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Conversations with the Inspiring Corrie Van Horne

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Corrie Van Horne.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Corrie. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I am a queer femme therapist and dietitian. My story is rooted in my experiences from my upbringing in the nineties, in the primarily white, middle class suburbs of Denver as the only girl in a family with four kids that practiced strong evangelical Christian values. As I transitioned from adolescence into adulthood and womanhood, I felt a gnawing inside of me to peel back the layers of my childhood and adolescent experiences in order to better understand who I was and to ultimately unearth my queer identity. 

My passion for nutrition began as more of an obsession. While I never had a full-blown eating disorder, I struggled with orthorexic thinking and behaving (overthinking nutrition and exercise minutiae) which led me to pursue my degree in nutrition. I worked in the nutrition field for a few years promoting “wellness” as a school nutrition director, employee wellness coach, diabetes management consultant, and higher education nutrition professor. I never felt entirely fulfilled in my nutrition career until I landed a job in the field of eating disorder recovery after going through a divorce, turning thirty, and moving back to my hometown of Denver, Colorado. It was around that time that things started to come into full view for me. I started seeing my own therapist and working through some of the pieces of my life experience that had scarred me, and I also began to unpack and encounter who I truly was. 

The parallel process of working alongside clients in their journeys to recovery while also working through many of my own skeletons ignited a desire in me to pursue my master’s degree in counseling. Right around the time I went back to school for counseling, was when I took the leap and started my private practice as a dietitian working with people with eating disorders, chronic dieting, and internalized body and beauty shame learned from the rampant oppressive system of diet culture and patriarchy. Doing my own thing and being my own boss was a reality I always knew I would find myself in. I have always had a bit of a rebellious spirit and have struggled to go along with the status quo. Entrepreneurship is the way for me. 

That is not to say it has been easy. My anxiety, depression, and self-worth have gotten the better of me at times and have created a narrative in my brain that tells me I am not good enough and that I will fail and that people do not like me. Thankfully I have a great support system and therapist and through those relationships have been able to feel enough confidence to keep going and grow into where I am today. I worked in private practice by myself for about four years, all the while attending grad school. I finally graduated with my master’s in counseling in 2017 and was feeling fatigued from the isolation I felt being the sole clinician in my business. At that time my now business partner and friend, Melissa Preston, and I decided to join forces and support each other in business. We are both therapists and dietitians and complement each other beautifully, in my opinion. It is incredibly rad to now have a partner in a shared vision and as a support in doing business. 

Omni Counseling and Nutrition was born and we officially opened our doors for business in June of 2018. We exist to support clients in their journeys. Journeys to recovery from disordered eating and chronic dieting? Yes, and so much more than that! Every person has a unique process and we feel incredibly privileged to walk alongside each of our clients as they navigate their distinctive path. We believe in doing the work to support individuals while also looking at the oppressive systemic realities at play that have an impact on our client’s lived experiences. We believe in dismantling these systems and fighting for a just society where people in all bodies and identities are liberated. Our work is not done until we get there. 

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It has most definitely not always been a smooth road. The amusing and universally human thing about that is my struggle has almost always been due to internal strife rather than actual business-related roadblocks.  As I mentioned – anxiety, depression, self-doubt and imposter syndrome have been the main culprits for my challenges in being an entrepreneur. We have taken some risks in running our business, and the most challenging thing has been acceptance of the emotional roller coaster the risks have often pushed me onto, while staying committed to the vision and goals of our business. Leaning on my counseling supervisor, my therapist, and my support system of friends and family have been crucial when processing my struggles.  

My advice for anyone, and particularly women identifying people is to trust your gut. Women (cis and trans) have to work harder to trust our instincts due to oppression and sexism, so working to dismantle those ideas and seeking insight on how to be more tuned into your gut is crucial. I am a huge believer in intuitive eating, which is the approach to relating to food and body that we promote and utilize at Omni Counseling and Nutrition. This approach carries over into every facet of life. I believe that allowing your intuitive experience to guide you in all aspects of the human experience is critical for success. There are a lot of names for your intuition – your inner wisdom, inner knowing, gut, sixth sense, hunch, instinct etc. and we all have it. Unfortunately, it can often be something that people become disconnected from. Reacquainting and reconnecting yourself with your intuition, while learning how to deeply listen and trust yourself can help guide all choices in your life. 

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into Omni Counseling and Nutrition story. Tell us more about the business.
I am a queer femme therapist and dietitian. I co-own and run a mental health therapy and nutrition counseling practice alongside my business partner Melissa Preston. Our company is called Omni Counseling and Nutrition. I specialize in working with clients who present with eating disorders, disordered eating, a history of chronic dieting, and body, beauty, size, and weight related shame stemming from oppression. I am also passionate about exploring intersecting religious, and sexual and gender identity themes. I approach my work with clients from a feminist and anti-oppression perspective. The vision and goal that guides me is whole person liberation. My hope and aim are to support my clients in their liberation from systems that have held them back and oppressed them such as racism, sexism, heterosexism, transphobia, classism, sizeism, healthism, and religious oppression. I believe that these systems limit us all in our development and in healing and growing to our full potential. 

At Omni Counseling and Nutrition, I am so proud of many things. I love that we offer a one stop shop of sorts for recovery from disordered eating and the dismantling of diet culture. Melissa and I are both mental health therapists and dietitians. This dual licensure allows us to organically explore the different dimensions of our client’s health from mental, emotional, and physical perspectives. I am proud that we focus on liberation and look at client’s experiences and presentations not as their fault but as their adaptations to systems that have impacted the ways in which they see and are seen in the world. I am proud to be a lifelong learner that is consistently working to be more aware, to be an advocate, and to continually face my own growth edge related to social justice. I am beyond proud that I have like-minded people around me that also hold those values and can continue to make Omni Counseling and Nutrition a place of growth and change. Finally, I am proud that we are a company founded by and staffed completely by women identifying people. 

What do you feel are the biggest barriers today to female leadership, in your industry or generally?
I would say the biggest barrier to all women identifying persons in leadership (particularly women of color and trans women) is systemic oppression – sexism, racism, heterosexism, transphobia, classism, sizeism, healthism, and religious oppression and the intersections therein. Women continue to be underpaid compared to our male counterparts, have fewer opportunities, less access to resources of support like loans or investors, often do not have access to paid parental leave, and are generally less supported in leadership roles and as business owners. We have a lot of work to do as a society in creating more equity in leadership for women identifying people. We are so thankful to Voyage Denver and the work they are doing to highlight women in our community doing rad things! 

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Image Credit:
Kaitie Vader

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