Where is the Healing Cottage, and who is it for?
The Healing Cottage is in Columbus, the county seat of Polk County, where Laura Bass opened a part-time office in 2024. Her main practice is in Charlotte. The Columbus office is the practical choice for people in Tryon, about five miles away on NC 108, and for Lynn, Mill Spring, Saluda, Green Creek and the South Carolina towns just over the line, such as Landrum.
Laura works with adults 18 and over, individually and as couples. People come to her with relationship difficulties, infidelity and rebuilding trust, depression, anxiety, grief and loss, midlife and other life transitions, shame, trauma, chronic illness and the strain of adjusting to a change they did not choose. Because the office is part-time, ask which days she is there when you first get in touch. The street address is given when you book.
Getting in touch
You can call 704-706-3264 or use the contact page. A short message is enough: your name, how to reach you, and whether you are thinking about individual or couples counseling. You do not need to explain everything in the first message.
Useful things to ask at this stage are which days Laura is in Columbus, whether video sessions are an option for you, and whether she is in network with your insurer. She is in network with Aetna, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Blue Cross Blue Shield, United Healthcare, United Behavioral Health, MedCost, Magellan, Carelon Behavioral Health (formerly Beacon Health Options), CBHA and Medicare. Confirm your own benefits with your insurer; our page on insurance for therapy in Polk County lists the questions to ask.
The website and inquiry form are not monitored for emergencies. If you are in crisis, call or text 988, or call Vaya Health's crisis line at 1-800-849-6127. If anyone is in immediate danger, call 911.
What happens in the first session?
The first session is mostly a conversation. Expect to be asked what has brought you in now, what you have already tried, and what you would like to be different. Laura will also ask something about your history: relationships, family, health, work and losses that still weigh on you. You choose how much to say. It is fine to say that something is too hard to talk about yet.
There is some paperwork, as with any health care visit: contact details, consent to treatment, and an explanation of privacy and its limits. If you are using insurance, bring your card.
Couples usually come to the first session together. It is common for a therapist to meet with each partner briefly on their own as well, so that each person has room to say what they might not say in front of the other. Ask Laura how she structures this.
By the end you should have a sense of how the two of you might work, how often you might meet, and what the first few sessions will focus on. If you do not, ask.
How Laura works: mind, body and spirit
Laura describes her approach as holistic, humanistic and integrative. In her words, simply understanding why you feel or act a certain way does not always change an ingrained pattern, so she works on all levels: mind, body, spirit and energy.
In practice that can mean traditional talk therapy, opening up and saying what you actually feel. It can mean learning to ground, meditate or journal. For clients who want it, Laura is a certified Emotion Code practitioner and trained in other forms of energy work. You, the client, choose what to include. Nothing is added without your agreement, and it is fine to want talk therapy alone.
Energy and spiritual work is not medical or psychiatric treatment, not crisis care, and not a substitute for care from a doctor or a therapist. Our page on the Emotion Code and spiritual healing near Tryon explains what that work involves and what the evidence does and does not show.
Privacy in a small community
Confidentiality is the foundation of therapy. Professional codes, such as the National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics, require therapists to protect what clients tell them and to explain the limits of confidentiality at the start. Those limits usually include a serious risk of harm to yourself or someone else, and suspected abuse of a child or a vulnerable adult.
Columbus is a town of about a thousand people, and you may well see someone you know in the parking lot. That is worth talking about in the first session. Many clients simply agree with their therapist that if they meet around town, the client decides whether to say hello. Our page on anxiety and privacy in a small town has more on this.
The weeks after
Most of the work happens over a series of sessions. Early on you and Laura will agree on what you are working on. Later sessions build on each other: noticing patterns, trying something different between sessions, and coming back to talk about how it went.
It is reasonable to review progress every so often and to say if something is not helping. Therapy is collaborative, and changing course is part of it. Laura does not promise particular results, and no honest therapist will.
If you need more support than weekly counseling can offer, Laura can talk with you about other local options. Columbus also has a weekday walk-in center at Blue Ridge Health, 161 Walker Street (828-894-2222), listed by Vaya Health, and AdventHealth Polk runs Senior Life Solutions, an intensive outpatient program for adults over 65 (828-894-9890).
Common questions
Where exactly is the Healing Cottage?
It is in Columbus, North Carolina, the Polk County seat, about five miles from Tryon. The street address has not been published on this site, so you will be given it when you book. Because Laura's Columbus office is part-time, ask which days she is there when you call 704-706-3264 or write through the contact page.
Do I have to talk about spiritual things?
No. Laura works with mind, body and spirit, but you choose what to include. Many clients want traditional talk therapy and nothing else, and that is entirely fine. If you are curious about grounding, meditation or Emotion Code work, you can ask about it at any point, and you can also decide later that it is not for you.
Can my spouse and I come together?
Yes. Laura offers couples counseling and infidelity counseling as well as individual counseling, for adults 18 and over. Couples usually attend the first session together. If only one of you is ready to come, individual counseling is a reasonable place to start, and the other partner can join later if you both agree.
What should I bring to a first appointment?
Bring your insurance card if you are using insurance, a list of any medications, and the names of any doctors you would like Laura to be able to contact with your permission. It also helps to jot down a few notes beforehand about what you want to talk about, since nerves can make it easy to forget.