouver’s Hollywood North Film industry.
Myself & my work has been featured in fashion editorial publications, large scale gala productions, music videos, Netflix series & indy productions.
Healing My Own Heart First…
“Before I shared this method with others, I tested its potency on myself. —I spent over a decade moving through profound grief, mental health challenges and identity dysphoria, developing the very tools I now teach….”
Where I come from:
My current work with The Costume Therapy Method & continued art-therapy research was inspired by my own healing journey:
Navigating the long-term impacts of growing up with addiction in the family system I have experienced identity loss, gender dysphoria, debilitating depression, anxiety and a profound un-nameable grief that followed my exit from a high-control religious community in my early 20’s.
I also live with an invisible disability: I was born with a severe hearing loss.
Growing up in a family where the M.O. was ‘try and pretend your normal’ lead to deep shame around my hearing loss but also profoundly attuned me to the subtleties of human expression as I operated for many years keeping my hearing loss a secret & finding other ways to ‘listen.’
Dress up as therapy?
About My Method
Costume Therapy is an emergent, interdisciplinary modality of expressive arts therapy that integrates performative identity reconstruction, ritual reenactment, and embodied narrative play.
It’s a method for psycho-emotional healing, individuation, and self-actualization.
This work invites humans to bravely explore various identities, past experiences & personal struggles in a shamanistic & ritualistic way. We work in a 1-0-1 setting or in groups to harness the power of adrenaline.
The therapeutic framework emphasizes radical transparency, emotional witnessing, and collective mirroring.
Become who you’ve always wanted to be.
By stepping into imaginary characters & roles through intentional dress-up, theatre & ritual performance, we can create sacred space to become who we’ve always wanted to be.
Taking notes from parts work, inner family systems, somatic psychology & drama therapy: the Costume Therapy Method is a unique & progressive self-development modality, designed especially for those who like to do things creatively.
It’s a highly imaginative yet grounded approach to personal transformation work, in which you embody your therapeutic process through intentional embodiment work & performative exploration.
Danielle. I. Diamond, a professional actor/costume designer who transmuted her own traumas through experimental performing arts, founded this method for self-investigation, healing & growth.
She finds that people can express things in a way, through dramatic arts, that clinical offices aren’t designed to hold space for.
Tools of the Trade
I use many creative tools as mechanisms for dissolving shame, shifting internalized narratives, and restoring a felt sense of agency.
Photography, drag performance, theatre, dance, non-verbal communication, fashion styling, costumes & ceremony.
In doing so, Costume Therapy not only addresses the personal — including dysphoria, grief, and chronic self-negation —
But also operates as a tool of cultural and spiritual reanimation, inviting participants into the ancestral act of visual storytelling as medicine.
I can help.
Personal Empowerment & Confidence
Want to walk into a room like you own it? How about meeting new people feeling grounded in who you ARE. I’ll help you square your shoulders & land in YOU.
Life Transitions & New Chapters
Leaving a long term relationship, job or religion? Maybe your kids have flown the nest & you wonder who you are now? Let’s write a new & exciting narrative.
Gender Exploration & Sexuality
These are HUGE topics that deserve care & opportunity. From exploring new gender expression or address curiosity/shame/fear around your sexuality, this is a safe & supportive space.
Your Costume Therapy Journey…
You don’t have to know where to start. Just knowing you WANT to begin is enough.
An easy 10 min chat with me will help us pinpoint what pathway of the Costume Therapy Method will be right for you.
Send me a DM to schedule a ‘meet me’ call at your convenience.
You can also start by subscribing to my mailing list at the bottom of this page & get invitations to join my public offerings & intro workshops.
Looking forward to meeting you…