Therapist in Durham, North Carolina Audra Vann, Therapist

Audra Vann is a fully Licensed Mental Health Counselor in North Carolina who has been practicing since 2019 following a rewarding teaching career and a two-year internship with a family resource agency in Southern California. She has a B.A. in Liberal Studies with a minor in French from CSUSB (summa cum laude/highest honors, special recognition for Excellence in Journalism), an M.A. in Special Education from Azusa Pacific with a concentration in Assistive Technology (summa cum laude/highest honors), and an M.S. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Walden with a clinical concentration in trauma and crisis (summa cum laude/highest honors).

She recognizes some people experience more trauma than others, and we do not choose how that trauma initially affects us. She is planning for Level III training in NARM, a somatic-based therapy that heals core negative emotions stemming from traumatic experiences. She also practices Impact Therapy, which provides individuals with immediate feedback using metaphor and time-tested techniques. Audra meets you where you are on your healing journey. Common backgrounds are beneficial, but two very different people can build strong bonds just by leaning into the process. She is comfortable hearing your story, regardless of how others have reacted in the past—or if you’ve been too ashamed to share.

Audra has decades of experience with neurodiversity, cognitive/ language/ behavioral disorders, generational trauma and relationship strains from family of origin/parental alienation/adoption/foster/reunification issues, chronic illness, adult caregivers, and life transitions including end-of-life preparedness and grief. She is especially passionate about underserved populations such as LGBTQQIP2SA, survivors of trafficking and other forms of exploitation, and actively volunteers her time to support people in the ENM/Poly/Kink/BDSM communities to receive supportive and nonjudgmental psychotherapy of the highest caliber using the most up-to-date research available.

Audra believes successful therapy is feeling comfortable sharing what is working for you—but also what isn’t working to adjust focus. She pursues healing to help you emerge with greater purpose. She asserts this doesn’t mean your hardest

day is behind you but provides research-based techniques that forge strength out of your individuality and empower you to see through the chaos into calm.

In her spare time, she enjoys culinary arts, DIY home improvement and design, hosting parties with her partner (who is also a therapist) and training with her rescue pup, Hela, to become a registered AKC Therapy Dog