Medicine Beyond Medicine with Alicia Ashorn and Anthony Thigpen

This week on The Nocturnists, we hear from Alicia Ashorn and Anthony Thigpen, two community health workers with the Transitions Clinic Network who are redefining what care looks like beyond the hospital walls.

Alicia and Anthony share their personal stories—Alicia’s journey through addiction and recovery, and Anthony’s path through grief, transformation, and reentry work—and how these experiences shape their care for people returning from incarceration. In our conversation, they explore the power of storytelling, the emotional complexity of supporting clients in crisis, and the wisdom required to balance compassion with boundaries. Through vivid anecdotes from the field, they illuminate the essential yet often unseen role of community health workers as bridges between the clinic and the community, offering trust, dignity, and hope to people navigating systems that routinely fail them.

Alicia and Anthony originally told their stories at “Journeys of Healing: Stories of Resilience and Transformation,” a Nocturnists Satellites event hosted by Transitions Clinic Network in Los Angeles in 2025, made possible by a generous grant from the California Health Care Foundation.

Enjoy,Emily and The Nocturnists Team

Favorite moments from this week’s episode

The Chaos and the Calling“There’s no two days the same. I might be helping someone who’s hungry, someone who can’t get their medication, someone going to court, someone sleeping in their car. From the moment I open my eyes, my phone’s ringing. It’s busy—but this is what I’m called to do.” — Anthony

Speaking from the Heart“I had practiced my story for weeks, but when it came time to perform, I froze. Everything I’d written went out the window. So I just spoke from my heart. I still don’t remember everything I said, but I know it was real. And when people told me afterward they could relate—that’s when I understood the power of it.” — Alicia

The Gift and the Curse“Sometimes our clients look up to us so much they’re afraid to disappoint us. That’s the gift and the curse. They see us thriving, and they don’t want to let us down. But I tell them, I’m safe—come to me with the truth. We’ll get through it together.” — Anthony

Freedom in the Truth“This was the first job interview where I was proud to say I’d been to jail. For the first time, my past wasn’t something to hide—it was something that made me right for the job. It felt freeing.” — Alicia

We Are All We’ve Got“The resources are scarce, but we’ve learned to come together. The nonprofits, the community orgs—we’ve realized no one’s coming to save us but us. So we share what we have, we show up for each other, and somehow, we make it work.” — Anthony

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