Heather Bergida Thurston, PhD, PLLC

After growing up in New York, I attended Cornell University where I achieved my Bachelor of Science in Human Development & Family Studies in 1999.  Following my undergraduate studies, I moved to Massachusetts where I worked as a Mental Health Technician on the inpatient units at McLean Hospital and a Research Assistant in the Psychology Department at Harvard University.  In 2000, I entered the doctoral program in clinical psychology at Harvard University to begin my graduate training.  One year later, I transferred to Binghamton University to continue working with my established mentor on a line of research pertaining to personality disorders.  I moved to North Carolina in 2005 to complete my pre-doctoral clinical internship at the Durham VA Medical Center and graduated with my PhD in Clinical Psychology from Binghamton University in 2006.  While working at the VA, I gained extensive experience in the assessment and treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other common reactions to trauma (e.g., depression, panic attacks, relationship difficulties).  Upon graduation, my husband and I elected to establish roots in North Carolina after he was assigned to his duty station at Ft. Liberty (formerly Ft Bragg).  From 2006-2008, I completed a two-year post-doctoral fellowship in the Behavioral Interventions Program at Duke University Medical Center where I received intensive training in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for depression and anxiety disorders, and couple/marital therapy.  From there, I accepted a full-time position as a psychologist within the VA at the Raleigh Vet Center.  I worked at the Raleigh Vet Center for 5 years providing individual and marital therapy to veterans and their families where I received Master Clinician level training in Prolonged Exposure (PE) Therapy for PTSD.  In 2013, I transitioned to private practice in Cary, North Carolina to afford me ample time with my growing family.  In my personal life, I am a wife of a retired Special Forces medic and mom to our son and daughter.  We have three dogs (one of which works with me as a therapy dog, Belle) and enjoy watching "dog TV" in the evenings.  During my time-off, I enjoy spinning, yoga, photography, reading, and trying my hand at various crafts.