This is Laura Bass

At the age of ten, and the youngest of three children, my parents divorced. Several of my family members were in helping professions — my father had his MSW, and my grandmother had a degree in Guidance and Counseling. By high school I already knew I wanted to help people, so I studied psychology at the University of North Carolina.

After graduation I was lucky enough to work at Alexander Children's Center as a cottage counselor, living in with emotionally disturbed children. I met my future husband there, and we went to social work graduate school together at the University of South Carolina, where I graduated in 1985.

I returned to Charlotte, where we had two sons. I worked in substance abuse before becoming a family therapist on the adolescent unit at Charter Pines for three years. There I received the Ann Brown Award for my significant contribution to mental health.

In 1991 I began my private practice at Charlotte Psychiatric Associates, and my work there expanded to include couples therapy — which is rewarding to me, since I am a child of divorce myself.

By 1998 I had branched out into my own individual practice, only to develop chronic fatigue syndrome. Four years after being advised it would eventually go away, I began my journey into alternative and complementary health. That expanded my knowledge into the mind, body and spirit connection, and I began learning how emotional issues can affect a person's physical health. It led me to the Haden Institute, where I worked on my certification in Spiritual Direction in early 2011.

Laura lives in Charlotte with her husband, and they have two grown sons.

There isn't one size that fits all in relationship counseling. I use my years of experience to work out which practices and habits are worth pursuing to bring you to the result you want: deeper relationships with yourself, with everyone and with everything.

That might mean learning to ground, meditate or journal. It might mean traditional counseling methods, which involve opening up and sharing what you actually feel. It might mean learning to release inherited or trapped emotions so that you feel lighter and more at peace.

Together we work out the underlying issues behind your disconnection from yourself and others, so that you can live in a more awakened but calmer state — and then work out the best course of action.

I am interactive rather than silent. I ask questions, offer a view when I have one, and will say when something looks worth going into. If a different kind of support would serve you better, I will say that too.