Brian Rinker (he/him) is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor Associate in North Carolina who works with teens, adults, and couples of all identities and orientations. As a narrative therapist, Brian believes people make sense of their experiences and find meaning and purpose through the stories they carry. He brings curiosity and a caring approach to help people reclaim authorship and discover new possibilities.

Many clients who seek him out feel weighed down by depression, anxiety, anger, grief, regret, indecision, hopelessness, thoughts of suicide, or beliefs that they’ve fallen short. His work opens room for overlooked stories—moments of care, clarity, humor, resistance, or persistence—that highlight what matters to the person and what they’ve been trying to uphold even in hard moments.

With couples, Brian focuses on the relationship. The work explores how expectations, culture, and personal history shape connection and what each partner wants their relationship to stand for.

Brian is also trained in Brainspotting, a therapy that helps access and heal trauma in ways talk therapy sometimes can’t reach, and in Trauma-Focused CBT for adolescents. Before becoming a therapist, Brian worked as a journalist and later managed a suicide and crisis hotline.

• BA, Journalism, San Francisco State University

• MJ, Journalism, University of California, Berkeley

• MPH, Public Health, University of California, Berkeley

• MS, Clinical Mental Health Counseling, Pennsylvania Western University