Hannah Burgess, MSW Candidate ‘26

Now Accepting Referrals for In Person & Virtual Services at the

Equitable Care Clinic at Obsidian!

Hannah Burgess (she/they) is one of Obsidian Care Collective’s Equitable Care Clinic MSW Student Interns. Hannah is currently completing her final year of her Master’s in Social Work (MSW) at UNC Chapel Hill, providing sliding scale services both virtually and in person. J. Louise Newton, MSW, LCSW, SEP is Hannah’s supervisor for her advanced clinical practicum. Hannah provides individual, couples, and family therapy to adolescents and adults with a focus on supporting healthy connections, navigating life’s transitions, and moving through challenges with resilience in the midst of both predictability and turbulence.

Hannah collaborates with each individual to find the best path forward together, drawing on principles of Psychotherapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Motivational Interviewing, Mindfulness, and Somatic Experiencing. Hannah pulls from attachment-based, emotion-focused, strengths-based, and trauma-focused approaches to therapy.  

• adult individual & couple’s work

• anxiety & depression

• life-transitions

• building self-worth & investing in meaningful relationships

• existential dread

• navigating identity & meaning

As a queer individual, Hannah is also passionate about working with LGBTQIA+ folks. Hannah brings their grounded, affirmative, and nonjudgmental presence to each session. She believes you are the expert on your own experience and approaches therapy as a highly collaborative process. You are a whole person with lived experiences that are important and complex. Hannah strives to fully acknowledge your history, your story, and the systems you live within. Through working with Hannah, you will feel supported and seen in navigating the challenges you are facing while strengthening your coping skills and deepening your connection with yourself. 

Hannah graduated Summa Cum Laude from Lawrence University with a Bachelor’s of Arts in Psychology and a minor in Cognitive Science. She is expected to complete her MSW at UNC Chapel Hill in the Spring of 2026. 

Before starting their Master’s program, Hannah built a strong foundation in mental health through research, advocacy, and direct service roles. She has worked extensively in research labs focusing on LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC communities, queer identity, and mental health, and she brings this awareness of systemic challenges into her clinical work. As such, Hannah is a specialized provider at the Obsidian Equitable Care Clinic focusing on providing care for environment and health researchers who are experiencing extraordinary upheaval in their workplaces. The Equitable Care Clinic is poised and ready to give back to the people behind the scenes who make our work more impactful. Thank you for your service and we look forward to being a support and resource to you.

Lastly, Hannah has worked in multiple community mental health programs directly supporting individuals navigating trauma, life transitions, and persistent mental illness. She is passionate about interweaving nature with therapy, and she deepened her knowledge of horticultural therapy while working on a therapeutic farm last year. Hannah strives to embody honesty, humility, and curiosity in everything she does, and she is unwavering in her commitment to the highest good of those she works with. 

Outside of her MSW journey, Hannah enjoys reading, moving her body, being outside, and spending time with her loved ones and her two cats. 

Equitable Care Clinic Services with Hannah:

• All services are considered Pay What You Can, which means you select the fee that is sustainable for you between $5-$50 per session.

• Service hours are Wednesdays-Fridays both virtually offered and onsite at the Obsidian offices in downtown Hillsborough.

• Clients will receive clinical care from Hannah weekly, bi-weekly, or otherwise scheduled from September 2025-April 2026.

• Hannah attends weekly individual clinical supervision with Louise, weekly group supervision with the team at Obsidian, and is actively receiving clinical instruction on the provision of clinical social work and psychotherapy during her final year of her Masters eduction at UNC Chapel Hill.

• Prospective clients may complete the “Request an Appointment” form and our practice manager will reach out to you to schedule a consultation with Hannah. During the consultation, Hannah and prospective clients will discuss care needs, history of engagement in care, and goodness of fit.

• In the event that a prospective client is in need of a different provider or services not offered by the Obsidian Equitable Care Clinic, Hannah will work with inquiring folks to find other community based resources that may be available to them.

Fall 2025: Hannah is ACTIVELY accepting referrals for clients seeking accessible n person and virtual care at Obsidian. Please complete the Request an Appointment form and we will respond—usually same business day! We are glad you are here.