Sam Korthof, LCMHCA (they/them)
At the heart of Sam’s work is a belief that healing starts when we feel safe enough to connect with our true selves and learn to share that self with the people around us. As a psychotherapist, Sam creates a calm, exploratory, and collaborative space where clients can stop holding it all together alone and let themselves be the complex, dynamic, and vibrant beings they are.
Like many queer, neurodivergent, and non-ordinary people, Sam spent their young years trying to figure out why they never quite fit into normative culture, no matter how hard they tried to chameleon their way through. This struggle took them into a lifelong study of human behavior, at first to more successfully hide, and then to re-emerge as their authentic self. These explorations eventually led to them getting their Master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Lenoir-Rhyne University. Today they utilize their genuine curiosity, hard earned authenticity, and clinical knowledge to assist others in finding their own voices in a culture that wasn’t built for them. Their approach is trauma-informed, attachment-science based, and grounded in a decolonial lens which recognizes how systems of power and societal expectations shape mental health.
Sam specializes in working with LGBTQIA+ adults and teens navigating anxiety, trauma, grief, neurodivergence, chronic illness, and relationship challenges. They integrate Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Emotion Focused Therapy, and somatic, attachment, and polyvagal-informed interventions. As a non-binary and queer therapist, Sam is especially passionate about supporting transgender and gender-expansive people.
At the clinic, Sam offers group and individual support for clients receiving Spravato and individual Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP), utilizing their training through the Pearl Psychedelic Institute. As a clinical facilitator, Sam brings an engaged familiarity and deep reverence to the psychedelic process. Sam also offers individual integration sessions afterward, helping clients make meaning of their experiences and carry insights into daily life with care, respect, and clinical integrity.
Outside of the therapy space, Sam can often be found frolicking in the woods, organizing local mutual aid events with friends, lifting heavy weights at the gym, or doing a cozy puzzle at home with their partner. They regularly celebrate the pagan high holidays with their queer community and recharge with the occasional trip to Atlanta for a day at the Korean spa. These practices of community care, connection with the natural world, and rest allow Sam to keep showing up as a well-resourced therapist.