Dr. Sophia D. Caudle, LCMHC-S, CSAT-S, CST, CTCT
Dr. Sophia D. Caudle is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor and Supervisor, Certified Sex Addiction Supervisor, Certified Sex Therapist, Certified Multiple Addiction Therapist Supervisor, and Certified Transgender Care Therapist. Under her leadership, Bull City Psychotherapy offers three locations in Durham, Apex, and Wilmington, North Carolina. Tele-therapy via secure and HIPPA compliant Zoom is also offered for all people throughout North Carolina, as well as Zoom Grief workshops for people all around the world. Dr. Sophia specializes in individual and group counseling for adults, adolescents, and couples. Dr. Caudle also supervises counselors who are in the process of obtaining their LCMHC.
With over 20 years experience as a licensed psychotherapist, Dr. Caudle strives to provide each client with his/her own individual treatment, utilizing Schema Therapy, which is a research-based cognitive and experiential therapy, as well as mindfulness techniques, imagery, EMDR, and other effective therapies. Dr. Sophia’s area’s of expertise are assisting clients with sex and love addiction, sexuality issues, deepening intimacy, trauma, and grief, including Dr. Caudle’s original work in Ambiguous Grief and Original Grief.
Dr. Caudle is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor-Supervisor (LCMHC-S), National Board Certified Counselor (NBCC), North Carolina Licensed School Counselor, National Board Certified Teacher. Dr. Caudle is a member of the North Carolina Board of Licensed Professional Counselors, American Counseling Association, North Carolina Counseling Association, North Carolina School Counselor Association, American Psychotherapy Association, International Institute for Trauma and Addiction Professionals, and Chi Sigma Iota Counseling Honor Society.
In addition to Dr. Caudle’s professional service, she also serves on the Board of Directors for The Center for Family and Child Health.
To schedule an appointment with Dr. Caudle, please call (919) 382-0288 or email her at sophia@bullcitypsychotherapy.com.
Caroline Rutledge, MA, LCMHC, LCASA, CSAT Candidate
Caroline is a therapist dedicated to helping others move beyond challenges and pain of past experiences in order to live a productive, authentic, and hope-filled life. Through individual, couples, and group counseling, she strives to create a safe and affirming environment through a trauma-informed lens for clients to explore their authentic selves. With warmth, collaboration, and compassion, she seeks to provide each client with their own individual treatment, utilizing evidenced-based interventions. Her areas of interest are assisting clients with eating disorders, depression/anxiety, substance abuse, addiction, relationship issues, trauma, grief/loss, problem-solving skills, social skills training, among many others. Caroline practices from an anti-racist, anti-diet culture, LGBTQIA+ affirming, inclusive, Health At Every Size (HAES) perspective.
Caroline is a graduate of North Carolina Central University’s Counselor Education Program. She has dual Master’s degrees in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and School Counseling. Caroline is a National Certified Counselor (NCC), a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor (LCMHC), and a North Carolina Licensed Professional School Counselor. She is also a Licensed Clinical Addictions Specialist Associate (LCAS-A). Caroline earned her Bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Caroline’s training in eating disorders began when she was an intern at UNC’s Center of Excellence for Eating Disorders (CEED), where she worked on the inpatient eating disorders unit at UNC Hospital. She conducted individual counseling and facilitated various groups including CBT, DBT, and a media awareness/body image group. Her clinical training is in cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavioral therapy, solution focused therapy, motivational interviewing, Maudsley family therapy, CPT, and ACT.
Caroline is trained in EMDR therapy, is a C-SAT candidate, and is in the process of becoming a Certified Eating Disorder Specialist (CEDS). She is also in the process of completing training in the Gottman Method Couples Therapy. Recently, she was the Clinical Practice Director at Pasadena Villa Outpatient in Chapel Hill, and previously she was the PHP/IOP Manager and a therapist at Veritas Collaborative, a national healthcare system for the treatment of eating disorders.
Caroline is a member of the North Carolina Board of Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselors, the Carolina Resource Center for Eating Disorders, the American Counseling Association, North Carolina Counseling Association, the International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals, the North Carolina Chapter of International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals, the North Carolina School Counselor Association, American School Counselor Association, and Chi Sigma Iota Counseling Honor Society.
Additionally at Bull City Psychotherapy, Caroline helps maintain the website, manages social media accounts, contributes to articles and blog posts, creates a quarterly newsletter, among other tasks. When not in sessions, Caroline can be found cheering for the UNC Tar Heels, snuggling with one or more of her 5 pets (2 dogs, 3 cats), deciding which place she’d like to travel to next with her partner, or curling up with a good book.
To schedule an appointment with Caroline, email her at caroline@bullcitypsychotherapy.com or call 919-382-0288.
Aura LaBarre, MA, LCMHC, NCC
Aura LaBarre, MA, NCC, LCMHC fosters post-traumatic growth and healing by utilizing person-centered
restorative modalities such as EMDR, CBT, and experiential therapy.
Aura (she/her) is a licensed clinical mental health counselor (LCMHC) holding healing space for
adolescents, adults, and elders processing recent and generational trauma, betrayal trauma, anxiety,
depression, grief and loss, chronic health concerns, identity journeys, those seeking new ways of
addressing cyclical relationship problems, behavioral addictions, and other manifestations of human
struggles. Aura’s compassionate counseling approach walks the path as a student of anti-racist,
LGBTQIA+ affirming, culturally inclusive, body, age, and diverse ability honoring approaches.
From Aura’s first career in ecology, to School Counseling (graduated from NCCU in 2017) and Family Centered Treatment, she counsels with a systems-thinking approach that considers the complexity of human interactions through a trauma-informed lens. Aura works with those who face betrayal trauma as a trainee of The Association of Partners of Sex Addicts Trauma Specialists (APSATS). While integrating Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and solution-focused therapeutic strategies, Aura maintains a person-centered environment. Aura is trained in eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) and offers a somatic approach to support post-traumatic growth. She is also trained in restorative practices with Restorative Practices International (RPI), which offers a healing context for those harmed. Aura’s role, as your collaborator in healing, will be to hold a strong therapeutic space for you with authenticity, compassion, and diligence.
If you would like to schedule an appointment with Aura, please email her at aura@bullcitypyschotherapy.com or call the Bull City Psychotherapy office at 919-382-0288.
Jeff Shaeffer, M.Div., MA, LCMHC, CSAT
Jeff is a licensed clinical mental health counselor (LCMHC) dedicated to helping individuals, couples, adolescents and families move beyond the challenges and pain of past experiences in order to live a productive and hope-filled life. Through individual, couples, and group counseling, Jeff provides a professional yet comfortable environment where his clients can address their concerns and objectives. Using a variety of approaches, including but not limited to cognitive behavioral therapy, solution focused therapy, Gestalt and role-playing therapy, Jeff works with each of his clients to determine how to most effectively help them reach their unique goals.
Jeff is a Certified Sex Addiction Therapist (CSAT), and is currently working on his certification as a Sex Therapist through the Institute for Sexual Wholeness. This includes specialized training in the realm of LGBTQ studies and gender identity under Dr. Mark Yarhouse. He has completed training in eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), as well as The Gottman Method of Relationship Therapy, a research-based approach to strengthening relationships. Jeff is also qualified to administer the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), a tool used to help people understand their own personality, how they interact with others, and what jobs are a good fit.
Prior to becoming a counselor, Jeff served as a pastor in non-denominational and Baptist congregations and received his Masters of Divinity from Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary. He respects and understands the importance of a personal belief system and how that influences life decisions. He is eager to work with clients of all faiths and backgrounds to achieve optimum health. Jeff is a member of the the American Association of Christian Counselors.
To schedule an appointment with Jeff, please call the office at (919) 382-0288 or email at jeff@bullcitypsychotherapy.com.
MaRay Crockett, LMFTA, CSAT Candidate
MaRay (she/her) is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Associate who is passionate about strengthening relationships and helping people overcome trauma. MaRay believes therapy is your time to process and heal and is here to support you! She believes in empowering her client’s to make expert choices that benefit their lives. MaRay aims to help all clients feel seen, heard, and understood. She understands relationships can be complicated and sometimes we need extra support, especially when trust has been broken. MaRay helps couples, families, and individuals to shift out of stuck places. She uses a systemic approach which allows her to consider all sides of an issue when making therapeutic decisions. In session, she will help rebuild trust, strengthen communication, and interrupt negative cycles. MaRay specializes in supporting people who are navigating infidelity, trauma, sex addiction, and life transitions.
MaRay earned her B.A. in Family and Community Services from East Carolina University and went on to graduate with her Master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy from the East Carolina University’s COAMFTE-accredited MFT program. She has specifically trained in therapeutic modalities such as EMDR, Narrative Therapy, Emotionally Focused Therapy, Gottman Couples Therapy, and Discernment Counseling. She has experience supporting diverse populations including teens and young adults, people in the LGBTQ+ community, single parent families, blended families, poly/ENM relationships, and medical professionals.
When MaRay is not in session, she enjoys spending quality time with friends and family. Exploring community events, working on creative D.I.Y projects, and listening to her favorite playlist that never gets old.
To schedule an appointment with MaRay, please call the office at (919) 382-0288 or email at maray@
Tempe Lampe, MSW, LCSWA
Tempe (she/they) is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker Associate (LCSWA) who is dedicated to helping individuals explore and understand their internal landscape while recognizing the influence of the larger social, political, and environmental context. She creates a warm and safe holding environment through empathy, humor, and collaborative work with clients. Through this work they hope to aid in restoring and strengthening the intimacy a person holds with others as well as within themselves. She has experience treating depression, anxiety, addiction, trauma, intimacy issues, and life transitions. In session, Tempe is relational and works with clients to identify strengths as well as uncover the root of needs and behaviors.
Tempe received their BA in Psychology at Meredith College and a Master’s in Social Work (MSW) at New York University. During her time in New York City, she had the opportunity to explore different facets of social work. They worked with older adults at a naturally occurring retirement community to promote emotional wellness and aid in navigating social welfare programs to receive the resources they need, as well as at the Center for Intimacy Recovery providing individual and group therapy to those struggling with compulsive sexual behavior with a focus on porn use and barriers to emotional and physical intimacy.
If you would like to schedule an appointment with Tempe, please call Bull City Psychotherapy at 919-382-0288. Or you can e-mail her at tempe@bullcitypsychotherapy.com
Celynd Malone, MA, LCMHCA, NCC, CSAT Candidate
Celynd (she/her) is an LCMHCA who completed her internship with Bull City Psychotherapy in 2023. Celynd is continuing her academic journey as a Ph.D. student at the International Institute of Clinical Sexology where she is pursuing certification as a sex therapist with an emphasis on transgender care and kink consciousness.
Celynd believes that every person’s story matters and that exploring your story can bring healing. Her priority is to create an environment of safety and non-judgement. She works with individuals and couples from a variety of backgrounds on issues including sex addiction, religious trauma, depression, anxiety, stress, trauma, relationship challenges, grief and loss, and issues of specific concern to the LGBTQIA+, kink, and polyamory communities.
Celynd’s primary approach to counseling is an integration of person-centered therapy with trauma-informed therapies such as EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), Schema Therapy, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. This is because she believes that most people are on a path of self-growth in this life, and the answers are within us. She will work with you to create a plan to discover what you need to live a meaningful, healthy life. She views her role as assisting you in reaching whatever goals you may have for yourself by providing nonjudgmental support and helping to facilitate your journey, whatever form it may take. Celynd is part of the queer community. She seeks to live out anti-racist principles both in her practice and her life.
Celynd has completed training in EMDR, sexual addiction, and Schema Therapy. Prior to counseling, she taught high school biology and human anatomy and physiology in Durham, NC. She earned her B.S. in biology from the University of South Carolina.
If you would like to schedule an appointment with Celynd, please call Bull City Psychotherapy at 919-382-0288. Or you can e-mail her at celynd@bullcitypsychotherapy.com
Marcus Walton, MDiv, CMHC Intern
Marcus Walton (he/him) is in the process of completing his Masters of Clinical Mental Health Counseling at North Carolina Central University, moving towards graduating and pursuing licensure in July 2024. Marcus believes that every person has their own inner healing intelligence that is fully integrated, body, mind, and spirit, and that the work of psychotherapy is in unlocking and utilizing that intelligence. His job as a therapist is to honor, channel, and foster the growth of this intelligence in you, the client, who serves as the ultimate expert on the meaning and direction of your own experience. Marcus works with adults, individuals and couples experiencing a variety of issues. Some common ones include: depression, anxiety, grief and loss, stress, trauma, sexual issues, intimacy issues, and communication challenges. He also has a special interest in working with members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and years of experience living and working with people in the neurodivergent community.
Marcus has a wellness orientation to therapy that emphasizes the strengths, joys, gifts, and resources available to each client, using these to work collaboratively towards short or long term goals. Marcus has completed training in ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) and Mindfulness practice. From this theory and practice, we might consider several questions together as particularly illuminating: how can I have what I want; how can I want what I have; and what does it mean for me to be fully alive in this moment? Marcus believes that desire is an important source of vitality and awake-ness that can be grown within a context of an abiding contentment and that these are imminently achievable and sometimes simply discoverable. Marcus likewise has an interest in Internal Family Systems therapy: inquire if you want to know more about this fast growing evidence-based practice and may be open to trying it.
Marcus also has a special interest in people working with legacies of religious trauma, recovery from Purity Culture, and those struggling to hold on to or reinvent their faith/spiritual beliefs in the wake of negative religious experiences and ensuing spiritual reconstruction. He is deeply informed by the Christian and Buddhist traditions and knowledgeable about other faiths (currently learning more about indigenous spiritualities), and ready to constructively integrate whatever parts of spiritual experience feel important to you into our work together.
Marcus earned a Masters of Divinity from Duke Divinity School in 2013, where his research interests were centered around intersections in Theology and the Arts, especially literature and music, and the Theology of Disability, spending formative time at the L’Arche Community of Greater Washington D.C. He currently lives in an intentional community of people with and without disabilities living together, and is thriving within the beloved community he finds therein. He spends his free time exploring the Eno River and Ellerbee Creek parks of Durham, writing and playing music, and befriending other people’s dogs.
Marcus is excited to begin seeing clients as an intern at Bull City Psychotherapy free of charge beginning August 15th, 2023. If you would like to schedule an appointment with Marcus, please call Bull City Psychotherapy at 919-382-0288 or email him at marcus@bullcitypsychotherapy.com
Kim Shackleford, Nutritionist
Kim is a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, Certified GAPS and Restorative Wellness Practitioner. She develops bio individual nutrition and supplementation protocols to support optimal health, weight loss and deficiencies that create symptoms, imbalances, and disease. She utilizes a natural foundational approach to rebuilding health, which includes high-performance foods and resources to fuel a sustainable shift in your life for permanent results.
Her focus is on providing whole, nutrient dense foods as the key elements for more energy, to stabilize sugar cravings, to reduce inflammation, balance hormones, improved sleep, reduce allergies, be less symptomatic, reduce body fat and continue down the path of anti-aging and optimizing health. She increases vitality by supporting the body’s chemistry and flooding it with the nutrients it needs to repair, detox and balance. This is a synergistic approach to the whole person rather than masking symptoms.
Kim obtained her undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, later graduated from Nutritional Therapy Association, also became certified as a GAPS Practitioner as well as receiving a certification to utilize expanded functional lab testing to evaluate underlying root causes of each person’s physiology to help them get well.
Kim’s passion for a much deeper level and proactive approach to health began when her son, Kanaan, was born with down syndrome. He is her greatest joy and teacher. She was a national level athlete for years and is an NPC State Judge. In her free time, she enjoys resistance training and a full spectrum of other type workouts, cooking, exploring healthy restaurants and dancing.
For a more comprehensive view of her work:
If you would like to schedule an appointment with Kim, please call her cell phone at 919-427-5946 or Bull City Psychotherapy at 919-382-0288. Or you can e-mail her at kim@bullcitypsychotherapy.com
Dr. Geng Wu
Chinese medicine is an ancient healing art that originated in China over 5,000 years ago which has been applied in clinics to maintain human health, prevent and treat diseases. Safe, effective, and inexpensive are its characteristics. Dr. Geng Wu offers traditional Chinese medicine including acupuncture, cupping, electro-stimulation, heat therapy and auricular therapy, and natural Chinese herbs therapies.
Dr. Geng Wu, with a Diploma of Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM), is licensed by the state to practice in North Carolina. M.D. (China). Dr. Wu graduated from Beijing University of the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the best six-year full-time TCM program in China. She practiced and taught as a chief doctor in the affiliated hospital of Beijing University of TCM. As a counselor and instructor, Dr. Wu practiced and taught TCM for nearly 16 years in Japan. Providing treatment and relief for specialties such as, pain management, sport injuries, GYN diseases, infertility, menopause symptoms and problems, weight loss, auto-immune and endocrine system disorders, stroke rehabilitation, hypertension, gastrointestinal disorders, low energy, fatigue, respiratory diseases, allergies, neurological and stress-related disorders, insomnia, addictions and skin problems
Dr. Wu published more than 50 professional articles. She is a member of China Association of
Acupuncture and Moxibustion, and a member of the Chinese Medical Association.
If you would like to schedule an appointment with Geng, please call her at Bull City Psychotherapy at 919-382-0288. Or you can e-mail her at geng@bullcitypsychotherapy.com