About me
My name is Thorne (they/them) and I am a white, queer, trans, non-binary licensed clinical social worker associate (LCSWA) offering both individual and couples and relationship therapy in Durham, NC. I provide counseling in a safe and nurturing container which gives my clients the space and support they need to heal and grow.
Originally from Philadelphia, I relocated to North Carolina in 2013 to finish my undergraduate degree and never left–North Carolina is a place I have called home for over a decade now. I received a bachelor’s degree in Women’s & Gender Studies in 2016 and a Master of Social Work (MSW) degree in 2023, both from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Between and during degree programs, I worked in eating disorder recovery, voter registration, furniture finishing, floral design, and in the service industry. During my social work program, I completed internships with the UNC Transgender Health Program and the UNC Psychology and Neuroscience Community Clinic as a therapist. I have been in private practice since then, working with folks to explore gender identity and sexuality, address chronic shame (including shame about sex and intimacy), understand codependency, nurture wounds from childhood and sexual trauma, and navigate romantic, platonic, and familial relationships.
As a therapist, my hope in our work together is that you feel accepted just as you are in this moment and celebrated and held as you move towards your goals. Of course, the fear, shame, and feelings of being somehow broken or wrong may be present; my goal is to understand those feelings with you and to always remind you of your important perspective, unique purpose, and inherent worth.
I am kink-affirming, sex-positive, neurodivergent-affirming, committed to anti-racism, HAES-aligned, celebratory of all queer identities, and work with people of all genders and partners in a variety of relationship structures (including monogamous, ethically non-monogamous, and poly relationships).
In my free time, I like to cook and eat delicious food, spend time with friends, swim in the Eno river, drink coffee, play basketball, read, and garden. I deeply value compassion, love, queerness, presence, friendship, the ocean, and our individual and collective efforts towards truth and justice.
With gratitude…
I am so very grateful to all of the folks in my life who have offered me the gifts of compassion, deep empathy, and care, and who continue to remind me that a life full of interdependence, joy, tenderness, and love is possible. It is because of you that I am able to be in healing practice and share this practice with my community. Thank you to my chosen family and lifelong friends, my parents, my grandmothers, my mentors, my cat (who is also my mentor, even in her passing), and to all those who have touched my life. I carry you all with me, always.
“We are all wounded healers, and ultimately our own wounds help us find and heal the wounded places in others.” - Irving D. Yalom
Pictured above: a photo collage of both myself and my grandma as kids, framed by lemon balm, rosemary, and dolphins bounding overhead
