North Texas Women in Wellness
All human bodies have a torso, four limbs and a head, but males and females differ in many important ways. Women can have babies, but men cannot, and their hormones are much more complex because of that. Thus we have doctors that specialize in women’s medicine and just as importantly, women’s preventative health.
Cereset Plano was founded March 2019. Owner Sonya Howeth holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and is a licensed technician for Cereset Technology, a brain-based business that uses a non-invasive, cutting-edge, unique neurotechnology using only brain-initiated sound to relax the brain, allowing it to reset itself and free itself from freeze-fight-or-flight states.
Cereset supports the brain to relax in order to rebalance and reset itself for optimal regulation. A balanced brain is a better brain and sustains a more healthy person in every way. Howeth says, “My passion is to help people who are suffering regain their best selves in a non-invasive way!”
Carpathia Collaborative was founded in 2014 in Dallas built upon the previous practice of Margaret Christensen, M.D., FACOG, IFMCP, ABOIM, CFMHC, since 2002. She graduated from Rice University, received a medical degree from the Baylor College of Medicine and residency at Baylor University Medical Center, in Dallas.
As a certified functional medicine practitioner (IFMCP), she currently serves as an associate faculty member for the Institute for Functional Medicine teaching physicians and healthcare practitioners nationally and internationally on the role of environmental toxicants, epigenetics, nutrition and lifestyle exposures on hormonal health and chronic complex disease. She is board certified in integrative and holistic medicine through the American College of Physicians and Surgeons. (ABOIM)
Her current interest has turned toward the realm of certified functional medicine health coaching (CFMHC). Focusing on a person’s strengths, values and what is right with them that helps achieve their long-term health goals.
Carpathia Collaborative is a unique, multi-specialty clinic that works as team to help patients achieve optimal health. They have the most IFMCP-certified functional medicine practitioners in the country, collaborating together to personalize care. Meeting weekly, they create a plan of care with input from multiple areas of expertise, including M.D.s, Ns, NP’s, dieticians, naturopaths, acupuncturist and a functional neurologic chiropractor.
The collaborative addresses autoimmune disorders, brain health, cancer support, chronic fatigue and mystery illnesses, chronic pain, digestive issues and gut problems, environmental illness, heart and metabolic health, healthy longevity and anti-aging, hormone imbalances, mood disorders, and performance (visit Vimeo.com/328671385).
Christensen says, “At Carpathia, we use our expertise to find the root causes of illness instead of just treating your symptoms. With your active participation and our collaboration, we will help you build resilience, vitality and well-being for a lifetime of vibrant health.”
Services at the Wellness Center include Detox Foot Soak, Emerald Laser, PhotonX, Low Light Laser Therapy, IV Vitamin Therapy Drip – Immune Boost,Ozone: IV or Bladder and Vaginal, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy and BEMER Pulsed Electromagnetic Field (PEMF). They identify root causes of hormone imbalances from lifestyle, nutrition, genetics, toxins and other factors.
“We believe that the body has incredible capacity to heal itself!” says Christensen. “The challenge is to identify and replace what is missing while removing what is no longer healthy!” She founded Carpathia Collaborative on the belief of participatory care where the client is an instrumental partner in returning their body back to health or keeping it healthy), not predetermined ideas about a diagnosis without a full understanding of a client’s situation.
Roxanne Pero, M.D., FACOG, DIPABLM, graduated from Louisiana State University, received a medical degree from Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center of New Orleans and subsequently completed a residency at the University of Texas at Southwestern/Parkland Memorial Hospital, in Dallas.
She completed board certification for the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, followed by 11.5 years of private practice in the field of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Infertility. Her expertise is in endometriosis, uterine fibroids, infertility, polycystic ovarian syndrome, spirituality in healing, mood disorders and hormonal imbalance.
She is a diplomate/fellow of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, a medical specialty that uses therapeutic lifestyle interventions as a primary modality to treat chronic conditions including, but not limited to, cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and obesity. Lifestyle medicine certified clinicians are trained to apply evidence-based, whole-person, prescriptive lifestyle changes to treat and, when used intensively, often reverse such conditions.
As a board-eligible functional medicine practitioner (IFMCP) through the Institute of Functional Medicine, she understands the desire and true need for a whole-systems, root cause analysis-based approach to truly thriving in our lives.
Pero specializes in women's health and is a client's biggest advocate, educator and ally on her journey to root cause discovery of disease processes, having personally had her own health struggles that holistic medicine has helped her overcome. She works tirelessly to help her clients find that inner source of self-healing and self-compassion, saying, “Empowerment in what we can do together—the provider and the patient—when we are equal participants, is the most meaningful way to regain a resilient life.
Susan Attel, APRN, MSN, FNP-BC, IFMCP, graduated from Baylor University with a bachelor of Science degree in Nursing in 1999 and a master’s from the University of Texas Arlington in 2003. She says, “I provide an open and intentional listening for what’s primarily at issue, offer discernment in prioritizing concerns, and help co-create a health journey based in those priorities. I believe in the inherent wisdom of the body, mind, spirit and one's story, with guidance and support, to align towards wellness.”
Registered Nurse Elizabeth Rohe, IFMCP, received a bachelor’s degree in business from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh in 2008, a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Nova Southeastern University in South Florida in 2012 and became a certified functional medicine practitioner from The Institute for Functional Medicine in 2018.
She says, “A place of healing: Carpathia Collaborative is a second home to me, and I’ve been on the team for eight years. The environment is inviting and homey. I often refer to the waiting room as ‘the living room.’ It is not a cold and sterile environment as compared to other medical practices. We want everyone to feel like this is a place of healing.”
She advises, “I want to encourage clients that they have the power and ability to heal themselves. I recommend personalized comprehensive testing and then offer my suggestions based on those results and based off our conversation of their health history. I hope to lead them in their own healing journey. Each person is unique and thus should be treated that way. I want women and people overall to feel well. To know there are other options out there for their health in a more natural way. I want to help women and couples conceive and have a healthy pregnancy. For women to have balanced hormones and live a life of vitality. For our immune system to work properly and decrease inflammation.”
Dr. Cathy May Lemmon founded Healthy Healing Arts in 2013. She has done extensive work and research in homeopathy, focusing primarily on the long and successful tenure of homeoprophylaxis (homeopathy as a preventive medicine or immunization against serious infectious diseases). She notes, “I have also been trained in the homeopathic treatment of vaccine damage.” She holds a bachelor’s degree in music, a postgraduate licentiate in homeopathy and a Ph.D. in homeoprophylaxis.
Homeopathycovers all things health-wise, physical, emotional and mental. “I am not a medical doctor or surgeon—I am not going to cut anyone open—but I will work with people to help them resolve issues that may have been concerning them for a short time of a long time. I cannot take many patients, as I am very busy with the demands of my immunization focus, but I am always open to helping people learn about and get going with homeoprophylaxis.”
Through her nonprofit organization Homeoprophylaxis – A Worldwide Choice for Disease Prevention (HPWWC), Lemmon has presented at many conferences about homeoprophylaxis throughout DFW, the U.S. and the world. She says, “I work with people and practitioners locally and worldwide to help them learn about and get going with homeoprophylaxis, either for themselves or, for practitioners, for their practice. I do provide practitioner training for homeoprophylaxis.”
She explains. “I work to keep my practice positive and focused. I like to help each person seeking my help individually—something key to homeopathy. There is no cookie-cutter approach to things in homeopathy, and because I’m not able to take a lot of patients, I want each person who comes to see me to feel they are very important to me because they truly are.
Lemmon advises, “My motto for my organization (HPWWC) ha for years, been, ‘Education is Key to Change.’ I like to let this trickle into my homeopathic practice. I tell each person who comes to see me, ‘I don’t want to keep seeing you—I’m not looking for a permanent customer—I want you well!’ Working with fine-tuning the mind, helping the person become excited about the fact that he or she is in control of his or her wellness, I want them to be excited about this.”
She shares, “Some cases provide more of a challenge because some cases are deeper, but I strongly and firmly believe that the key to being well is first acknowledging that they desire to be so. I am also one who will say, as much as I love homeopathy, this does not have all the answers, so I keep my doors open and will refer patients on if I feel that will be in their best interest.”
Lemmon lives on a small farm that has been working organically for years. “I am very passionate about things such as non-GMO, no artificial sweeteners and additives, preservatives. Growing your own food can be key to health, if for no other reason than the joy of working in your own garden, she says.,
Phyllis J. Gee, M.D., established Willowbend Health & Wellness in 2019. As a practicing obstetrician and gynecologist for nearly four decades, she decided to change her practice focus to integrative functional medicine. “I saw what was happening to my patients and their declining health over time—similar to what I had personally experienced 20 years ago,” says Gee. “I witnessed the failure of conventional medicine to provide the education and support they needed to survive whatever their current health problems were and begin to thrive again.”
Gee earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Nutrition from Cornell University, graduated from the Wayne State University School of Medicine, in Detroit, and completed a residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx. She worked in 1986 as a staff physician for CIGNA HMO, in Garland, prior to starting a solo private practice in Dallas.
At Willowbend Health & Wellness, Gee and her team provide integrative functional medicine services to men, women and adolescents with the goal of identifying the root causes of their symptoms through advanced diagnostic laboratory testing and functional health assessments. Using advanced medical technology like Trifecta Red Light Therapy, Flowpresso Lymphatic Massage Therapy and BEMER PEMF Therapy, they assist patients in restoring their health.
Gee has developed a comprehensive cardiometabolic program that has successfully improved or resolved metabolic disorders including obesity, prediabetes, diabetes, fatty liver, metabolic syndrome and hypertension via active weight loss and detoxification combined with lifestyle medicine. Gee has recently incorporated regenerative medicine into her services with a primary focus on urinary incontinence, sexual wellness, hair restoration and aesthetics.
Willowbend Health & Wellness was founded upon the principle of patient empowerment and whole person health. This philosophy stresses prevention and patient education instead of disease management by combining the most current clinical research, Western and Eastern medicine, and a unique “lifestyle prescription”. She explains, “I’m passionate about educating patients about what we do and why so they understand the value of receiving integrative care and to empower them to want and demand it for themselves, whether it is with us or another provider.”
Toni Engram, DDS, of Flourish Dental Boutique integrates holistic principles such as nutrition and prevention into her biological dentistry services. This type of care involves choosing safe, biocompatible dental materials along with a focus on nutritional and overall wellness, so patients can maintain a healthy mouth and healthy body. After overcoming her own health challenges from an autoimmune disease, she began practicing biological dentistry and opened Flourish Dental Boutique in 2020.
“Holistic dentistry focuses on underlying causes,” states Engram. “I discuss diet and lifestyle changes to help prevent oral issues like gum disease.” A Texas native, she grew up in a family of healthcare professionals. After graduating from Texas Christian University, she received a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from the Baylor College of Dentistry and certification as an integrative health coach from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.
Flourish offers traditional dental services such as teeth cleaning, fillings, crowns and gum disease treatment, along with nutrition, stress management and other natural modalities such as dental ozone therapy to disinfect the mouth and promote healing after dental procedures. Instead of using mercury-amalgam fillings which contain toxic metals such as mercury, she uses dental composite materials. Engram is certified in Safe Mercury Amalgam Removal Technique protocols to remove mercury-amalgam fillings and replace them with safer alternatives.
“My practice philosophy embodies many of those natural principles,” Engram says. “I focus on nutrition and prevention, seeing mouth as part of whole body and finding the root cause of problems when they do arise.” Engram’s journey is similar to many wellness entrepreneurs that were inspired to pursue a career in holistic health after a personal experience or trauma led them into the holistic arena. “Your own experience can be a powerful tool to help other people along their healing journey.”
“Greener is better,” affirms Lin Ellis, of Eco Friends Organic Pest Control. She uses natural, plant-based pest control products in residential and commercial settings being licensed and certified applicator through the Texas Department of Agriculture, and Integrated Pest Management certified through the state of Texas.
Because prevention is a large component of holistic approaches toward both human and environmental health, Ellis educates her clients about pest prevention measures. Ellis has found that being upfront and realistic is often the best approach. “For example, you can’t resolve an ant problem by just spraying the baseboards and calling it day. We have to find the colony, and we also have to find what is contributing to the problem, such as food being left out. We work with clients to address those issues.” She notes that common household pests can carry diseases including Lyme, west Nile virus and others that can cause illness and contaminate food.
Ellis’ approach includes precise application at points of entry to prevent over-spraying. She believes in transparency, and provides the material data safety sheet for her products, so clients can see what is being used in their homes. Ellis and her team research and field test new products before offering them to clients.
Before forming Eco Friends Organic Pest Control in 2009, Ellis worked in animal medicine. After suffering from an adverse reaction to synthetic pest control products, she became interested in botanical pest control. She and her husband, Mike Ellis, work closely with Dr. Ray Thompson, their staff entomologist, to offer the best botanical pest control options for clients. “I will never recommend anything for my clients before using it in my own home first,” she avows.
214-892-2273
Carpathia Collaborative
214-773-1395
Healthy Healing Arts
469-383-8442
HealthyHealingArts.com
Willowbend Health & Wellness
469-361-4000
WillowbendHealthandWellness.com
Flourish Dental Boutique
469-676-2777
Eco Friends Organic Pest Control
972-484-7287
