Meet our team of healing professionals & specialists
Meet Our Specialists
Explore our experienced team of specialists.
To book an appointment, contact the specialist directly. Preferred contact info is provided below.
For general questions about The Healing Cottage, email us at thehealingcottagenc@gmail.com.
Dr. Nikki White, MS, DC
Chiropractor & Masters of Nutrition
Dr. Nicole White graduated from Parker University with a Doctorate in Chiropractic Medicine. She has a Masters of Nutrition from Washington State University and is certified in Applied Kinesiology. Dr. White's passion for family health and nutrition has led to practice Chiropractic Medicine in New Jersey, Kentucky, Florida and North Carolina. Additionally she is published as the primary author in the medical journal Lipids.
Whether you’re concerned about weight loss or acne, Dr. White is committed to getting to the root of the problem, not just diagnose symptoms. With a genuine love for health and wellness, Dr. White addresses the big picture, taking on all aspects to help her clients look and feel better, helping the body heal.
Laura Bass
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
Laura Bass is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who has practiced individual, couple and family counseling for adults for thirty-three years. She specializes in couple therapy, infidelity, depression, anxiety disorders, adjustment reactions, midlife issues, grief, life transitions, shame, trauma and chronic illness. Laura has a special interest in and training for working on all levels: mind/body/spirit/energy to promote emotional wellness.
Laura earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She received her Master of Social Work from the University of South Carolina in 1985. Over the years, Laura has trained in many modalities. She uses traditional therapeutic techniques along with complementary techniques to enhance mental, physical, and spiritual wellness. In addition to ongoing continuing education in psychotherapy, she attended classes in Spiritual Direction at the Haden Institute with an Episcopal priest and became an Ordained Minister in the Alliance of Divine Love. Laura completed three levels of Reiki attunement and additionally took classes in Incan Peruvian energy work from Shaman who spent time in the western NC mountains. Laura was mentored in clearing blockages and balancing chakras by a Shaman trained by the Four Winds School. She is certified in the Emotion Code, which is a healing modality helpful to humans and animals.
Since the pandemic, Laura has practiced virtually. In April 2024, she will also have in person sessions when she is also joining A Healing Cottage in Columbus NC. She is on several insurance panels including BCBS, Anthem BCBS, Aetna, Magellan, Carelon, CBHA, and Medicare.
Laura is looking forward to working with the team at The Healing Cottage.
Meghan McKechnie
Licensed Acupuncturist and Massage Therapist
Hello! Born in Sleepy Hollow, New York, and raised in Tampa, Florida, my passion for assisting people in their healing process emerged at an early age. My journey into natural medicine began as a teenager, driven by a search for answers to my own health issues. This quest ignited a profound passion for helping others heal their bodies.
I started my professional path by attending the Cortiva Institute in Pinellas Park, Florida, where I graduated with a degree in massage therapy in 2009. Following this, I furthered my studies at the East West College of Natural Medicine in Sarasota, Florida, and later transferred to Southwest Acupuncture College in Boulder, Colorado. I graduated in December 2015 with a Masters of Science in Acupuncture.
After completing my education, I established and ran a very successful practice in Colorado for 10 years, helping countless individuals achieve better health and wellness. Now, I bring my extensive experience as a licensed acupuncturist to North Carolina, where I continue to dedicate myself to promoting holistic healing and well-being for my clients.
Danielle Chappell
Certified Yoga Instructor, Dragonfly Moon Yoga
Danielle has been immersed in the world of yoga for as long as she can remember. She started her practice as a child alongside her mother, dabbled in it as a teenager, and then dove in deeply during her 20s and 30s. In 2023, Danielle decided to formalize her dedication to yoga by completing her 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training (YTT) with Tish Hilyer at YAM, Yoga and Massage Studio, specializing in Hatha and Vinyasa yoga.
Danielle gravitates towards the Ashtanga yoga style, which she combines with a more free-flowing Vinyasa approach, integrating breath (pranayama) as the core of her practice. Pranayama in Sanskrit, Prana means life force energy and ayama means stretching, is central to her teaching philosophy. She believes that yoga asana (postures) and pranayama (breath) are powerful meditative techniques providing a pathway to inner peace and physical well-being.
Her classes blend the structured discipline of Ashtanga with the fluidity of Vinyasa, offering a balanced practice that emphasizes alignment, breath, and mindfulness. Danielle enjoys using music, humor, authenticity, and ease to create a more joyful, immersive spiritual experience for her students. Her warm approachable and supportive teaching style makes her classes accessible to practitioners of all levels, from beginners to advanced students.
Beyond teaching yoga, Danielle manages and creates retreats for heart centered entrepreneurs, providing immersive experiences for others to deepen their spiritual paths and connect with a like-minded community. She is the owner and manager of a Nanny Agency, a wife to a wonderful man and a mother of two amazing young men. She is committed to lifelong learning and continues to enhance her knowledge through advanced training and personal practice.
When she’s not on the mat, Danielle enjoys spending time in nature with her husband and family, paddleboarding, hiking, gardening, traveling, dancing, meditating, reading and preparing healthy, nourishing meals for her loved ones. She is dedicated to living a consciously evolving life and strives to inspire her students to do the same.
Carolina Parades-Cox
Certified Integrative Coach
Carolina is a certified Integrative Coach who helps people discover empowering and joyful ways to move their bodies, eat, and live in order to be Healthy Strong and Happy AF! She is a known speaker and trainer in the local fitness and wellness scene as well as an advocate for Self Care and educator in the Treecare industry where she has trained hundreds of Treeworkers and Arborists.
Christina Byrne
POLARITY ENERGY THERAPY & POLARITY LIFE COACHING
(Christina will be offering massage therapy once licensed in NC)
Christina Byrne has been practicing therapeutic massage and polarity energy work since completing her original training at Florida School of Massage in 2001. She has been also practicing yoga since 1997 when she found yoga as a tool to move out of depression. She completed a yoga teacher training through True Nature Healing Arts in Carbondale, Colorado in 2011.
Christina has experienced profound personal healing through mind-body therapies over the last decades and knew she would ultimately work with people to help them heal from old trauma and challenging emotions and live more fully into their divine natures. She aligned with a training in 2021 with Anna Chitty at the Colorado School of Energy Studies in Boulder, Colorado. Here Christina studied Blueprint Resonance and Polarity Life Coaching which has foundations in Somatic Experiencing, Diamond heart and Polarity therapy among other mind-body therapeutic modalities.
Christina is also a wife and a mother to two sons. In her free time, Christina loves to grow food, hike, cross country ski, swim in lakes and oceans, soak up all the sensations of nature and take plenty of moments to lean into God’s love. She practiced in Carbondale, CO for 21 years and recently moved her life and practice to the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Anne Moss
LICENSED PROFESSIONAL COUNSELOR
I earned a Masters of Education from Augusta University, Augusta, GA in May of 2006. Augusta University is a CACREP accredited school.I have 15 years of experience working with chemically dependent adults, their families and the dually diagnosed. I also work with adults and adolescents suffering from anxiety and depression, as well as symptoms related to trauma and PTSD. I am a Nationally Certified Counselor (NCC#: 226306) and I am a Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of Georgia (LPC007479), as well as a Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of North Carolina (7088). I am a member of the American Counseling Association (# 6229467). In addition, I am a LCAS, in the state of North Carolina.
Counseling is a collaborative effort. It cannot be successful without your hard work and courage. I believe that a better understanding of self and acceptance is vital in all situations. This includes understanding how past experiences have shaped the way we view ourselves, and how we relate to others. Therapy provides a safe place to explore thoughts, reactions, and feelings about events and people in your life, as well as yourself. Therapy allows you the opportunity to examine new ways of thinking and behavior changes as well as an opportunity to learn different ways to express feelings. I incorporate several different therapeutic approaches which will vary depending upon which approach produces the most favorable results for my client. My major therapeutic techniques include Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), EMDR, Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), Reality Therapy, REBT, Narrative Therapy and Sports Psychology.
Veronica Johnson
HOLISTIC PSYCHIATRY
Veronica Johnson, PMHNP-BC, FNP-C, is at the forefront of the consciousness revolution, dedicated to advancing global awareness by guiding individuals away from reliance on prescription drugs and addictive substances with a modality that she calls Soul Composting. Licensed in both family medicine and psychiatry, she has worked with leaders in the industry for addictions and psychological trauma, and as a Health Coach, she has witnessed numerous people regain their minds, bodies, and lives.
She completed her psychiatric training at Vanderbilt University, an 18 month holistic psychiatry fellowship, and was part of the original cohort of Kelly Brogan’s Vital Mind Reset lifestyle medicine coaching certification training. Her comprehensive model emphasizes spiritual connection, inviting us all to join a movement focused on transforming our approach to mental well-being, achieving freedom, and living a life of fulfillment.
Star Conway
Yoga Teacher
Star Conway’s lifelong yoga journey began before birth. Her mother, also a yoga teacher, practiced with Star in utero and throughout her infancy. Aptly named by her father as his “shining light,” Star felt compelled to highlight this lineage into the healing practice she has cultivated as Stars Align and Flow.
Star took a deep dive into yoga while pregnant in 2008 to bring balance to her own life and has practiced regularly ever since. In 2016 she took the step to deepen her own practice and relationship with herself through completing RYT 200 training at Asheville Yoga Center. Star has been influenced by many teachers over the years to develop a teaching style uniquely her own, based on principles of alignment and flow. Historically she merges teaching with her other passions, teaching colleagues, athletes and kids. Star’s work as a registered nurse has given her insight into what the human experience looks like when profoundly out of alignment. She has acute awareness of the impacts of body, mind, spirit imbalance contributing to dis-ease in the body. The recognition that all humans are capable and deserving of experiencing inner peace motivated Star to birth Stars Align and Flow, a play on her given name, favored yoga style and the sanskrit term naksatra which refers to any heavenly body. “I encourage individuals to become attuned to their bodies, to learn to listen to and respect their bodies expressed needs while cultivating physical, spiritual, emotional growth and flexibility.” At any stage of life, Star’s teaching is aimed to help individuals discover their own strength. “Gazing up at the stars, surrounded by the elements, I have always felt a sense of deep connection.”
Sarah Lee
Community Herbalist
My name is Sarah. I am a Western North Carolina native currently residing in Tryon, NC. I have worked as a registered nurse for 15 years. For the last decade I have been working in a skilled home health setting with a strong focus on wound care and teaching patients how to maintain optimal skin integrity. In addition to nursing, I have long had a passion for mother nature and the plant medicine she provides! At 18 years old I began independently studying herbalism and making folk remedies for friends and family. In November of this past year I saw a lifelong dream come to fruition when I graduated from the Blue Ridge School of Herbal Medicine under the tutelage of Corey Pine Shane. Now at 42 years old, with my children nearly grown and more independent, I have pulled from my years of nursing care, folk medicine, and herbalism to create a line of skin care products to support people of all ages in having radiant, healthy skin! My products are made with high quality ingredients with a focus on organic production and sustainability. When I am not making “potions” or caring for patients, you can find me wandering the woods taking pictures of plants or with friends and family playing my banjo!
Joy Kerry Mertlick
Sacred Tea Ceremonialist
Joy Kerry serves Living Tea in the Taoist tradition to all those who are called to sit in the present moment and be open to what is revealed from their Highest Self.
Joy Kerry started serving Living Tea in 2018 after and with a continuous self practice for the last 10 years. Joy’s loving presence, extensive Buddhist & Shamanic studies allows her to connect to the hearts of her clients and guide them to the peaceful essence that lies within us all. From this calm state of being the True Self emerges and one may experience a deeper connection to Source, God, Truth and Unconditional Love.
Joy Kerry offers a sacred safe container to go deep inside the self and move beyond old patterns, paradigms and programs. Joy helps to awaken the Shakti fire within to empower each person to embody one’s full potential.
By focusing on awakening the heart and gently guiding the mind with loving awareness, Joy Kerry has helped 100’s of people move beyond struggling and into a reality to see life as an endless opportunity to grow and evolve releasing the densities that confine us into a more light hearted way of being.
Joy Kerry enjoys waking up in gratitude for life and meditating before the sun rises. She feels nourished by her personal yoga practice and ecstatic dancing. She gathers with Soul family every Wednesday to shake her rattle & sing devotional Medicine Songs in English, Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese and Sanskrit. The forests, mountains, rivers, waterfalls and meadows are a sanctuary that Joy Kerry is endlessly grateful for. She has explored over 30 countries, continues to be curious and sees herself experiencing many more cultures and ways of living this glorious life as a Spirit in a Human body.